Amid fears that Labour MPs will ok the PM's final Brexit doc, a petition demanding #VoteDownTheDeal garnered over 20,500 signatures. Including some very famous ones.
Britain-residing US actor Rob Delaney has signed a petition by the Labour Party campaigning group Momentum against Theresa May’s final deal.
The star of TV hit show Catastrophe was one of the over 20,500 people to sign the call, following rumours that some Labour MPs will support the deal once it comes to be voted in Parliament.
I signed it https://t.co/N3a2dXJmHI
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) November 19, 2018
A handful of Labour MPs, including the Remainer Lisa Nandy (Wigan), have indicated they might support May’s final document for fear the alternative would mean a ‘no deal Brexit’.
But Momentum campaigners argued that while the PM is lobbying Labour MPs:
“This half-baked Brexit deal fails Labour’s six tests, will be a disaster for our country and puts jobs, right and living standards at risk.”
Support for Momentum’s petition also came from other well-known left voices, including journalists Owen Jones and Paul Mason.
Labour’s shadow secretary for Brexit, Keir Starmer, developed the so-called “six tests for Brexit” earlier this year. Any deal the Tories put together would have to pass the tests in order to be supporter by the Opposition.
Labour’s six tests are:
1. Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?
2. Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the Single Market and Customs Union?
3. Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?
4. Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?
5. Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?
6. Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?
Starmer as well as other Labour frontbenchers have since said that the deal presented last week would not pass the tests.
The final draft of the Brexit deal will be heading to Brussels for a last summit with European negotiators on November 25. It will then be brought back to London for a debate and vote in Westminster at a date yet to be announced.
Joana Ramiro is a reporter for Left Foot Forward. You can follow her on Twitter for all sorts of rants here.
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