Ruth Cadbury argues Theresa May 'can no longer kick the can down the road'

After the massive defeat in parliament this Tuesday night, Brentford and Isleworth MP Ruth Cadbury has called for the government to take steps to hold a second referendum on leaving the EU.

Speaking after the vote on the deal, Ruth said ‘It’s now clear after tonight’s overwhelming defeat that there is no majority for any Brexit option in Parliament. After delaying the parliamentary vote by a month, Theresa May can no longer kick the can down the road. The Prime Minister needs to put her trust in the British people, and allow a people’s vote, with the option to stay in the EU”.

Theresa May’s government now faces a no-confidence vote tabled by Jeremy Corbyn after the decisive rejection of her Brexit deal but she is widely expected to survive. Labour party policy is to try and force a general election but if that proves not to be possible to move to support for a second referendum. It has been reported this morning that Ruth Cadbury is one of around 100 Labour MPs who want Jeremy Corbyn to announce as quickly as possible that the party’s policy is to support a new vote with remaining in the EU as one of the options.

Following the defeat Theresa May said that the government would speak to ‘senior politic figures’ in opposition parties about forging a consensus over a deal with the EU. With Labour saying that one of their preconditions for supporting any deal to leave the EU would be that there would be ‘a customs union’, there is little confidence that a cross-party agreement could be reached as this would breach one of Theresa May’s red lines. Remaining in any form of customs union would restrict the UK’s ability to negotiate external trade deals.

Shadow Chancellor John Mcdonnell conceded that the Prime Minister was likely to survive the confidence vote and added, "What we expect to happen then is proper negotiation and discussions to see if there's a compromise that can be reached."

However he said Jeremy Corbyn had not been contacted for discussions with the government.

With the deadline set by Article 50 moving ever closer the chances have increased of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Ruth Cadbury reaffirmed her strong opposition to a no-deal Brexit, after voting in favour of Yvette Cooper’s amendment to the Finance Bill last week and said ‘‘It’s now vital that parliament takes further steps to block the Government from implementing a disastrous no-deal Brexit.’’

If the government did decide to hold another referendum then an extension of Article 50 would have to be extended and new legislation would need to be passed determining the rules on who should be allowed to vote. The Electoral Commission would also need time to consider and advise on the question or questions to be asked in the second vote.
The confidence vote in the government is expected to be held at around 7pm on Wednesday (16 January).

January 16, 2019