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Corbyn lays out plan to stop No Deal in letter to party leaders and senior backbenchers

JEREMY CORBYN has written to party leaders and senior backbenchers to lay out his plan to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

In his letter, the Labour leader wrote: “Our priority should be to work together in Parliament to prevent a deeply damaging no-deal.”

The letter comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatens to suspend Parliament and push through a no-deal Brexit on October 31.

In response, Mr Corbyn plans to hold a no-confidence vote “at the earliest opportunity” and if successful will seek to form a caretaker government on a “strictly time-limited” basis.

He said that Mr Johnson had “no mandate for no-deal, and the 2016 EU referendum provided no mandate for no-deal.”

Once a caretaker government has been formed, Mr Corbyn would ask for an extension to Article 50 to give enough time to hold a general election. 

Labour would then campaign for a “public vote on the terms of leaving the European Union, including an option to Remain.”

The letter is addressed to the SNP’s Commons leader Ian Blackford, the Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson, Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas and Tory rebels Dominic Grieve, Oliver Letwin, Nick Boles and Caroline Spelman.

Mr Corbyn also shed new light on discussions he has been having behind the scenes with Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill.

The Labour leader has tried to sound out the top civil servant “for his view on how purdah rules would apply if Parliament is dissolved for a general election campaign” that straddles the scheduled Brexit date of October 31.

Mr Corbyn said Mr Sedwill’s response to him on Tuesday had been “non-committal” but should inform discussions with other parties.

“While it is likely that the issue will be contested in the courts, our priority should be to work together in Parliament to prevent a deeply damaging no-deal being imposed on the country, denying voters the final say,” he wrote in his letter to the MPs.

“I would welcome the chance to discuss these proposals further with you, which I hope can halt the serious threat of no-deal, end the uncertainty and disarray and allow the public to decide the best way ahead for our country.”

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