Members of the British parliament have been told to prepare for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to table a vote of no confidence in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government as early as tomorrow evening in an attempt to force a general election if her Brexit deal is voted down.
Messages have been sent to Labour legislators to ensure their presence both for the “meaningful vote” on the prime minister’s Brexit blueprint tomorrow and the following day.
Labour whips have told legislators that the no-confidence vote is likely to be tabled within hours of a government loss, with the actual vote taking place on Wednesday.
The news came before May was to put her Brexit deal to parliament.
A senior shadow Cabinet member said: “There is now recognition that we cannot wait any longer. If May goes down to defeat and she does not resign and call an election, this is the moment we have to act.”
Senior members of May’s Conservative Party on Saturday said that they could not see how the prime minister could win the vote “in any circumstances” and that a defeat by less than 100 would now be regarded as the best she could hope for.
However, senior Labour figures accept that they are unlikely to win a no-confidence vote, as the 10 Democratic Unionist legislators have said they would back the government, although Corbyn’s move is seen as a ploy to place the Labour leader under pressure to draw a second Brexit referendum.
Labour’s Angela Smith said: “The time for prevarication is over. If May’s deal fails, we have to test the will of the House, and if we fail, we must consider all options, including campaigning for a second referendum, as this is party policy.”
A Labour spokesman, while not confirming a vote tomorrow, said that while the timing of a no-confidence vote had not been fixed, legislators had been told to be ready.
Labour’s Barry Gardiner has said that a vote of no confidence would “obviously” have to follow immediately after a defeat for May’s deal.
Writing in the Observer, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that he would step up his campaign for another referendum if an election is not called immediately.
“A public vote would not only allow us to move beyond the current stalemate, but would actually start the desperately needed process of healing the deep divisions that have opened within our society,” said Khan, who is a Labour member.
Some Conservative Party legislators were planning measures designed to hand more power to parliament over Brexit.
One senior figure said that a “legally copper-bottomed” plan had already been drawn up to “give parliament control of the Brexit negotiation and stop a no-deal Brexit” should May’s deal be voted down.
March 29 is the date set for the UK to leave the EU.
A vote to show that there is a Commons majority in favor of delaying Brexit is also being planned by a cross-party group.
“If we are not crashing out and we are not going for the [prime minister’s] deal, I cannot believe that article 50 does not have to be extended,” one of those involved said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS