'THEY'RE ALL B******S'
Labour MP forced to apologise in House of Commons after branding Tory MPs ‘b******s’ during Brexit debate
A LABOUR MP was forced to apologise in the House of Commons after branding Tory MPs “b******s” during the Brexit debate.
Neil Coyle also suggested the actions of his own front bench are a "disgrace" as he and other prepared to vote on legislation allowing Theresa May to trigger Article 50.
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The Speaker John Bercow admonished the member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark and told him not to do it again as temperatures rose in the chamber this afternoon.
Giving a speech in the marathon debate Mr Coyle said: "Former Prime Minister John Major referred to the likes of the former secretary of state for work and pensions as bastards.
"He could not have known that his party would become a whole Government full of bastards who are absolutely causing economic damage for my constituents and for the whole country.
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"At the risk of offending my own front bench as well as the Government front bench, I say this - my members campaigned vigorously to remain in the European Union and they deserve a front bench position that is not to sign up to the Government's position, the Government's timetable and the Government curtailing debate.
"It is a disgrace."
Mr Bercow, intervening, told Mr Coyle: "You shouldn't have used the word you used.
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"You tried to wrap it up in a quote but it was very unseemly and rather undignified and quite unnecessary, and you shouldn't have done it, and you should apologise."
Mr Coyle said: "While I share the former prime minister's sentiment, I apologise if it is unparliamentary language."
Mr Bercow replied: "It was unparliamentary language and you shouldn't do it again."
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Earlier in the debate George Osborne had warned that blocking Brexit risks "putting Parliament against people" and provoking a "deep constitutional crisis" in Britain.
The former chancellor and arch Remainer told MPs people who already feel estranged would be alienated further as he pledged to back the Article 50 bill.
His remarks came after the former Labour leader Ed Miliband warned Theresa May against feeling an inevitable consequence of leaving the EU is being "driven into the arms" of US president Donald Trump.
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Mr Osborne reiterated he argued "passionately" during the referendum campaign that leaving the EU would weaken Britain's trade links and diminish the country on the world stage.
Speaking during the second day of debate on the European Union (Notification Of Withdrawal) Bill, the Tory MP said: "I made those arguments and it saddens me that Britain and Brexit is bracketed in the same group as other isolationist and nativist movements around the world at the moment, and that we should strive to be - as the Prime Minister says - a more global Britain.
"But I lost the case. I made it with passion, I sacrificed my position in government for it and in the end we have to now accept that in a democracy the majority has spoken.
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"Whilst I am a passionate believer in an open, internationalist, free-trading Britain, I'm also a passionate believer in Britain as a democracy."Mr Osborne said it is "unfashionable in schools these days" to teach what he believes is a "true tale" of Britain's history, including Magna Carta, the Glorious Revolution, the Founding Fathers of the American constitution, the Great Reform Act and female emancipation.
He went on: "We have given the modern world a version of democracy that has spread far beyond our shores.
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"And therefore to vote against the majority verdict of the largest democratic exercise in British history I think would risk putting Parliament against people, I think it would provoke a deep constitutional crisis in our country, I think it would alienate people who already feel they are alienated, and I am not prepared to do that."
"So I will be voting for the Bill tonight."
Mr Osborne said the Government had chosen "not to make the economy the priority in this negotiation, they have prioritised immigration control".
He also claimed the EU's priority will be to "maintain the integrity of the remaining 27 members of the European Union", adding: "They are not interested in a long and complex hybrid agreement with the United Kingdom and so therefore both sides at the moment are heading for a clean break from the European Union for the United Kingdom."
The former chancellor said it is "obvious" the Government will seek to secure a transitional agreement with the EU, and said negotiations will be a "trade off, as all divorces are, between access and money".
But Mr Osborne warned the talks are likely to be "rather bitter", predicting there will be "lively debate" in Parliament before adding: "I will be in those fights in the couple of years ahead.”
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