BACK ME OR BACK OFF

Jeremy Corbyn warns Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis they have to back him on Brexit bill or lose their Shadow Cabinet jobs with another three-line whip on tomorrow’s vote

The Labour leader is facing another rebellion this week from his front benchers in a second major Brexit vote

JEREMY Corbyn has warned frontbenchers Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis that they must back him on supporting the Government's Brexit Bill or they will be forced to resign from his Shadow Cabinet.

The Labour leader confirmed this morning that he would be imposing another three-line whip on his MPs in the next crunch Brexit vote tomorrow.

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Jeremy Corbyn said he will force his MPs to back the next reading of the Bill this weekCredit: PA:Press Association

He will again order his MPs to vote with the Tories in its final Commons hurdle - which will lead to Theresa May triggering Article 50 next month.

The vote on the third reading of the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill will take place on Wednesday night.

It is set to be another chaotic week for Labour after 47 MPs defied Mr Corbyn last week and voted AGAINST triggering Article 50. More could join them this week if Labour's amendments to the Bill fail to get off the ground.

Scores of his MPs defied him last week and voted against triggering Article 50Credit: PA:Press Association

Clive Lewis, the Shadow Business Secretary, has said he could be prepared to quit his post over the issue if Labour's amendments to the Brexit Bill don't pass.

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"If at the end of that process the bill before us is overwhelmingly a Tory hard cliff-edge – a Trumpian Brexit – I am prepared to break the whip and I am prepared to walk from the Shadow Cabinet," he told his constituents on Friday.

Last night Labour chief whip Nick Brown told the party’s MPs he expected the leader to be “consistent”, and once more urge the party not to block it.

Three Shadow Ministers resigned last week when the Brexit Bill was first introduced in the Commons, and another 10 of the hapless leftie’s frontbenchers defied his edict to back the Article 50 legislation.

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And Diane Abbott, the Shadow Home Secretary, is under pressure to show up for this week's vote after she went home early with a migraine last week.

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Ms Abbott, who is a close ally of the Labour leader, is facing calls to resign for her no-show - despite cancer patients turning up to the Commons to vote.

But last weekend Mr Corbyn said he is a "very lenient person" and hinted that he may not sack people who rebelled against him.

Diane Abbott went home with a migraine hours before the crunch vote was heldCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
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