Labour MP says she would prefer coalition with Brexit Party than Lib Dems

Emma Lewell-Buck. Photograph: House of Commons. - Credit: Archant

A Labour MP says she would rather her party went into coalition with the Brexit Party than Lib Dems.

With the numbers currently stacked against Boris Johnson, the next government could be a coalition.

But rather than Labour working with the Liberal Democrats to reach a conclusion to Brexit, MP Emma Lewell-Buck said she would rather work with Nigel Farage.

Speaking to the ITV’s Acting PM podcast, she said: “I’ll be vilified for this but the Brexit Party.

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Labour MP @EmmaLewellBuck told @PaulBrandITV why she would choose the Brexit Party over the Lib Dems to go into a Brexit coalition.

Watch the full episode here: https://t.co/fZi0PJdjMN

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/KCumZQBsSY… and on Spotify.#ITVActingPM pic.twitter.com/WK28cioDhJ
— ITV News (@itvnews) September 12, 2019

“Even though I despise everything they stand for, I could not go into lead with a party who wants to revoke.”

Podcast presenter Paul Brand enquired “so that you could be seen to be seeing through Brexit?”

The MP responded: “It makes me sick saying that, but looking at it, yeah.”

The South Shields MP was one of the Labour MPs to join the ‘MPs for a deal’ campaign group earlier this week.

It follows reports from a Lib Dem MP that Jo Swinson had pledged to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of power.

Rania Ramli, chair of Labour Students, said that “Labour members will be extremely disappointed at the idea that a Labour MP would consider that putting the vile Farage into power would be an acceptable outcome in any circumstances.”

“Labour values are those of openness and internationalism – which is why three-quarters or more want the UK to stay in the EU – and the fact that a Labour MP is prepared to consider putting the Brexit Party into office will dismay our voters all over the UK.

“Emma Lewell-Buck should reconsider her comments and think about how inappropriate it is, in any circumstance or scenario, to be a Labour MP who is open to working with the Brexit Party given the racism and hatred that they have stoked in this country that has impacted on so many people.”