Corbyn calls for elections
The British Labour Party leader opposes Theresa May’s Brexit proposals, especially the possibility of leaving the EU without an agreement
British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday, in his closing speech of the Party congress in Liverpool, that he will vote against the agreement that the conservative government reaches with the European Union (EU), when it votes in Parliament, if it is based on the current proposal by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, known as The Chequers Agreement.
Corbyn said that if May does not want to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the conditions or if she opts for a Brexit without an agreement, then he will force general elections. Corbyn has asked his people to start preparing for such an eventuality. The battle lines are clearly drawn as May has already said that it is her plan, or nothing. As far as she is concerned, there will be no future talks.
The Labour leader has set six points in order for May to gain his party’s support and it seems unlikely she will accede to his demands. These include a single market and customs union and that the nations that make up the country (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) agree. “We will only support a treaty that includes the customs union and any border with Ireland, which protects jobs or guarantees the environmental and consumer standards and is acceptable to trade unions and the business sector,” he warned.
As things stand, without Labour support, May is lost. The final parliamentary vote will also included Conservatives opposed to her plan, meaning that her government which rules thanks to 325 of the 650 MPs, including 35 Northen Irish MPs, would fall, leaving no other option than to call for general elections.