Sunday shows: McDonnell and Starmer on prorogation, no deal and an election

Ridge on Sunday

Now starting at the earlier time of 8.30am, Sky’s Ridge on Sunday featured Shadow Chancellor and key Labour leadership figure John McDonnell this week. He said it would be difficult to legislate to block no deal, and confirmed that a vote of no confidence was still on the table (despite it not being evident that Jeremy Corbyn would get the required support to form an alternative government). In response to the claim that Labour doesn’t want to go the polls, he said: “General election? Bring it on.”

• On Boris Johnson’s suspension of parliament: “Just because a Prime Minister is worried that they’ll lose a vote in parliament, to then use the tactic of closing down parliament in our parliamentary democracy is unacceptable.”
• On whether it’s normal: “I think they are insulting the intelligence of the British people if they think we’re going to fall for that. You said yourself that Ben Wallace, the Conservative minister, let the cat out of the bag. This is because they haven’t got a majority in parliament for this particular vote, so like a dictator what Boris Johnson is doing is to say ‘I’m going to close down parliament because parliament might vote against me’. We can’t accept that. Just imagine if Jeremy Corbyn had done that, the outrage that there would have been.”
• On Labour’s plans to block no deal: “We have got a week but don’t underestimate how difficult it is to legislate within a week… The cross party group that has been meeting – that includes Conservative MPs as well, a group of legal experts, constitutional experts, MPs with decades of experience – are now looking to see how on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we can introduce a legislative measure which will enable us to prevent a no deal without parliamentary approval. Now the technique of that will be published on the Tuesday and I’m hoping, I’m hoping we can have a debate in which we can bring the House together.”
• On whether a vote of no confidence is still on the table: “Oh yes, yes it is, it has to be, it has to be. Our view is we have to use every mechanism we possibly can to prevent a no deal and that clearly is still on the table. The problem that we’ve got is exactly as other constitutional experts have said that actually the problem is time and that’s why the Prime Minister has used this measure.”
• On Jacob Rees-Mogg’s claim that Labour doesn’t want an election: “Let me just say, general election? Bring it on. At the last general election, we were 24 points behind and we virtually drew level with the Conservatives.”
• On the spending review: “If the government does bring its spending review forward obviously we’ll analyse it. But what I’m concerned about is that spending review is actually a spending round. It’s a one year spending review. It’s not the normal process. so it looks to me like a pre-election stunt, a gimmick budget.”

‘A message to Boris Johnson: General election? Bring it on’ – Shadow Chancellor @johnmcdonnellMP says Labour would welcome taking on the government at the ballot boxes. #Ridge

For more, head here: https://t.co/0qse1MSlHU pic.twitter.com/3uYPLmfNKS

— Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) September 1, 2019

Former cabinet minister David Gauke also appeared, as he leads the so-called ‘Gaukeward squad’ of Tory MPs against no deal. He said Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament for over a month in the run-up to October 31st was “wrong”, and confirmed he would be willing to lose the whip to help stop no deal.

Leading Tory rebel @DavidGauke says the threat of losing party whip won’t stop him opposing no deal Brexit. #Ridge

For more, head here: https://t.co/0qse1MSlHU pic.twitter.com/kJwe6gHfev

— Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) September 1, 2019

Alok Sharma, the International Development Secretary, ran with Boris Johnson’s warning to Tory rebels that defeating the government on Brexit would empower Jeremy Corbyn and could put him in Number 10.

The Andrew Marr Show

This morning saw Andrew Marr interview constitutional experts as well as Sir Keir Starmer and Michael Gove on his programme, which has returned to its old 9am slot. Keir Starmer, Shadow Brexit Secretary, discussed the path to blocking no deal on October 31st and confirmed that Labour would not accept an election whereby no deal would happen during the course of the campaign.

• On Labour’s plan to block no deal: “Very simple. The route will be by legislation because I believe there has got to be legislation in place to lock this and make it unlawful for him to take us out without a deal. It is a very simple plan…” Added: “I’m not going to go into details, but the purpose of the legislation is clear and that is to prevent us leaving without a deal… I think this should be a very short, simple exercise.”
• On the fact that no deal opponents have different aims and priorities: “Because of all that, you keep it simple. You build on the proposition that most people can get around, and most people can get around the position that we shouldn’t leave without a deal.”
• On the possibility that Johnson could call an election whereby no deal would happen during the campaign: “That’s why this legislation is so important… We’ve been thinking long and hard about that because we have to have a way of ensuring that we don’t crash out during the course of an election. I’m not going to get into the details but we are absolutely on that point.”
• Marr: “After two years of asking for a general election, the Labour Party might not ask for a general election?” Starmer: “No, I’m not saying that, Andrew. Of course, there is the vote of no confidence. That is a judgment call for Jeremy Corbyn to make when he thinks the time is right. The focus for this week is on legislation.”
• On whether he regrets not voting for May’s deal: “No, I don’t.”
• On a vote of no confidence and other opposition parties not supporting Jeremy Corbyn: “If we win a vote of no confidence, it is for the leader of the opposition to say he can form a government… If he can’t, we’ll address that when we get there.”

“It’s a very simple plan”

Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer tells #marr about his plan to legislate to block a no deal #Brexit this weekhttps://t.co/4yDchmzhSs pic.twitter.com/93yYdNEtPx

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 1, 2019

The Sunday Times reports that the Prime Minister has not ruled out blocking Royal Assent of an anti-no deal bill, nor packing the House of Lords with hundreds of peers. On Marr, Michael Gove didn’t confirm that the government would abide by legislation passed aiming to block no deal. “We’re in new constitutional times but for a government to say we won’t abide by legislation is impossible surely?” Marr said. Gove replied: “Well, we will see what the legislation says when it is put forward.”

In response to the ST report and Gove’s interview, Labour’s Jon Trickett accused Johnson of having “contempt for our democracy and the British people”. The Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office said: “Any move to ignore an act of parliament would be a full-blown attack on our constitution.”