Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he will not push for a general
election until the EU has agreed to extend Article 50.
The
Labour leader told
BBC Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday morning his “priority” was preventing a no-deal
Brexit on October 31.
“I am very happy to have a general election when we have taken no-deal off the table and when the EU has granted that extension,” he said.
MPs have passed legislation which would require
Boris Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit until 31 January 2020 if a deal has not been agreed by October 19.
Corbyn has called for Johnson to resign as prime minister following the bombshell
Supreme Court decision which ruled the PM’s suspension of parliament was unlawful.
The Labour leader also indicated the he would not vote for the usual Commons recess to allow the Conservative Party conference to go ahead next week uninterrupted. “I won’t support anything that shuts down parliament,” he said.
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, yesterday also told HuffPost
UK that Labour would not vote for the recess. “Why on earth would we?” he said.
But Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, suggested to Sky News this morning that Labour could allow it.
“Labour is very benevolent and believes in fair play so we will see what they come forward with. But we want to be benevolent,” she said.
Tories are still expected to gather in Manchester from Sunday until Wednesday even if a recess vote is lost.
But if the Commons is still sitting, opposition parties can disrupt the conference by forcing Tory MPs back to
London to deal with parliamentary business.
MPs are rushing back to Westminster today after following the court ruling.
The prime minister is flying back from
New York where he had been attending the UN General Assembly.
He is expected to land in the UK around midday on Wednesday, and could address the Commons in the afternoon.
No.10 has rejected demands by Corbyn and other party leaders for the PM to resign.
Johnson updated cabinet ministers on the ruling in a conference call on Tuesday from New York, in which Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg reportedly said the Supreme Court judgment amounted to a “constitutional coup”.
Micheal Gove this morning said he did not share that view but argued “there is a respectable legal opinion that disagrees” with the supreme court ruling.Related... Jacob Rees-Mogg Calls Supreme Court Ruling A 'Constitutional Coup'