Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has bashed Prime Minister Theresa May for her handling of the process to leave the European Union, saying her “zombie government” must leave office immediately.
“There can be no doubt that this is indeed a zombie government,” Corbyn told the British parliament on Wednesday at the beginning of a no-confidence debate meant to challenge May’s mandate as head of state.
The comments in the House of Commons came after May suffered a huge defeat in the parliament over her controversial Brexit agreement with the EU late on Tuesday.
Corbyn, who had tabled his no-confidence motion against May right after the vote on Brexit, said the government should call early elections after its historic defeat in the parliament.
“If a government cannot get its legislation through parliament, it must got to the country for a new mandate,” he said.
Corbyn said May’s resistance to early elections was a sign that the public would vote her and the Conservative Party out of office over the government’s handling of Brexit, a process which began after a referendum in June 2016 in which Britons voted for their country to leave the EU after more than four decades.
“The prime minister has consistently claimed that her deal, which has been decisively rejected, was good for Britain workers and business… she should have nothing to fear by going to the people,” Corbyn said.
However, many expect May to survive the confidence vote which is expected to be held on 1900 GMT. According to an amendment passed last week in the Commons, May is expected to come to the parliament within three days of the rejection of her Brexit deal with a so-called plan B to show what course she would take on the issue less than two months before Britain is expected to leave the EU.