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10th Dec 2018

Nicola Sturgeon offers alliance to Jeremy Corbyn in order to bring down ‘shambles’ Tory government

The unholy alliance

Oli Dugmore

The unholy alliance

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has told Jeremy Corbyn her party will support Labour if it initiates a no confidence vote in Theresa May’s government.

However, that support is predicated on a second EU membership referendum to “stop Brexit.”

It seems unlikely lifelong Eurosceptic Corbyn will accept a pact on those terms.

DUNDEE, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 19: First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, officially opens NHS Tayside Trauma Centre at Ninewells Hospital on November 19, 2018 in Dundee, Scotland. The Dundee unit is the second of four of Scotland’s new major trauma centres that will deal with the worst injuries suffered in Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell - Pool / Getty Images)

Sturgeon said: “If Labour lodges a motion of no confidence in this incompetent government tomorrow the SNP support and we can work together to give people the chance to stop Brexit in another vote. This shambles can’t go on – so how about it?”

Earlier in the day, the first minister accused the government of “pathetic cowardice” for cancelling a meaningful vote in parliament on the draft Brexit agreement.

Responding to the news Jeremy Corbyn said: “The government has decided Theresa May’s Brexit deal is so disastrous that it has taken the desperate step of delaying its own vote at the eleventh hour.

“We have known for at least two weeks that Theresa May’s worst of all worlds deal was going to be rejected by parliament because it is damaging for Britain. Instead, she ploughed ahead when she should have gone back to Brussels to renegotiate or called an election so the public could elect a new government that could do so.

“We don’t have a functioning government. While Theresa May continues to botch Brexit, our public services are at breaking point and our communities suffer from dire under-investment.

“Labour’s alternative plan for a jobs first deal must take centre stage in any future talks with Brussels.”