Daily Mail - 06.09.2019

Page 10 QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, September 6, 2019

BATTLE FOR BREXIT

LABOUR ‘STOP BOR

LABOUR looked set to thwart

Boris Johnson’s plans for an

early election last night fol-

lowing talks with the SNP.
Jeremy Corbyn met Ian Black-
ford, the Scottish nationalists’
Westminster leader, yesterday to
discuss a pact to block No Deal.
They are understood to have agreed
that an election should only be held
after Britain has secured another
Brexit delay from the EU.
That would put off an election
until the very end of October or
even November – well beyond the
Prime Minister’s preferred date of
October 15.
Yesterday Shadow Chancellor John
McDonnell admitted there were
splits in the Labour Party over the
timing of a snap poll.
Mr Corbyn and his allies are in
favour of going for an election on the
date put forward by Mr Johnson.
The Labour leader originally
planned to vote in favour of an
election, once a law is in place forc-
ing the Prime Minister to go to Brus-
sels on October 19 to demand a
three-month Brexit delay.
But most of his MPs and much of
his shadow cabinet are against this
plan, saying Labour should not agree
to an election until Mr Johnson has
actually delivered the letter request-
ing an extension. Mr McDonnell said

before the UK has agreed to

extend the current Brexit deadline

of October 31.

David Lammy, the MP for Totten-

ham in North London, said: ‘I won’t

vote for an election unless it is guar-

anteed to happen after October 31.

We desperately need a Labour gov-

ernment, but the immediate priority

is to stop No Deal.’

Former Labour leadership candi-

date Owen Smith, who represents

Pontypridd in South Wales, added:

‘We should refuse any election before

October 31, with a No Deal Brexit

definitively ruled out.’

Ben Bradshaw, the MP for Exeter,

Devon, said: ‘Labour and the other

opposition parties must not save

him, but ensure an election is only

called after October 31, when he will

have failed completely.’

Meanwhile Stockton South MP

Paul Williams said: ‘I won’t be voting

for a general election until after Oct-

ober 31. Johnson is trying to trick

Parliament into letting him crash

out of the EU without a deal,

whilst pretending he is negotiating.’

One senior Labour Remainer said

even if Mr Corbyn orders MPs to

back the motion calling for an early

poll, few would do so.

‘There is unanimity,’ he said. ‘We

are resolute. Boris Johnson is saying

don’t worry, the Labour Party will

cave... but we are not going to... The

vast majority of all MPs, activists,

they know Johnson’s on the ropes

and he’s got to own his own mess.’

■ Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller

returned to the High Court yester-

day in a bid to block Mr Johnson’s

attempts to suspend Parliament.

Lawyers for Mrs Miller and former

prime minister Sir John Major argued

the PM’s plan to ‘prorogue’ the cur-

rent parliamentary sitting was an

‘unlawful abuse of power’. Business-

woman Mrs Miller, 54, previously

took the Government to court over

the triggering of Article 50 to take

Britain out of the EU.

Corbyn and SNP say

election should only

be AFTER Brexit delay

By Daniel Martin

Policy Editor

Luciana joins her third

party in seven months

would be deaths because of potential prob-

lems accessing medicines – to anti-vaxxer

Andrew Wakefield, whose discredited 1998

study linking autism and the measles, mumps

and rubella vaccine prompted many parents

to stop having their children immunised.

The Cabinet minister was criticised by Eng-

land’s chief medical officer and soon apolo-

gised to Dr Nicholl, and assured the country

the Government was not at loggerheads with

the medical profession. He said: ‘I apologise

to Dr Nicholl for the comparison with Dr

Wakefield. I have the utmost respect for all of

the country’s hardworking medical profes-

sionals and the work they do in caring for the

people of this country. The Government is

working closely with the NHS, industry and

distributors to help ensure the supply of

medicine and medical products remains

uninterrupted once we leave the EU on Octo-

ber 31, whatever the circumstances.’

Professor Dame Sally Davies wrote to Mr

Rees-Mogg, saying: ‘I feel compelled to

express my sincere disappointment in the

disrespectful way you spoke to and about Dr

David Nicholl.

