Jeremy Corbyn will order his Labour MPs to vote against the EU repeal bill next week, it was announced today.
After a meeting of the shadow cabinet, a party spokesman said it would not support legislation that meant ministers could ‘grab powers from parliament’.
Although the government is still expected to win as Tory backbenchers are not likely to rebel, the news sets the stage for a bitter battle as the crucial measures go through the parliamentary process.
It came as a former minister predicted that Labour will end up backing a second referendum on Brexit terms.
Jeremy Corbyn (pictured at a Lush event yesterday) will order his Labour MPs to vote against the EU repeal bill next week
The crucial EU Withdrawal Bill – which paves the way for Brexit by transferring Brussels law on to domestic statute books – is due to come before the House of Commons on Thursday, with the second reading vote on Monday.
Just a handful of rebel Tory MPs could inflict humiliating and catastrophic defeat on Theresa May if joined by Labour and the SNP.
However, Conservative Remainers are set to keep their powder dry for the committee stage of the bill, when hundreds of amendments could be tabled.
A Labour party spokesman said: ‘Labour fully respects the democratic decision to leave the European Union, voted to trigger Article 50 and backs a jobs-first Brexit with full tariff-free access to the European single market.
‘But as democrats we cannot vote for a Bill that unamended would let government ministers grab powers from parliament to slash people’s rights at work and reduce protection for consumers and the environment.
‘Parliament has already voted to leave the European Union. But the government’s EU Withdrawal Bill would allow Conservative ministers to set vital terms on a whim, including of Britain’s exit payment, without democratic scrutiny.
‘Nobody voted in last year’s referendum to give this Conservative government sweeping powers to change laws by the back door. The slogan of the Leave campaign was about people taking back control and restoring powers to parliament.
Lord Adonis (left) said he believed the party would be committed to a vote on the terms of our departure within the next six months. Brexit Secretary David Davis is stewarding the Brexit Bill through the Commons
Theresa May (pictured at church in Maidenhead on Sunday) is expected to try to push forward the Brexit talks at a summit with EU counterparts next month
‘This power-grab Bill would do the opposite. It would allow the government to seize control from the parliament that the British people have just elected.’
In an interview with the New Statesman, Lord Adonis said he was convinced Labour would come round to supporting a second referendum.
‘Once Labour’s in favour it’s only a matter of time before the government has to concede … I would be very surprised if we’re not committed to a referendum on the exit terms within six months,’ he said.
‘The thing I only always learned from Tony [Blair] is ‘get the policy right and the politics will follow’. The right policy is a referendum on the exit terms, the politics will sort itself out.’
Labour former Cabinet Lord Mandelson said yesterday that his party was preparing for ‘trench warfare’, warning that the Upper House was in no mood to allow the legislation through unamended.
‘Ministers, lacking a clear majority, will enter the minefield of the ‘repeal bill’ with the opposition benches more united against them,’ Lord Mandelson wrote in the Times.
‘This paves the way for serious, gruelling political trench warfare. It also means that only a small rebellion by Conservatives would be needed to defeat the government and force them to change course.
‘The House of Lords, which feels emboldened given the government’s electoral failure in June, will likewise make sure it has its say.’