Jeremy Corbyn Urges Tory Rebels To Back Him As PM To Stop No-Deal Brexit

He wrote: “This government has no mandate for no deal, and the 2016 EU referendum provided no mandate for no deal. 

“I therefore intend to table a vote of no confidence at the earliest opportunity when we can be confident of success.

“Following a successful vote of no confidence in the government, I would then, as leader of the opposition, seek the confidence of the house for a strictly time-limited temporary government with the aim of calling a general election, and securing the necessary extension of Article 50 to do so.

“In that general election, Labour will be committed to a public vote on the terms of leaving the European Union, including an option to Remain.”

The letter was sent to the SNP’s Ian Blackford, Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, independent backbencher Nick Boles and Tories Grieve, Letwin and Caroline Spelman.

Swinson quickly scuppered some of Corbyn’s hopes by saying he was the wrong politician for the job

“Jeremy Corbyn is not the person who is going to be able to build an even temporary majority in the House of Commons for this task – I would expect there are people in his own party and indeed the necessary Conservative backbenchers who would be unwilling to support him. It is a nonsense,” she said.

Blackford welcomed the Labour leader’s letter and said the SNP would bring down the Tories in a no-confidence vote.

Saville Roberts also offered her cautious support, saying Plaid Cymru is open to a unity government regardless of who leads it, but that it must have “stopping Brexit” as its first priority.

A No 10 spokesman said: “There is a clear choice: either Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister who will overrule the referendum and wreck the economy, or Boris Johnson as Prime Minister who will respect the referendum and deliver more money for the NHS and more police on our streets.”