‘Comparing an established medical expert

to a man who was struck off the medical reg-

ister by the General Medical Council... is

going too far and is frankly unacceptable.’

JACOB Rees-Mogg was last night forced

to apologise after comparing a pro-

Remain doctor to the disgraced researcher

blamed for the MMR jab scare.

In a humiliating climbdown, the Commons

leader last night said he had the ‘utmost

respect’ for Britain’s ‘hardworking medical

professionals’ – and reassured the country he

was willing to listen to NHS staff.

The row started when consultant neurolo-

gist David Nicholl called an LBC radio phone-

in show on Monday asking Mr Rees-Mogg

what mortality rate he would accept in the

case of a No Deal Brexit.

In the Commons yesterday, Mr Rees-Mogg

compared Dr Nicholl – who suggested there

By Policy Editor

for Liverpool Wavertree, told

the BBC: ‘We need to do every-

thing possible to make sure the

country, when the election

comes, has a proper choice

rather than choosing between

the two terrible options of

Johnson vs Corbyn.’ She added:

‘The two-party system is over.’

But Nina Houghton, Labour’s

constituency chairman in

Wavertree, said Miss Berger

was ‘ignoring the 80 per cent

of Wavertree voters who voted

Labour’. She accused the MP of

lacking the ‘courage’ to resign

and hold a by-election. Miss

Swinson said she was ‘delighted’

to welcome Miss Berger to the

Liberal Democrats.

‘We’re thrilled to add her per-

spective, expertise and skills to

our ever-growing parliamen-

tary team,’ she said.

Miss Berger is the fourth MP

in three months to join the Lib-

eral Democrats, who now have

16 MPs in Parliament.

On Tuesday, Conservative Phil-

lip Lee defected to the party,

accusing the Government of

‘pursuing a damaging Brexit in

unprincipled ways’, putting

lives and livelihoods at risk.

Ex-Change UK MPs Chuka

Umunna and Sarah Wollaston

have also joined the Lib Dems.

FORMER Labour MP Luciana

Berger joined the Liberal Dem-

ocrats yesterday, saying the

party was ‘unequivocal in

wanting to stop Brexit’.

She said Lib Dem leader Jo

Swinson had offered ‘a vital,

positive alternative’ to Labour

and the Conservatives.

Miss Berger, who is Jewish,

left Labour in February in pro-

test at the party’s handling of

anti-Semitism allegations.

Along with six other MPs she

formed Change UK, but quit

after its disappointing results

in the European elections

earlier this year.

After joining the Lib Dems

yesterday, Miss Berger, the MP

By Claire Ellicott

Political Correspondent

Welcome to the Lib Dems: The party leader, right, with her new recruit yesterday

the Labour leadership was in contact
with legal experts, other opposition
parties and the Parliamentary
Labour Party about what to do and
noted that ‘people have got different
views on this’.
‘The problem that we have got is
that we cannot at the moment have
any confidence in Boris Johnson
abiding by any commitment or deal
that we could construct,’ he told
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
‘So, we are now consulting about
whether it’s better to go long, there-
fore, rather than to go short.’
In response to Downing Street’s
attack on ‘cowardly’ Mr Corbyn for
blocking an early election, Mr
McDonnell said: ‘I wish he would put
aside Donald Trump’s script for a
time and have a serious discussion.
‘We want a general election as well
but we want it in the interests of the
country when we have prevented a
No Deal Brexit, and on that basis we
have got to determine the date.’
The Shadow Chancellor called on
Mr Johnson to ‘grow up’, and shared
Liberal Democrat leader
Jo Swinson’s concerns about the
Prime Minister trying to force
through No Deal.
‘That’s one of the dilemmas we’re
facing,’ he said. ‘We’re looking now at
taking legal advice on how secure
that Bill is, but we’re also consulting
the other opposition parties, and our
own party on the date of a general
election. We’re desperate for a gen-
eral election.’
A string of backbench Labour MPs
ruled out backing a general election

‘Whether to go

long, or go short’

Mogg forced to apologise for comparing

pro-Remain medic to MMR scare doctor