Labour chairman Ian Lavery is facing calls to apologise to the party’s pro-EU membership after claiming he mistakenly voted in favour of a managed no-deal Brexit.
The Wansbeck MP has admitted he accidentally rebelled against the Labour whip when the Commons was asked to vote on eight different Brexit motions as part of the ‘indicative votes’ process in the Commons on Wednesday night.
MPs were presented with ‘Yes/No’ ballots for each of the options as they attemtped reach a consensus on exiting the bloc in the wake of two defeats for Theresa May’s deal.
Lavery backed a motion by hardline Tory Brexiteer Marcus Fysh for a managed no-deal exit. It advocated a “standstill” agreement with the EU while a Canada-style free trade deal, without a single market or customs union agreement, was reached.
The party has stressed it was an “honest mistake” and that Lavery agrees with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition to leaving without a deal.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Lavery said the mistake was his and not whips’ or House of Commons staff’s, but added: “I hold the opposite views, as everyone is aware.”
Pro-EU Labour campaigner Fiona O’Farrell, who was among the members to write the party’s conference policy, said Lavery should apologise.
She added: “I would expect the chairman of the Labour Party to make sure that he had taken the time to read what was on his ballot paper and know what he was voting for.
“Mistakenly voting for a no-deal, which would be a disaster for the people of this country, is just not acceptable.”
Separately, Lavery and two other members of the shadow cabinet – shadow local government secretary Andrew Gwynne and shadow cabinet minister Jon Trickett – face calls to resign for abstaining on the motion for a second referendum. The Labour whip was to vote in favour.
Emma Lewell-Buck and Justin Madders are among other shadow frontbenchers who were forced to resign when they voted to block a second vote earlier in the month.
Labour MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting, told HuffPost: “Labour’s policy on a new referendum is clear, as was the whip. For members of the shadow cabinet to abstain makes a mockery of the whipping system and for the chair of the Labour Party to ignore policy makes a mockery of our claim to be a ‘member-led’ party.
“If members of the shadow cabinet want to take a principled stand, they should have resigned as some of their junior colleagues did. It’s a total disgrace.”
O’Farrell said she believed Corbyn should act.
“My faith in the party’s supposed members-led policy making really is at breaking point. When delegates spent six hours writing the Brexit policy at conference last September, we had no idea we would have to spend the next six months fighting for it to be followed by the party,” she added.
“You do have to wonder about the attitude to collective responsibility when members of the shadow cabinet and indeed the chairman of the party can abstain and vote against the party whip with apparent impunity. Just last week others had to resign from their roles to do so.”