NICOLA Sturgeon has endorsed a plan to install Jeremy Corbyn – or another opposition MP – as prime minister to stop Boris Johnson forcing through a No-Deal Brexit .
The First Minister, reacting to suggestions on Twitter that installing the Labour leader or someone else as PM is the only “failsafe” way to stop No Deal, again urged MPs to unite around one opposition leader.
Doing so would be for the “sole purpose of securing an extension, and then immediate General Election,” she tweeted.
The SNP leader added: “Nothing is risk free but leaving Johnson in post to force through no deal – or even a bad deal – seems like a terrible idea to me.”
Agree with this. VONC, opposition unites around someone for sole purpose of securing an extension, and then immediate General Election. Nothing is risk free but leaving Johnson in post to force through no deal - or even a bad deal - seems like a terrible idea to me. https://t.co/VYSOLLdR21
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) September 27, 2019
The comments come after ITV’s Robert Peston reported SNP chiefs are increasingly receptive to the notion of Corbyn becoming a caretaker prime minister to stop the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal.
A source close to the SNP leadership told Peston: "It is increasingly clear that we will have to install a new prime minister via a vote of no confidence, so that we can request a delay to Brexit and hold an election. The convention is absolutely clear that it is the leader of the opposition – in this case Jeremy Corbyn – who should become prime minister in those circumstances.
"Trying to find a compromise candidate, a national unity candidate, is too complicated, especially in the time we have. Whether people like it or not, the temporary prime minister has to be Corbyn."
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon calls on opposition to hold a no-confidence vote
A senior SNP member also told Peston that threats from the Prime Minister and senior adviser Dominic Cummings – that the act passed to block No Deal will not stop them – must be taken “extremely seriously".
Any MP can propose a no-confidence vote but that does not mean it will necessarily be debated. Only if the leader of the opposition, currently Corbyn, introduces the motion will the Government have to provide time for the discussion to take place.
Labour have said their priority is preventing the UK crashing out of the EU on October 31. An election could interfere with those plans.
It's unclear whether a no-confidence vote would successfully pass in the Commons. David Gauke, one of the former Tory MPs expelled from the party after voting against the Government to prevent a No-Deal Brexit earlier this month, has said he would not back such a move.
Another, Amber Rudd, is also said to be extremely hostile to installing Corbyn as PM, even temporarily. LibDem leader Jo Swinson, meanwhile, may not be willing to help install the Labour leader either.
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