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Theresa May 'unlikely' to lose no-confidence vote after Brexit defeat

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 17 Jan 2019, 7:42AM
Theresa May. Photo / Getty Images

Theresa May 'unlikely' to lose no-confidence vote after Brexit defeat

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 17 Jan 2019, 7:42AM

British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a no-confidence vote this morning (NZ time) after her Brexit plan was overwhelming rejected by MPs, who now turn their focus to whether she deserves to stay in power.

Correspondent Rod Liddle told Tim Dower it is unlikely the Prime Minister will lose the vote.

"She'll win. She'll win very narrowly. She's got the Democratic Unionist Party who have been a prop during this coalition government onside, so the likelihood, I would say, 90 per cent likely is that she will survive, yet again."

However, he said what happens next is the real question.  

"There are already a few issues beginning to be noticed within the opposition, with the Scottish Nationalist Party worrying about [Labour leader] Jeremy Corbyn's tactic of continually calling no-confidence votes, which has been threatened over the next few weeks. They [Labour] have denied this."

"The whole plan, of course, is for Jeremy Corbyn to try and prise away some of the conservative pro-remainer's, so that they may win a confidence vote but people are far more scared of a Jeremy Corbyn government than they are of leaving or not leaving the EU."

Liddle said Corbyn is "not palatable" to the British public and is unlikely to gain enough support to overthrow May's government.

"He doesn't have the support of his parliamentary party, he has a large groundswell of support amongst Labour voters in the country...but he is in favour of almost everything the United Kingdom stands for in terms of international affairs."

"He is not palatable and that's one reason why despite what you might argue is probably the worst government we have had for 50 years or so that he is still six points behind in the opinion poll."

However, he said the Labour Leader could have a shot if there was an election at this point in time. 

"The trouble is if there was an election...he's not bad on the stump and Theresa May is hopeless on the stump, so I think if there was an election called tomorrow Jeremy Corbyn might just win."

Liddle said if Corbyn won the election, it would most likely mean there would be a second Brexit referendum.

"I think he would be forced by his party to call a second referendum. My guess would be that in a second referendum leave would win again because I know a lot of remainer's in this country, who voted to remain and believe that we should remain with the EU but are appalled that after a democratic decision the government or parliament can effectively wipe that decision off." 

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