THE SNP ’s Westminster leader has appealed to other party leaders to “accept some responsibility” to reach an agreement to bring down Boris Johnson and prevent a No-Deal Brexit .
Ian Blackford was speaking to The National after senior opposition party figures met yesterday in Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s office.
Blackford – along with Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, the Independent Group for Change’s (IGC) Anna Soubry, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and the LibDems’ Jo Swinson – agreed not to hold a vote of no confidence this week.
The SNP wanted Corbyn – or another MP – to stand as interim prime minister until No Deal was off the table, but Swinson rejected the move.
Blackford told The National: “There is some frustration on our part because we’re obviously very keen that we use the majority against No Deal to take the risk off the table by bringing forward a motion of no confidence, ending Boris Johnson’s premiership and appointing someone as an interim prime minister to extend Article 50 and to call an election. But I’m afraid not everybody’s in that place yet.
“I had an application in for a humble address today so we could force the Government to publish any papers on his [Johnson’s] plans for a deal with the EU, but the Speaker didn’t take that.
“To be fair the other opposition parties backed me on that.
“So we’ll keep chipping away and there’s going to be ongoing talks over the coming days, but I’m making the point to everybody that to guarantee there’s no No Deal, we’ve got to create this majority to bring him down.”
Several people have been suggested as potential interim PMs, including former chancellor Ken Clarke, but Blackford would not be drawn on specific names.
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“What myself and the First Minister have said is that we are open to sensible proposals of an individual who can do this, because it’s really about someone who can command the majority in the House to write the letter and call an election, and I think there are a number of possible candidates.
“Perhaps, ideally, somebody who’s not going to be serving in the next Parliament who could do that job.
“At the end of the day, the point is if you leave him [Johnson] in – ok we’ve got the legislation but they’re making it clear that they’re going to ignore it – if we want to guarantee we’ve got an extension to Article 50 we’ve got to accept some responsibility.”
Corbyn said he was entitled to be interim prime minister – should a no-confidence vote topple Johnson – as he is the leader of the official opposition in the Commons.
“The position is quite simply this: when a government collapses then the leader of the opposition is invited to form an administration,” he said.
However, Swinson said he could not command a majority in the Commons and rejected Corbyn. She said party whips would be meeting to discuss candidates.
Lucas said those at the meeting were “completely united about stopping No Deal”.
She added: “We’ll do whatever we need to do to make sure that No Deal doesn’t happen.
“I don’t think anyone is expecting a vote of no confidence this week but what we are expecting is to continue to discuss the best tactics and so forth in order to make sure that Boris Johnson doesn’t go ahead and defy the law and take us out with no deal.
“There were lots of discussions about the next steps and you won’t be surprised that I’m not going to put those out publicly, but yes it was a completely united meeting and absolutely clear that we will explore the next steps that do need to be taken to make sure that we do not drop out without a deal.”
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