Brexit sparks Labour revolt

A string of Labour shadow cabinet members have quit, with more walkouts expected, in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership over the EU referendum.

Heidi Alexander, Ian Murray, Gloria de Piero, Lillian Greenwood, Lucy Powell, Kerry McCarthy and Seema Malhotra quit.

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It comes after Corbyn sacked shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.

Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence following a "lacklustre" EU campaign but shadow chancellor John McDonnell said he "wasn't going anywhere".

McDonnell and shadow cabinet members Andy Burnham, Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry have given Corbyn their support despite the resignations.

Shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker has said he is considering his position.

The Labour Party campaigned for Remain during the referendum, which saw the UK voting to leave the EU by 52% to 48% on Thursday.

But Corbyn, who has been a long-standing critic of the EU and who is regarded as the most Eurosceptic Labour leader in years, was accused by some in his party of not making the case for the EU forcefully enough.

As a result, a motion of no confidence against Corbyn has been submitted by Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey - and it is expected to consider at the next meet of Labour MPs today. A secret ballot could be held the following day.

Sources close to Corbyn have said he would stand again in the event of any leadership election and McDonnell said he would chair his campaign again.

WHATEVER IT TAKES

Meanwhile, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday said Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the European Union, including potentially blocking legislation on a British exit from the bloc.

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 percent in Thursday's referendum, putting it at odds with the United Kingdom as a whole.

Sturgeon has said a new Scottish referendum on independence from the rest of the UK was "highly likely" if that were the best option to keep Scotland in the European bloc.

"There are going to be deeply damaging and painful consequences of the process of trying to extricate the UK from the EU. I want to try and protect Scotland from that," Sturgeon told BBC television.

Scots voted against independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, after a campaign during which remaining in the EU was presented as a key reason to stick with the UK.

Scottish newspaper the Sunday Post published a poll by research firm ScotPulse, taken on Friday, that suggested support for independence had surged to 59 percent after the Brexit vote.

Sturgeon said the Brexit vote was a game-changer that made it legitimate for Scotland to revisit the issue of independence.

"The context and the circumstances have changed dramatically. The UK that Scotland voted to remain within in 2014 doesn't exist anymore," she said.

A vote for independence would end the 300-year-old union between Scotland and England, its far more populous southern neighbour, dealing a body blow to the UK at a time when it is likely to still be dealing with the fallout from Brexit.

That could lead to border controls being set up between the two countries.

"I certainly don't want to see in any circumstances a border between Scotland and England," Sturgeon said. "Whatever happens here England is our nearest neighbour and will always I hope be our best friend but these are circumstances in which Scotland hasn't chosen to be."

SCOTTISH VETO

Sturgeon said she would seek a way of negotiating directly with the EU on the best way to achieve Scotland's aim of staying in the bloc.

She said it would be "completely unacceptable" for whoever succeeds Cameron as British prime minister to try and stop Scotland from holding a second independence referendum on the basis that the issue had been settled in 2014.

Under the UK's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU may have to gain consent from the three devolved parliaments.

Asked whether she would consider asking the Scottish parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: "Of course."

"If the Scottish parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest, of course that's going to be on the table."

Sturgeon's pro-independence Scottish National Party holds 56 of the 59 seats representing Scotland in the national parliament in London, while in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh it has 63 seats out of 129.

Asked if she could imagine the fury of British voters who had made the choice to leave the EU if the Scottish parliament blocked Brexit, Sturgeon said:

"I can, but it's perhaps similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will."

A TOTAL DISTRACTION

Meanwhile, union members on Labour's National Executive are to call for unity and will support Corbyn's leadership.

And more than 175,000 people have signed an online petition backing the Labour leader, who was elected last September in a landslide victory.

But one shadow cabinet member told the BBC: "I imagine that there'll be a leadership election and Jeremy will win. But this is a total distraction."

Benn was sacked by Corbyn overnight after he told him he had "lost confidence" in his leadership.

Speaking yesterday's Andrew Marr Show, Benn, who has ruled out any Labour leadership bid, said Corbyn "is a good and decent man but he is not a leader".

Asked if he thought Corbyn should resign, he said he did but added "that is a matter for him".

Hours after Benn's sacking, shadow health secretary Alexander, who joined Corbyn's shadow cabinet last year, tweeted: "It is with a heavy heart that I have this morning resigned from the shadow cabinet."

In a letter to the Labour leader, she wrote: "As much as I respect you as a man of principle, I do not believe you have the capacity to shape the answers our country is demanding and I believe that if we are to form the next government, a change of leadership is essential."

But McDonnell, speaking on Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics, was defiant, saying: "Jeremy is not going anywhere and will continue on."

But shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott played down the prospect of a no confidence vote.

Shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry also stood by Corbyn, saying she would not be stepping down and that she was "bewildered" by those who were.

But others in the party calling for a change of leadership include Labour MP Ivan Lewis, who is running to be Labour's candidate for the Greater Manchester mayoralty and who has written to Corbyn calling on him to resign.

Other MPs have spoken out against Corbyn's input in Labour's EU referendum campaign, with MP Stephen Kinnock saying it "was not Labour's finest hour". Meanwhile, former Labour cabinet member Ben Bradshaw said Labour faced being "wiped out" at the next general election under Corbyn.

Meanwhile, former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who lost his seat as an MP at the 2015 general election, also backed calls for a change of leader.

From BBC and Reuters