WESTMINSTER remained locked in paralysis last night as Jeremy Corbyn accused Theresa May of using a no-deal Brexit as “blackmail,” refusing to join talks to come up with a Plan B on Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
After another day of parliamentary drama, which saw the Conservative Government survive a vote of no-confidence, the Prime Minister appeared in Downing St to urge MPs to “put self-interest aside” and come together to map a way forward on Brexit.
The Labour leader made clear he would only engage with Mrs May in substantive discussions if she took a no-deal option off the table. No 10 made clear she would not do this as no-deal was the default option if an agreement could not be reached.
His spokesman explained: "The blackmail is that by attempting to run down the clock and hold the threat of the country going over a cliff-edge into a no-deal outcome...that makes it more difficult to reach a real and effective deal."
Last night, Mrs May delivered a statement from Downing Street meant to reassure the public after what she said had been the “unsettling” events at Westminster, which saw her Brexit Plan rejected by the largest parliamentary majority in history.
“This is now the time to put self-interest aside,” declared the PM.
She said she was “disappointed” Mr Corbyn had refused to take part in the cross-party talks but insisted: “Our door remains open.”
Mrs May stressed it was her duty to deliver on the 2016 Brexit vote and she intended to do so.
“It’s time for us to come together, put the national interest first and deliver on the referendum,” she added.
Earlier after a meeting with the PM in Downing St, Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, suggested his party would also not take part in substantive talks unless certain issues were on the table.
In a letter to the PM, the Highland MP made clear “cosmetic changes” to her rejected deal would not be enough.
“If you are able to confirm that the extension of Article 50, a ruling out of a no-deal Brexit and the option of a second EU referendum would form the basis of those discussions, then we could participate in them. That view is shared by the SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.”
Mr Blackford added: “For any discussion between your Government and the SNP to be meaningful, these options must be on the table.”
Sir Vince Cable for the Liberal Democrats, who also met Mrs May last night, made a similar point, saying: “I will make it absolutely clear no-deal has to be taken off the table and there has to be a sensible discussion about the People's Vote."
Later today, the PM and other senior ministers are due to meet groups of MPs, including Eurosceptic Conservatives and the Democratic Unionists.
In a separate development, the leadership of the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Greens wrote to Mr Corbyn to “implore” him to back a People’s Vote.
However, Labour HQ made clear that the issue of “other options,” which include another referendum, would not be considered any time soon as the party pointed to the option of calling another no-confidence vote, possibly as early as next week.
Meanwhile, it emerged EU officials are examining plans to delay Brexit until 2020 after Germany and France indicated their willingness to extend withdrawal negotiations because of Britain’s political turmoil.
The PM’s offer of talks followed the Government surviving a no-confidence vote. Conservative MPs turned out in force to block an attempt to throw the Tories out of office and call a general election.
The 10 Democratic Unionist MPs joined with their minority Government allies together with Lady Sylvia Hermon, the Independent MP for North Down, to defeat the Labour motion by 325 votes to 306; a majority 19.
The full number of Labour MPs available to vote - 251 - supported the motion along with the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and four independents.
Earlier in the day, Ms Sturgeon was at Westminster to meet SNP colleagues for discussions on the party’s strategy ahead.
Having spoken to Mrs May the night before, the FM said she did not appear “open to new thinking”.
Speaking to reporters, Ms Sturgeon said: “The PM’s position sounds as if she is deluding herself about what is possible in the next 72 days that hasn’t been possible in the last two and a half years.
“It is time for everyone to get real, the country is facing a Brexit cliff-edge, we can't carry on limping towards it oblivious to the reality.”
The FM denied the Salmond row had knocked back her expected announcement on a call for a second independence referendum, declaring: “Not in the slightest, no,” and explaining that she would make an announcement on the matter in the “next matter of weeks”.
She added the Brexit crisis, “the biggest in our lifetimes,” made people in Scotland think that if they were in charge of their affairs, “we would perhaps be steering a better course right now; we are in this position because we not independent”.
After a six-hour debate in the Commons, Tory MPs roared their approval when the vote numbers were read out.
Mrs May responded to the result by making the invitation to the leaders of opposition parties, vowing to deliver on the "solemn promise" to deliver Brexit.
During the debate, Mr Corbyn urged Mrs May's "zombie Government" to make way and declared her "Frankenstein" Brexit deal was officially dead.
He attacked Mrs May for presiding over "the largest defeat in the history of our democracy" on her Brexit deal and criticised the Government's record on issues beyond leaving the EU.
But the Labour faced Tory taunts with former minister Anna Soubry labelling him the "most hopeless Leader of the Opposition we've ever had".
The PM rose to cheers and the stamping of feet from her backbenchers and told Mr Corbyn a general election would be "the worst thing we could do".
She said: "It would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward, so this House should reject this motion.
"At this crucial moment in our nation's history, a general election is simply not in the national interest."
Mrs May also launched a personal attack on Mr Corbyn, noting: “What he has done to his party is a national tragedy. What he would do to our country would be a national calamity.”
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