Jeremy Corbyn urged to challenge Theresa May in a vote of no confidence before Christmas recess
The move to call the vote defied the Shadow Chancellor's view on Labour's priority which is to have a General Election
LABOUR descended into civil war over a No Confidence vote yesterday as one of Jeremy Corbyn’s allies urged him to challenge the PM by Christmas.
Sources claimed Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer told the leader the time to act was before the Christmas recess at the end of next week.
Jenny Chapman MP, one of his team, separately told LBC a no confidence vote “will probably come before Santa does” – before insisting she had been joking.
It came after Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru joined forces with more than 50 Labour MPs to demand Mr Corbyn table a vote now – and back a second referendum.
The move by the ‘grand coalition’ sparked a withering response from Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.
He repeated that Labour’s priority was a General Election and accused the SNP of being desperate to avoid one as they’d lose seats in Scotland to Labour.
Separately, Unite chief Len McCluskey insisted Jeremy Corbyn shouldn’t be “bounced” into calling a no confidence vote.
Labour sources on Monday insisted they won’t put a vote until they are sure they can win - given the DUP’s pledge to back Theresa May for now.
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Earlier a cross-party Committee dramatically lowered the bar for MPs seeking to oust Theresa May by saying a No Confidence motion doesn’t automatically trigger an Election.
The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee said the PM would be expected to resign simply if Parliament expressed that it no longer had confidence in her government.
A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer declined to comment.
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