Labour MP says he ‘made a mistake’ in not voting for Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Gareth Snell in Stoke-on-Trent Central. (Joe Giddens/PA) - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

A Labour MP has admitted he ‘made a mistake’ by not voting for Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Gareth Snell said he should have backed the agreement when it was put before the Commons for a third time, adding he would support a deal in future.

He explained he would take such action as it is “inconceivable” that MPs continue avoiding making the decisions they have to make.

Speaking in the Commons, Snell said ceramics firms asked him “time and time again” to back a deal so they could make preparations for the future while food manufacturers wanted him to make a decision so they could “get past stockpiling”.

He said: “For three times when the opportunity presented itself to me I have not voted for a deal, the last time in March I followed my party line that I would not support the deal that was put in front of me – and I made a mistake.

“On that date I should have voted for a deal.

“And I will now vote for a deal if a deal is brought forward because it is inconceivable that we can continue with this line of debate where we seek to make decisions we want to make and avoid making the decisions we have to make.”

Snell said Labour “will have been responsible for a no-deal Brexit by default because of our inability to make a decision” – before abstaining on a motion to stop no-deal Brexit.

He said he did so not because he thinks that scenario would be “acceptable”, but because by trying to take no-deal off the table “all I do is make the table longer”.

He said “delaying this does not stop no-deal being the ultimate default end point, what it does it put it further into the future”.