Labour have insisted they could topple Boris Johnson with a vote of no confidence when parliament returns in September.
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott revealed Opposition parties were using Parliament’s summer recess to plot how to topple Mr Johnson’s Government when MPs return to Westminster in September.
“We are talking to all of the other parties in Parliament and if we move to a vote of no confidence we will want to do it with confidence we can win it.”
Labour MPs have been ordered to scrap all travel in early September amid claims Jeremy Corbyn is poised to table a motion of no confidence in the Government.
The party has suspended the process known as “slipping” – which allows Labour MPs to miss votes – for two weeks when Parliament returns after the summer break.
Asked when the vote would be triggered, she told the BBC: “It’s above my pay grade to say when we’ll move the vote of no confidence.
“But who has confidence in Boris Johnson apart from the people around him?
“The more he announces these bogus unfunded announcements, I think the less confidence there will be in him in the general public.
It comes as experts at the Institute of Government (IFG) warned that there are limited opportunities to stop a no-deal break and that even if Mr Johnson loses a vote of confidence he may still try to plough on regardless.
It echoes the view of the PM’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, who is said to have told him that opponents of no-deal had left it too late.
Ms Abbott blasted a series of “pre-election” announcements which, she said, paved the way for a snap poll.
It followed the Prime Minister’s latest law-and-order policy unveiling which could see tougher sentences for dangerous and sexual offenders.
Ms Abbott told the BBC: “This is a pre-election period – he’s clearing the ground.”
Mr Johnson has said he is committed to taking Britain out of the EU by the deadline of October 31, whether or not he can get a new deal with Brussels.
With time running out, the Institute for Government (IFG) said report said there was less scope for MPs to make their voices heard than there was under Theresa May in the run up to the previous March 29 deadline.
(Image: Getty Images)
“It is now of no use to MPs who want to express their view on no-deal; if Johnson is set on no-deal he will not need to schedule any further meaningful votes,” the report said.
MPs could use opposition day debates or backbench business motions to express their opposition to a no-deal, but the report said these would be non-binding and would lack “legal teeth”.
Opponents of no-deal would still have the “nuclear option” of trying to pass a vote of no confidence in the Government, although the report said that there were “risks” involved in this approach too.
Under the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, if the Government loses there would be 14 days for Mr Johnson to win another confidence vote or for an alternative government to be formed. Otherwise there has to be a general election.
However Mr Cummings has reportedly advised Mr Johnson that he could delay polling day until after October 31, by which time Britain would be out of the EU.
The report acknowledged such a tactic may be possible although highly contentious and potentially open to legal challenge.
“Any attempt by a Prime Minister who has just lost a no confidence vote and so, by convention, is acting only in a caretaker capacity to use their powers in this way would be hugely controversial, both politically and constitutionally,” it said.
Alternatively, if MPs did succeed in forming an alternative government, it would still need to go to Brussels to seek another Brexit extension and the EU would have to approve it, all with time rapidly running out.
