Keir Starmer warns Labour will NOT back so-called ‘Blind Brexit’ as Tony Blair says the process of leaving EU can STILL be stopped
- Theresa May is believed to be closing in on a Brexit divorce package with the EU
- Cabinet ministers could sign off new a proposal to break Brexit deadlock in days
- Labour says it won’t back any Brexit package that does not meet its six tests
- Tony Blair insists that the whole process of leaving EU can still be stopped
Labour warned it will not back so-called ‘Blind Brexit’ today as pressure intensified on Theresa May.
As the Prime Minister struggles to get a divorce deal with the EU over the line, Sir Keir Starmer upped the ante by insisting Parliament must be told exactly what the future trade relationship will look like.
Mrs May is thought to be on the verge of thrashing out a compromise on the Irish border ‘backstop’ – the final obstacle.
But even if she secures agreement with Brussels a massive battle is looming to push it through Parliament.
Labour has said it will vote against anything that does not pass its six tests – widely seen as designed to be impossible.
Tory Eurosceptics have vowed to block any pact that would keep Britain too closely lashed to EU rules, while the DUP says it could force an election if there is a risk the UK will be split.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair has urged Remainers to stand firm against any package Mrs May brings home – saying the whole process of leaving the EU can still be stopped.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured in Brussels for talks today) upped the ante by insisting Parliament must be told exactly what the future trade relationship will look like
Theresa May (pictured at a First World War commemoration with Jeremy Corbyn yesterday) is thought to be on the verge of thrashing out a Brexit compromise with the EU
The former prime minister said the British people should be given the chance to vote again on whether to remain in the EU because otherwise they faced either a ‘pointless’ or a ‘painful’ version of Brexit.
Mr Blair said it was a mistake to pull out of the EU at a time when the economic rise of China meant Europe had to stick together.
Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Mr Blair said he was ‘100 per cent opposed to Brexit’ and ‘up to the very end I am going to do everything I can to stop it’.
‘I think it is possible to stop it. It’s not in our political interest, it’s not in our economic interest, I think it weakens Britain and it weakens Europe.’
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Mr Blair, who was being interviewed on stage by CNBC’s Karen Tso, said a second referendum was possible if Parliament rejected a deal agreed by Theresa May.
‘In my view a general election is highly unlikely because of the state of the Conservative Party, unless they are suicidal – which in politics today you can’t discount.
‘Let’s assume they are not, they won’t want an election. No deal is obviously absurd, I think at least we should have the chance to go back to the people.’
Mrs May is facing mounting demands to publish the government’s legal advice on any Brexit deal.
Labour has vowed to join with Tory Eurosceptics and DUP to force release of the full advice.
Legal advice received by the government is regarded as secret.
Tony Blair issued an extract of the advice before the Iraq War – although the full version was leaked years later.
Sir Keir, in Brussels for talks, said he would use a parliamentary mechanism to try and force publication.
At an event in Lisbon today, Tony Blair said it was a mistake to pull out of the EU at a time when the economic rise of China meant Europe had to stick together
He added that it was ‘essential MPs are given the opportunity to scrutinise the Attorney General’s legal advice before voting on the final deal’.
‘The public have the right to know precisely what the Cabinet has signed up to and what the implications are for the future.’
Former Brexit Secretary David Davis demanded at the weekend that the government publish its legal advice on the Irish border backstop.
The DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that he supported releasing the information.
‘I think it’s in the public interest we understand fully what’s happening here. It’s because it affects the whole UK therefore it shouldn’t just be the DUP that sees this advice, or the government,’ he said.
Sir Keir raised eyebrows by failing to state explicitly that Labour will vote against, rather than abstaining, if a deal does not meet the party’s six tests.
However, aides insisted Labour MPs will be whipped to oppose any such package.
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