Labour threatens ‘hand-to-hand combat’ with the Government on Brexit as Lib Dems push for second EU referendum
LABOUR are threatening to wage "hand-to-hand combat" with the Government on Brexit as the Liberal Democrats said a second EU referendum on the final deal with Brussels must be held.
Theresa May is facing her biggest battle to date after the Supreme Court ordered that Parliament must have the final say on triggering Article 50.
The SNP are threatening to lay down dozens of damaging amendments to any new bill, and a group of Remain-backing Tory MPs are pushing for a White Paper to slow down the process.
Those who don’t want the UK to leave the EU, or who are only willing to accept a so-called ‘soft Brexit’ have been emboldened by yesterday’s landmark legal decision.
In response the Prime Minister has said she will not be thrown off course, and is even planning on fast-tracking legislation through Parliament to invoke Article 50 two weeks earlier than planned.
But the shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour would insist on a White Paper on leaving the EU, and not just accept a simple “straightforward” bill as proposed by Brexit Secretary David Davis.
She made it clear Labour would not let the Government get its own way, telling BBC's Newsnight: “Article 50, if it is going to be triggered, we will not get in the way of it, but we will try and amend the legislation in order to ensure that they keep coming back, that we keep an eye on them.
"And, if necessary, there will be hand-to-hand combat on this.”
Ms Thornberry said the Prime Minister must accept the role of Parliament in the process.
"She can't say that she acts on behalf of the whole country without actually negotiating with Parliament, without listening to Parliament," she said.
"The plan, it may be a piece of paper with 'plan' written on the top, but it is a speech which she didn't make in Parliament and she wasn't answerable to questions, and so we want to have a white paper."
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, said another referendum was needed to allow voters to say "thanks very much for asking but we will stay in the EU after all" if they are unhappy with the final package negotiated by Mrs May.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The Government does not have a mandate on a very narrow majority to go and negotiate any outcome it wants."
He added: "One of the really upsetting things from a democratic point of view at the moment, from the point of view of someone who is proud to be British and wants our democracy to be fully functioning, is you have got one of the most ineffective oppositions in living memory."
His comments come after Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP said they will table 50 “serious and substantive” amendments to the Brexit Bill when it is brought forward in the Commons – including plans to keep us in the EU.
And the Tory whips are reported to have met a group of potential rebels, including former ministers Alistair Burt and Anna Soubry, who are pushing for a White Bill or threatening to vote against the Government.