Labour tries to force new Single Market deal
The Labour Party has thrown down the gauntlet to Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit, urging MPs to defeat her in parliament in a debate next week.
They are backing a proposal for Britain to stay in the EU's single market after leaving the European Union.
Ten months before Britain leaves the European Union, May is struggling to unite her party and government over a Brexit strategy. She also faces a parliament where some lawmakers want to force her to go back on promises to leave the bloc's single market and customs union.
By tabling a new amendment to May's Brexit blueprint, the EU withdrawal bill, Labour puts the single market back at the centre of the debate. It also challenges many of its own lawmakers who want Britain to have an even stronger relationship with the EU and stay in its European Economic Area.
The move further muddies the water over a vote next week on the EU withdrawal bill, which May needs to pass to sever ties with the bloc and "copy and paste" its laws into British legislation so the country can function after March next year.
It first hangs on whether the amendment will even be accepted and debated in parliament on June 12. Then it comes down to whether it can get the numbers to defeat the government.
The amendment calls on the government to negotiate full access to the EU's single market, to keep common minimum standards, rights and protections, to share joint institutions and regulations, and ensure there are no new impediments to trade.
"Labour will only accept a Brexit deal that delivers the benefits of the single market and protects jobs and living standards," Keir Starmer, Labour's Brexit policy chief, said on Tuesday.
The move ignites the latest battle in a long series of conflicts waged in both parties, both Britain's upper and lower houses of parliament and across a deeply divided country since it voted in 2016 to leave the bloc.
The Conservative Party said Labour had "shattered their promise to respect the referendum result".
"Only the Conservatives will get the best deal for the whole country - delivering on the referendum vote to get control of our money, borders and laws, while building a strong new relationship with Europe," said Suella Braverman, a minister in the Brexit ministry.
Published: by Radio NewsHub