The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, will tell his MPs to back a call for a second referendum on Brexit, his party has said.
Corbyn will on Monday evening tell Labour MPs the party is “committed to … putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory [Conservative] Brexit being forced on the country,” a statement on the party’s website said.
The statement said Labour would put an amended plan for Brexit to the British parliament this week and also support a separate cross-party motion which seeks to rule out the possibility of the United Kingdom exiting the European Union without a withdrawal agreement.
The amended plan would include “close alignment” with the EU’s single market, protection for Britain’s role in the bloc’s various agencies and a wide-reaching “security agreement”, the statement added.
Labour’s Brexit Secretary Kier Starmer said the party would support a second public vote on membership of the EU should MPs vote against Labour’s Brexit plan.
“If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote,” Starmer said in a tweet.
This week Labour will put its alternative plan for a vote in the House of Commons.
If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote. https://t.co/EjCifYCDJP
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) February 25, 2019
Labour’s announcement comes after British Prime Minister Theresa May postponed on Sunday an expected “meaningful vote” on her widely maligned Brexit plan, which had been expected to be held this week.
May said MPs would have their say on the divorce deal sometime before March 13 instead.
With just 32 days until Britain is due to leave the 28-member EU, May is making last-ditch efforts to win concessions from the bloc on the divorce package, brokered after months of arduous negotiations between London and Brussels.
The EU has ruled out reopening the withdrawal agreement, though both sides are looking at a possible legal addendum to reassure MPs who worry the controversial Irish border backstop clause could keep Britain trapped in the EU’s orbit for years to come.
The mechanism would guarantee no re-establishment of a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event that post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and the EU prove unsuccessful.
from Viral up Blog https://ift.tt/2tDJrz5
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