
News / Politics
Debbonaire to defy Corbyn over Article 50
As a Labour whip, it is the job of Thangam Debbonaire to impose party discipline.
Yet the Bristol West MP looks set to ignore the instructions of her own colleagues by not voting in favour of the Article 50 bill contrary to the wishes of Jeremy Corbyn – who as a backbencher regularly voted against the party whip.
Her decision will most likely get Debbonaire sacked by the Labour leader, who last year promoted and then sacked her while she was having cancer treatment.
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Debbonaire’s Bristol West constituency strongly backed remain in last summer’s referendum.
Corbyn has imposed a three-line whip – the strictest form of instruction to MPs to attend and vote – on Article 50, which triggers the process of the UK leaving the EU.
“I have always said I would be minded to vote against Article 50 if it meant leaving the single market or something close to it,” Debbonaire told the Bristol Post.
“And Theresa May has indicated that that is what she wants to do, so I’m minded to vote against.”
Debbonaire said that the triggering of Article 50 was not “in the best interests” of Bristol.
She said: “The 25 most leave constituencies and the 25 most remain constituencies are represented by Labour MPs and mine was one of those remainers.
“I need to be mindful of their views but most importantly I’m doing this for the jobs, the industries and knowledge-creation sector that we have in Bristol West in particular.
“The engineering companies, the creative industries and the universities – they have got in touch, in different ways, to tell me they need to be as fully in the single market as possible.”