Starmer swerves question of whether Labour will vote for a Brexit trade deal
Sir Keir Starmer has refused to answer whether Labour will vote for a potential post-Brexit trade deal in what is becoming a shadow cabinet row.
Starmer said Labour would vote “in the national interest” if Boris Johnson can close a UK-EU trade deal and bring it to parliament before 31 December.
Media reports this week revealed Starmer is leaning toward voting for a Brexit trade deal, but that a number of shadow cabinet members are pushing him to abstain.
Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds and her deputy Bridget Phillipson are thought to be against voting for any Brexit trade deal.
The pair were previously supporters of a second Brexit referendum.
Starmer’s team is reportedly concerned that voting against a trade deal would play badly in the Northern Brexit-voting seats the party lost in the 2019 election.
The opposition leader is already seen as a stark opponent of Brexit, after pushing Labour to support a second referendum at the last election.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Johnson said: “[Starmer] can’t even say weather he would support a deal – yes or no.
“If he can’t say whether would vote for our deal, yes or no, then he cannot attack the government’s policy. Until he’s able to come up with a position of his own, wrap a towel around his head, decide what he actually thinks then I find it hard to take his criticisms very seriously.”
Starmer replied: “If there is a deal, and I hope there’s a deal, then my party will vote in the national interest, not on party political lines as he is doing.”
The Prime Minister is going to Brussels to meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tonight in an attempt to close a last minute trade deal.