Remainer rebel MPs are to mount a dramatic new bid to block a No Deal Brexit next week
REMAINER rebel MPs are to mount a dramatic new bid to block a No Deal Brexit next week by cutting off the Government’s money supply.
The fresh attempt is being led by former Tory Attorney General Dominic Grieve and ex-Labour Foreign Secretary Dame Margaret Beckett.
The cross-party duo have tabled amendments to routine finance legislation – dubbed estimates - that was set to be nodded through on Tuesday July 2.
If the plan succeeds, the new PM will be forced to either pass a withdrawal agreement with the EU through the Commons or win its permission for a No Deal exit on October 31 first.
If they fail, funding to a series of key Government ministries will be immediately cut off, and Whitehall will be plunged into a standstill.
Confirming the plan, Mr Grieve told The Sun: “The suggestion that we could or should be taken out of the EU without the consent
of the House of Commons is fundamentally wrong, and frankly unconstitutional.
NEW PLAN TO FRUSTRATE BREXIT
“The fact that it is being suggested as a viable option is unacceptable.
“The Commons should put down such markers as it can that such a course of action is acceptable.”
Mr Grieve added: “I encourage all MPs to support it no matter what party they’re from”.
Tory leadership contenders Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have both pledged to execute a No Deal exit if talks for a new agreement with the EU fail.
The move sparked fury among Brexiteers.
Vice chair of the Eurosceptic Tory ERG Mark Francois said: “After the European elections it is clear that the British public are utterly sick and tired of MPs playing parliamentary games to frustrate Brexit.
“The idea some utterly Europhile MPs are threatening to withhold school funding or benefits payments is abhorrent, and I hope and believe this amendment will be defeated.”
Len takes aim at Labour's anti-Brexit plan
By Kate Ferguson, Westminster Correspondent
UNION boss Len McCluskey yesterday blasted Tom Watson and John McDonnell’s “Baldrick-style cunning plans” to stop Brexit.
In a blistering attack, the Corbyn ally accused Labour Remain-backing MPs of being “in denial” about the referendum result.
The astonishing attack came just a day after Mr Corbyn dashed expectations and refused to shift Brexit position – prompting Mr McDonnell to brand their policy a “slow moving car crash”.
The fudge sparked furious accusations the Labour leader takes his Brexit orders from the Unite boss – dubbed ‘Red Len’ for his leftie views.
Speaking at Unite’s conference in Brighton, Mr McCluskey said: “You will see that your union is coming in for all sorts of criticism for our stand on Brexit, mainly from those still in denial about the result of the 2016 referendum.
“So let me take this opportunity to make our position crystal clear. We have one objective in all our political work, and that is supporting Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of Labour and winning the Labour government.
“So we are not the union for smart-alec strategies, flip-flopping on points of principle or Baldrick-style cunning plans on Brexit.”
Labour ex Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who backs another referendum, accused Mr Corbyn’s closest advisers of blocking a change of policy.
She told BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: “They don’t give a toss about what the British people now want or what Labour members think is in the country’s interests.
“They just are determined to make sure we don’t do anything to impede Britain leaving, if necessary with no deal.”
A Labour spokesman admitted there is “a spectrum of views across the Labour party” on Brexit.
But he said they will finally settle their policy “in a few weeks”.
Hitting back at claims Mr Corbyn takes his Brexit orders from Mr McCluskey, he added: “Jeremy is quite capable of taking his own decisions and the idea that he’s under the control of anyone else is laughable.”
He said a “credible Leave option” will need to be on the ballot paper if another referendum is held.
And he did not rule out no-deal being on the ballot paper for a second referendum.
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IT is now obvious from Labour’s Brexit paralysis who would run a Corbyn Government: union boss “Red Len” McCluskey and vile Stalin apologist Seumas Milne.
Most of Corbyn’s party are screaming at him to back a second referendum and campaign to Remain. His deputy, Shadow Chancellor, Brexit spokesman and other frontbenchers side with the Remain-voting members. Corbyn can’t.
Milne and Unite chief McCluskey are opposed. And they call the shots.
In power, Corbyn’s national decisions would be dictated to him by the unions.
Which is not to say Red Len is wrong on Brexit. In the latest major survey, 57 per cent of Brits now back leaving in some form. Remain is down to just 43.
Labour could back this minority and promise them their losers’ vote, hoping to lure middle-class urban Remainers back from the Lib Dems. But betraying its working-class Leavers could sacrifice dozens of seats it needs for power.
You thought the Tories had problems.
The four ministries targeted are the Department for International Development, Education, Work and Pensions and the Ministry for Housing and Local Government.
They are being targeted by random, as it is their turn to win regular Commons approval next week.
A Commons bid by Jeremy Corbyn two weeks to stop a No Deal Brexit failed after it was defeated by 309 votes to 298.
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