A Labour MP has said she does not want to ‘just oppose for opposition’s sake’ as she declared she will vote for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck previously voted for the second reading of the Withdrawal Agreement bill in October, but rejected the Government’s bid to push it through Parliament in just two days.
However, she said she now recognised the government’s “overwhelming mandate” and wanted to work to “build consensus”.
Her constituency voted 62% to Leave in the 2016 EU referendum and her vote share decreased by 16% in the 2019 election.
During the debate on the bill, she said: “I will vote for it again today. As for the programme motion it is short, last time we tried to force the Government to offer more time, we ended up in the worst General Election in my memory.
“And now, as much as I am utterly heartbroken by it, the party opposite has an overwhelming mandate they did not have the last time we held this debate.
“I will vote for the programme motion as well and put my energy into making the case for changes in committee stages.
“I don’t want to just oppose for opposition’s sake. We need to build consensus and stop the combative nature of this debate.
“It has served no-one and the last three years have proven that.”
She added: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I can’t vote with my party today, but I will always put my constituents before everything else.
“Because the day I don’t is the day I no longer deserve the honour of being their voice in this place.”
Lewell-Buck said previously she would prefer a Labour coalition with the Brexit Party over any other party.
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