Jeremy Corbyn has rejected as “childish” Lib Dem demands that he force an immediate vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s government.
Jo Swinson, the new Lib Dem leader, said on Thursday the Labour leader should try and bring down the government to stop Johnson taking the UK out of the EU without a deal on October 31.
The Lib Dems have tabled their own no confidence motion, but as leader of the official Opposition, Corbyn is the only person who can trigger such a parliamentary showdown.
“Boris Johnson does not hold a mandate from parliament or the general public to be prime minister,” Swinson said in a letter sent to Corbyn today.
“His reckless refusal to rule out proroguing parliament in order to crash the UK out of the EU without a deal demonstrates that he is not fit to lead this country.”
But a Labour Party spokesperson said holding a no confidence vote immediately would “only strengthen Boris Johnson’s hand and further his march towards no deal”.
“This is childish and irresponsible game playing by the Lib Dems who are more interested in attacking Labour than stopping no deal,” the spokesperson added.
A Lib Dem spokesperson told HuffPost UK the reaction showed Labour was failing to “to stop Boris and to stop Brexit”.
“Having failed to oppose Brexit for the last three years, Jeremy Corbyn is once again missing in action,” they said.
As HuffPost UK revealed on Tuesday, Corbyn will not move to try and topple Johnson’s new government until after the summer in the belief on then will there be a realistic prospect of winning over the rebel Tory votes needed to trigger a general election.
According to the House of Commons library, a no confidence vote would have to pass in the week beginning September 3 - the first week after the summer parliamentary recess - if a general election is to be held before the October 31 Brexit deadline.
Johnson held the first meeting of a his new cabinet this morning, after brutally firing a large number of Theresa May’s cabinet and replacing them with his own allies.