Boris ‘could face no-trust vote next week’: SNP

LONDON: Opposition parties could stage a vote of confidence in the government next week in a bid to thwart a no-deal Brexit, a senior SNP MP has said.Stewart Hosie said the plan — to put in place an interim government to secure a Brexit extension — appeared to be the only way to ensure Britain did not “crash out” of the EU on October 31. However, he acknowledged that in order to succeed, it would require all the opposition parties to get behind it.But while the SNP have indicated they could support a temporary government led by Jeremy Corbyn, the Liberal Democrats and many of the Tory rebels who had the whip withdrawn have made clear they are not prepared to put the Labour leader in No 10.Hosie however warned that they may have no other option if they were serious about preventing a no-deal Brexit and securing a further extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process. “We have to do that because there is now no confidence that the Prime Minister will obey the law and seek the extension that Parliament voted for only a few weeks ago,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.“If we are serious about the extension, that is the only game in town.”Hosie’s intervention follows talks between the opposition party leaders at Westminster aimed at preventing a no-deal break. So far, they have been reluctant to go for a confidence vote fearing that under the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act Johnson could, if he is defeated, delay a general election until after October 31 by which time Britain will be out of the EU.Hosie said the plan could work if an alternative government capable of commanding a Commons majority had been “pre-agreed” before the confidence vote.Some MPs have suggested that a more consensual figure such a Ken Clarke or Dame Margaret Beckett could stand a better chance of winning cross-party support. However Hosie said it was “self-evidently the case” that as the leader of the second largest party Westminster, Corbyn should have the first chance of forming an administration.Hosie said that the sole purpose of such a government would be to obtain a further Brexit extension and then hold a general election.It was unclear to what extent other opposition parties were ready to back the idea.Asked if he thought there would be a confidence vote next week, Labour’s shadow communities secretary Andrew Gwynne told Today: “I don’t know.”

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