MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

PM May Monday speech to impede “catastrophic” defeat in Parliament and Labour no confidence vote

Theresa May will use a speech on Monday to warn that Parliament is more likely to block Brexit than let the UK leave with no deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is making a last-ditch attempt to persuade MPs to back her Brexit deal as Tuesday's key Commons vote looms closer. She will use a speech on Monday to warn that Parliament is more likely to block Brexit than let the UK leave with no deal.

Mrs May will add that trust in politics will suffer “catastrophic harm” if the referendum result is not implemented. Labour has vowed to table a vote of no confidence if Mrs May loses.

Its leader Jeremy Corbyn said Labour would vote against the deal and would start moves to trigger a general election if it is voted down. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: “We will table a motion of no confidence in the government at a time of our choosing, but it's going to be soon, don't worry about it.”

Mrs May's speech comes amid reports MPs plan to take control of Brexit if her deal is defeated. About 100 Conservative MPs, and the Democratic Unionist Party's 10 MPs, are currently expected to join Labour and the other opposition parties in voting against the deal.

Speaking to factory workers, Mrs May will say on Monday: “As we have seen over the last few weeks, there are some in Westminster who would wish to delay or even stop Brexit and who will use every device available to them to do so.”

Meanwhile Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said: “The increasingly desperate language from the prime minister more than suggests a great deal of panic. ”But she cannot be allowed to pull the wool over the public's eyes. A chaotic no-deal Brexit is a choice and it is in the gift of the government to prevent it.“

He argued that best way forward was to have another referendum, including the option to remain in the EU.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told the BBC's Andrew Marr show there was greater ”uncertainty“ after Commons Speaker John Bercow's decision last week to allow MPs to change the parliamentary timetable.
He warned ”those on the Brexiteer side seeking ideological purity“ by voting down Mrs May's deal they risked ”leaving the door ajar to ways that increase the risk to Brexit“.

”There are lots of different plans being put forward by Members of Parliament that don't respect the result (of the referendum) or risk no deal,“ he added.

The UK will leave the EU on 29 March unless there is a new act of Parliament preventing that. Because the government controls the timetable for Commons business, it was assumed that this would not be possible.
But a group of MPs, including former Tory ministers, are reported by the Sunday Times to be working on a way to allow non-government members to take control of the timetable and bring forward legislation making it illegal to leave the EU without a deal, if Mrs May loses Tuesday's vote.

Downing Street has said it is ”extremely concerned“ about the reported plot, which it says could potentially overturn centuries of Parliamentary precedent.

But the SNP's leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, said MPs must now take control of the Brexit process from the government to prevent a no-deal scenario. He told the BBC's Sunday Politics programme: ”The prime minister's got to stop threatening Parliament and indeed, threatening the whole of the United Kingdom, that it's a choice between her deal and no deal - that's not the case.”