Sir Keir Starmer braced for rebellion as more than 20 Labour MPs set to vote against trade deal

Danielle Sheridan
·2 min read
Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Labour MPs to vote for the trade deal secured by Boris Johnson - Nigel Roddis
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Sir Keir Starmer is braced for a rebellion on Wednesday as more than 20 Labour MPs are set to vote against the Brexit trade deal.

Rupa Huq, Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, warned of the growing size of the rebellion after Sir Keir instructed his party to vote for the bill.

When asked how many Labour rebels she believed were planning to defy the whip, Ms Huq said: “The number I’ve seen is 20, I’d have thought it could be more than that.”

“I’ve seen 20 being said in the papers over the weekend, I’d say it’s more than that,” she told Times Radio.

Ms Huq said it made “perfect sense” to abstain from voting for the deal as it “nodded it through” without having their “fingerprints” on it.  She conceded that the bill, with the majority of Labour’s backing, “will get through”.

It comes after the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and ex-cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw were among signatories to a statement calling on opposition parties not to support the "rotten" agreement.

Other signatories include ex-cabinet minister Lord Adonis and another former shadow cabinet minister, Clive Lewis.

The statement, which was organised by Another Europe Is Possible and Labour For A Socialist Europe, warns that it is the duty of the opposition to provide proper parliamentary scrutiny and to set out an alternative.

"That task gets harder if opposition parties fall into the trap of rallying around this rotten deal," it said.

"We are witnessing an act of vandalism against our livelihoods, our rights and our horizons.

"We call on Labour, the Labour movement and other opposition parties not to support the Tories' Brexit deal when it is put to a vote in the House of Commons."

Other signatories are said to include former MEPs, councillors and local activists.

Labour is alone among the opposition parties in saying it will support the deal - with the SNP and the Liberal Democrats having said they will vote against it.

The DUP, which backed Brexit, has also said it will oppose the deal because the Brexit divorce settlement imposes customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.