Brexit bill deadlock continues as Labour-Tory talks break up in acrimony
3 min read
Attempts to revive the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) have collapsed after a summit of senior Tory and Labour figures broke up in acrimony.
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn were joined by aides and frontbench colleagues for the talks on Wednesday morning.
The meeting took place in the wake of MPs voting to block the Prime Minister's bid to ram the WAB through the Commons by Thursday night.
Mr Johnson then announced that he would "pause" the bill while the EU decides whether to grant a Brexit extension until the end of January.
Labour said it was willing to agree a new timetable giving MPs more time to scrutinise the landmark 110-page legislation.
But the meeting - which also included top Number 10 adviser Dominic Cummings, Mr Corbyn's communications chief Seumas Milne and Labour chief whip Nick Brown - ended without an agreement, dashing hopes of a breakthrough.
PoliticsHome understands that at one point, Mr Cummings banged a table and said the Conservatives wanted to have a general election rather than more time to pass the WAB, leading to him being over-ruled by the Prime Minister.
A Downing Street spokesman said there had been "no meeting of minds" in the room.
He said: "Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party's aim is to delay, delay, delay so they can have their two referendums next year (on Brexit and Scottish independence)."
The spokesman said it was "absolutely" still the PM's plan to go for a snap general election if the EU extends the Brexit deadline for three months.
But he added: "The Prime Minister wants to get his deal done by 31 October.
"If this Parliament is unwilling to vote for a deal, then we will have to go for a general election.
"If there were a general election called, we would campaign on the fact that we've got a great deal that will get Brexit done."
A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the meeting had been "perfectly cordial" and that the Prime Minister had suggested that the EU could refuse a Brexit extension because French president Emmanuel Macron had spoken out against it.
"Jeremy made clear he's sceptical that what has been said by the French government would actually turn into reality," he said.
"It's clear that the strong likelihood is that the EU will grant an extension of some kind along the lines requested."
He said Nick Brown had told the meeting he was prepared to agree a "reasonable and sensible" way of bringing the WAB back to Parliament.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson also asked Mr Corbyn if Labour would support an election if he pushed for one.
The spokesman added: "We remain absolutely where we've been, which is that we'll support an election once a no-deal crash out if off the table."
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