Friday 16 November 2018

Labour Should Put Down A No Confidence Motion in May's Government Now

Yesterday, John McDonnell correctly said that May's government is now a minority government, having lost the support of the DUP that May had bought with her £1 billion bribe to them after she failed to win the 2017 General Election.  Not only is May's government now a minority in Parliament, but it appears that at least 48 Tory MP's have no confidence in her or her government either, and that an internal vote of no confidence in her is likely to take place early next week, with government whips being recalled today, as the required 48 letters demanding it appears about to be reached.

May's government itself is in meltdown, as one Minister after another quits, and the further resignations are undoubtedly being stages so as to keep a steady drip drip of news, in the headlines, as the lifeblood of her government drains away, in a painful process of political exsanguination.  Michael Gove refused the poison chalice of Brexit Secretary, after being refused permission to go back to Brussels to renegotiate May's Brexit deal.  He has decided to stay in the Cabinet for now, because he undoubtedly sees the opportunity of waiting to see if May is removed, before then using his Cabinet position as a launchpad for his own bid for Leader.  If May survives the internal vote of confidence, then Gove can choose his time to resign, in order to do most damage to her.

If May has 100 Tory MP's vote against her, she almost certainly cannot remain in office.  But, even if she struggles past that hurdle, although theoretically she could be free of another such challenge for another year, under Tory rules, the reality is that if she faced an open rebellion, she would have to go.  The Tory rank rank and file are unreconstructed Brextremists, hard-line, right-wing nationalists, barely distinguishable from Farage's UKIP, and in some cases, barely distinguishable from the BNP.  They are drawn from the same mould of right-wing, reactionary, small business people whose interests Brexit is intended to further.  One way or another, the party base will have its way, and May will have to go, sooner rather than later.

So, if the DUP, and those Tory MP's that have sent in their letters of no confidence in May, mean what theys ay, and are true to their words, that they have no confidence in May and her government they should vote in a parliamentary vote accordingly.  They should join with Labour and the other parties in passing a motion of no confidence in May and her government.  They will not, of course, do so.  If they voted with Labour to bring down this shambolic and dangerous government, the immediate result would be that Jeremy Corbyn would have to be invited by the monarch to form a government.  That is the last thing the Tories or the DUP want.  Indeed, its the last thing that Blair-right MP's, and their supporters in the media want either.

The reason that the Blair-rights have been pushing the idea of a People's Vote, is precisely to avoid the possibility of a Corbyn Labour government as the real alternative to May's Government and a Tory Brexit.  But, its precisely for that reason that Labour should put down, now, a no-confidence motion in May and her government.  It would expose the duplicity not just of the DUP, and of the Tory Brextremists, but it would expose the nature of the Blair-rights, and of the conservative social-democrats in the media too, who are at best pushing the idea of the people's Vote, or at worst, setting the scene for demanding that Labour MP's back May's bad deal, so as to avoid the chaos of a No Deal Brexit.

Stop Brexit!  Demand a No Confidence Vote in May's Government Now! For a Labour Government committed to stopping Brexit, and a Campaign for a Workers Europe!

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