Jeremy Corbyn has angered some of his party’s pro-European MPs for failing to take action against those who defied a three-line whip to vote against an amendment that would have prevented Britain from leaving the EU with no deal.



On Tuesday night, Labour ordered its MPs to vote for an amendment put forward by Yvette Cooper, but 14 Labour MPs broke the whip to vote against it and several more — including most of the shadow education team — choose to abstain.

The amendment, which would have placed a legal obligation on Theresa May to extend Article 50 beyond March 29 in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit, was defeated with 298 votes for and 321 against.

Previously, Corbyn sacked then-shadow housing ministers Andy Slaughter and Ruth Cadbury and shadow Foreign Office minister Catherine West after they voted for an amendment in 2017 calling for Britain to remain within the customs union and single market.



In June 2018 several MPs, including Ellie Reeves, Rosie Duffield, and Anna McMorrin, had to resign their positions to vote in favour of an amendment that would have kept Britain in the EEA.