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Sunday shows round-up: No confidence vote, fresh referendum and ‘no deal’

Sienna Rodgers

Andrew Marr Show

Andrew Gwynne confirmed reports that Labour will be ‘throwing the kitchen sink’ at the government before Christmas recess with urgent questions and debates in parliament, in an effort to force May to bring her deal to the Commons. Labour’s local government spokesman also revealed that a motion of no confidence in the government would only be tabled once May’s deal is put to parliament.

  • On the next week in parliament: “We will be using whatever mechanisms we have at our disposal next to week to try and force the government to bring forward that deal for a vote before Christmas.”
  • On a motion of no confidence: “We want to do that when we can succeed, and the first step is to get this deal decided on by the House of Commons. Until the Commons has had its view on Theresa May’s deal, she’s going to limp on, pretending that this can get through.”

Chuka Umunna, a prominent ‘people’s vote’ campaigner, admitted that not enough MPs back a fresh referendum, but said they would change their positions in due course. The backbench Labour MP warned the Prime Minister was “leaving our country in limbo” by deferring the vote on her Brexit deal, but also disagreed with Labour’s line that a better deal could be negotiated.

  • On a fresh referendum: “I’m honest enough to say, look, do we have the numbers for a people’s vote on this Brexit mess right now in the House of Commons? No, we don’t.”
  • On May’s deal being voted on by MPs in mid-January: “That is unacceptable.”
  • On Labour’s alternative: “There is no better deal at the moment.”

Ridge on Sunday

Rebecca Long-Bailey said Labour shouldn’t table a motion of no confidence unless it is likely to win that vote, and emphasised that the party is pushing for a debate and vote on May’s deal before Christmas (although the government has confirmed it will not take place until January). The shadow frontbencher’s comments also suggested that she thought Brexit should happen and agreeing a deal was preferable to a fresh referendum.

  • On Labour tabling a motion of no confidence in the government: “I don’t think it would be sensible or pragmatic to hold a vote of no confidence every single day within parliament knowing we were going to lose that vote of no confidence… What we are doing is speaking to various parties across the House and assessing the time at which there would be a successful outcome.”
  • On May’s deal: “What we want to see straight away this week is a debate on Theresa May’s deal.”
  • On another EU referendum: “In terms of my own personal position, I think we need to respect the referendum. As I say, I think that there is a deal that can be struck within Parliament that brings everybody together.”

Kate Hoey advocated a ‘no deal’ Brexit.

  • On ‘no deal’: “There’s been all this talk of how catastrophic it would be to leave without a deal. I don’t actually think so. A lot of economists have been saying that it wouldn’t be, and we could do it. And it also sends a message to the EU now that we’re not prepared to put up with a deal which… is keeping us actually in the EU.”

Pienaar’s Politics

Jonathan Ashworth told LabourList editor Sienna Rodgers that Labour’s alternative Brexit plan wouldn’t require a backstop thanks to a permanent customs union. He also said Labour was looking at how to rule out ‘no deal’, which would be a disaster for the NHS.

  • On the next week in parliament: “We should either have a vote on Theresa May’s deal, or we should use that next week to make clear that we want to block no deal. We’re going to look at various options this week to see what we can do to force that.”
  • On ‘no deal’: “The government should work with us to rule out ‘no deal’.”

Tags: Chuka Umunna / Kate Hoey / Labour / Jonathan Ashworth / Rebecca Long-Bailey / Andrew Marr Show / Andrew Gwynne / Brexit / Pienaar's politics / Ridge on Sunday / Sunday shows /
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