Labour MP Melanie Onn urges colleagues to back Boris Johnson’s deal
2 min read
Labour MP Melanie Onn has revealed she will vote for Boris Johnson's Brexit deal even though her party have vowed to vote it down.
Ms Onn, who represents the leave-voting seat of Grimsby, has written a joint letter with the Conservative MP Victoria Prentis urging colleagues to "use this unique chance to help us move on and get back to helping our constituents".
They wrote in The Guardian: "The risk of letting this final shot at a deal slip through our fingers is too great.
"Our collective hope rests on brave Labour MPs, and indeed others, who can see that."
Ms Onn resigned from a frontbench role in March in protest at Labour's support for a second referendum.
The Prime Minister will need to win over more Labour MPs than the handful of ardent Brexiters who supported Theresa May's deal if his own EU agreement is to pass in the Commons today.
But the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, has said he does not expect more than a few Labour MPs to be won over.
Mr McDonnell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't believe there are Labour MPs out there who will not think through the detail of this deal and then, when they see the impact -- particularly on environmental, consumers' and workers' rights -- will vote for it."
Among the Labour MPs who have said they will vote for the deal are Jim Fitzpatrick, who represents Poplar and Limehouse in London, and Ronnie Campbell, the MP for Blyth Valley in the north-east.
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