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Shadow Welsh secretary quits over Brexit vote | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Jo Stevens has quit as Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Welsh secretary after he forced Labour MPs to back the Article 50 bill. | |
The Cardiff Central MP said she believed Brexit was "a terrible mistake" and "cannot reconcile my overwhelming view" that to endorse the bill would make it inevitable. | |
She is the first member of the shadow cabinet to quit over the issue. | |
Tulip Siddiq quit as shadow early years minister on Thursday after the Labour leadership imposed a "three-line whip". | |
Two Labour whips - MP's in charge of parliamentary party discipline - have said they will vote against the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill , despite a three-line whip to support it. | |
Jeff Smith and Thangam Debbonaire have said they will vote against it although neither have resigned their posts as party whips. | |
Another shadow minister Daniel Zeichner has also said he will vote against the bill, as will other MPs including former Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw. | |
The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was introduced after the Supreme Court ruled that parliament - not just the government alone - must vote to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which starts the formal process of the UK leaving the EU. | |
Mr Corbyn is to impose a three-line whip, ordering his MPs to back the bill. He said he understood the pressures faced - many Labour MPs represent constituencies which voted to remain in the European Union - but called on them to "unite" around "important issues". | |
'Undermining democracy' | |
Frontbench members of parties are generally expected to resign from their post if they choose to defy a three-line whip. | |
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said voting against the bill would "be very undermining of democracy". | |
"MPs voted for a referendum, there was an extraordinary high turn out - 72% - 17m people voted to leave. Many of them in some of our poorest areas," she told the BBC. | "MPs voted for a referendum, there was an extraordinary high turn out - 72% - 17m people voted to leave. Many of them in some of our poorest areas," she told the BBC. |
She added: "How would it look if a bunch of politicians and commentators in London turned round and said: 'We know you voted to leave but we're just going to ignore you?'" | |
But senior Labour backbencher Meg Hillier told the BBC some of her east London constituents were "horrified" at Mr Corbyn's stance. | |
"Certainly in Hackney the rage in the room was palpable - and people are really concerned. My constituency voted 78% to remain [in the EU] and while a lot of those people recognise the outcome of the referendum, we just don't want a blank cheque." | "Certainly in Hackney the rage in the room was palpable - and people are really concerned. My constituency voted 78% to remain [in the EU] and while a lot of those people recognise the outcome of the referendum, we just don't want a blank cheque." |
Analysis | |
By BBC political correspondent Ben Wright | |
Labour's Brexit bind is not hard to grasp. | |
The vast majority of Labour MPs campaigned to keep Britain in the EU. But most now represent constituencies that voted to leave. | |
And as Parliament prepares to vote on triggering divorce talks with Brussels, Labour MPs are being ordered to approve the start of Brexit by a party leader who spent his backbench career ignoring similar demands for discipline. | |
Read more: Labour's Brexit dilemma | |
Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to begin the formal process of quitting the European Union by the end of March. | Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to begin the formal process of quitting the European Union by the end of March. |
The bill is due to be initially debated by MPs on Tuesday - in a sitting that may last until midnight - and clear the Commons on 8 February, after which it will move to the House of Lords. | The bill is due to be initially debated by MPs on Tuesday - in a sitting that may last until midnight - and clear the Commons on 8 February, after which it will move to the House of Lords. |
The Liberal Democrats have vowed to oppose Article 50 unless there is a guarantee of another referendum on the final Brexit deal that is agreed with Brussels, while the SNP has vowed to table 50 amendments to the legislation. | The Liberal Democrats have vowed to oppose Article 50 unless there is a guarantee of another referendum on the final Brexit deal that is agreed with Brussels, while the SNP has vowed to table 50 amendments to the legislation. |