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.
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