LONDON: The leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon, has said she will support the opposition Labour party if it lodges a no-confidence motion on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s rule.
May will reportedly cancel a parliamentary vote approving her preferred arrangement for leaving the EU, which was scheduled for Tuesday in the face of widespread opposition from within her party and the opposition.
“If Labour, as official opposition, lodges motion of no confidence in this incompetent government tomorrow, [the SNP] will support & we can then work together to give people the chance to stop Brexit in another vote. This shambles can’t go on – so how about it?” Sturgeon wrote on her Twitter account.
More than 100 members of the prime minister’s Conservatives were set to vote against the deal, as well as the Labour party.
If the vote had failed, it would almost certainly have ended May’s rule. Instead she reportedly will head to Brussel’s in the hope of securing changes to her deal with the EU, which several European states have flat out refused to negotiate.
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION
A motion of no confidence, if passed, would force a new election unless an alternative government can be formed by the opposition.
Labour currently has 257 MPs and the Scottish nationalists have 35. The combined total does not take into account divisions within the Labour party and falls short of the British parliament’s effective working majority of 323.
A no confidence motion would therefore have to rely on the support of rebels within the Conservative party, as well as other smaller parties.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has repeatedly stated he is ready to form a minority government or support a snap general election.
The opposition leader wants to negotiate a new deal with Europe, which he says will protect the rights of Europeans living in the UK, as well as give the UK access to the European Customs Union and single market, to ease trade.
Labour have sent mixed signals on whether they would support a second referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, highlighting its own internal divisions on the issue.
Some in the party fear, committing to a second vote will turn away Labour voters who backed Brexit, especially in the its northern heartlands, while others believe supporting a new referendum will draw voters who backed the campaign to stay in the EU.
