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Brexit: May's no deal threat is a 'political hoax' says Starmer Brexit: New referendum still an option, says Emily Thornberry
(about 4 hours later)
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has said the government's threat of leaving the EU without a deal is a "political hoax". Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry has told the BBC "all options remain on the table", including a new referendum, if MPs vote down a Brexit deal.
He said Parliament must "take back control" instead if the government's plan is rejected by MPs. She was asked about party leader Jeremy Corbyn's comment to a German newspaper that Brexit cannot be stopped.
"There is no duty on MPs to surrender to a bad deal," he writes in the Sunday Times. Labour would prefer a general election, she said, but could campaign for "a People's Vote" if it were not possible.
A Downing Street source said the government aimed to secure an agreement with the EU soon, but not at any cost. Tory cabinet minister Damian Hinds said MPs must "consider the alternatives" if they vote down the deal.
'Historic mistake' The government has not yet agreed a withdrawal deal with the European Union, ahead of the UK's exit from the bloc next March.
Any deal reached between the government and the EU is likely to have to rely on the 10 votes from MPs in the Democratic Unionist Party for a majority in Parliament. While the UK government says it is 95% agreed - they have been unable to agree on the mechanism for ensuring that there will be no return to border checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, if a future trade deal is not ready in time.
Labour confirmed its willingness to vote down the agreement and a key DUP MP also sounded a warning. On Friday, transport minister Jo Johnson, who voted to remain in the EU, quit the government saying he could not support the deal and called for another referendum.
Sammy Wilson, the party's Brexit spokesman, has written an article with Steve Baker, a Tory MP who is deputy chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group. In the piece, the duo rejected the current plans. Meanwhile Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker and Sammy Wilson, Brexit spokesman for the DUP - whose party's support Theresa May relies on for key Commons votes - have written a joint article in the Sunday Telegraph warning they are prepared to vote down any deal over proposals to manage the Irish border issue.
They say that the arrangements for avoiding a hard border with the Republic of Ireland are a "humiliation" because they either tie the UK to EU rules or split the country. On Saturday, Jeremy Corbyn was quoted in Der Spiegel, having been asked if he would stop Brexit, as saying: "We can't stop it, the referendum took place."
"If the government makes the historic mistake of prioritising placating the EU over establishing an independent and whole UK, then regrettably we must vote against the deal," they write in the Sunday Telegraph. Asked if Brexit could be stopped on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Ms Thornberry said the results of the referendum should be "abided by" but there had to be an "injection of democracy" in between that result and going any further. That should be a "meaningful vote" in Parliament, she said.
Severe consequences But she said Theresa May was only offering a choice between the UK "falling off a cliff" - with no deal agreed - or "get on this bridge to nowhere", by backing her deal. She said Labour would refuse to "play that sort of game" and, if the vote was lost, the party wanted a general election.
Voting against the deal would mean leaving the EU without any agreement at all, the government has warned. She added: "If we don't have a general election, which we think we should have, then yes of course all the options remain on the table and we would campaign for there to be a People's Vote but, you know, there are several stages before we get there."
But Sir Keir said the prime minister's attempts to "threaten rather than persuade" would not work and Labour is prepared to reject the government's plans. The People's Vote campaign group organised the march in London in October which it said attracted about 700,000 people. The group wants a referendum on the final withdrawal deal.
"Labour will stick to its guns. Supporting a bad deal is not in the national interest," he said. Ms Thornberry said Mr Corbyn's comments had to be seen in context and he was explaining that: "We had a referendum, that we are democrats over and above everything else."
Instead, he said that MPs would be able to table motions, press amendments and trigger a no-confidence vote in order to prevent the UK leaving without a deal. At the Labour Party conference in September, party members approved a motion that would keep all options - including a fresh referendum - on the table if MPs are deadlocked over Brexit. Mr Corbyn has said he would respect the result of the vote.
'Need alternatives'
Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer wrote in the Sunday Times: "There is no duty on MPs to surrender to a bad deal."
Instead, he said that MPs would be able to table motions, press amendments and trigger a no-confidence vote in order to prevent the UK leaving without a deal at all.
Sir Keir said: "I remain as convinced as ever that the consequences of no deal would be so severe that it cannot be allowed to happen."Sir Keir said: "I remain as convinced as ever that the consequences of no deal would be so severe that it cannot be allowed to happen."
But Education Secretary Damian Hinds told the BBC that people would have to consider a deal as a whole, stating: "They need to think about what the alternatives are as well.
"It is no good just not liking individual aspects. If you're going to take that view, you have got to have in mind a realistic, viable, deliverable alternative.
"I think people are going to be getting behind this deal and saying 'yeah, let's get on with it'."
He added: "It is not necessarily going to be something everybody is going to think is absolutely perfectly what they want.
"But that's the nature of these things, there are some trade-offs."