Vince Cable says Jeremy Corbyn must ‘get off the fence’ and endorse new referendum

The Liberal Democrats have said they will not support Labour in future no-confidence votes unless the party backs a second referendum, making it almost impossible that Labour could force a general election.

The Lib Dem leader, Vince Cable, said he did not want to participate in confidence votes that had little chance of success if the aim was to delay Labour endorsing a public vote. He suggested other parties may take a similar view.

Speaking after Jeremy Corbyn’s speech in Hastings on Thursday, a day after Theresa May’s government won a confidence vote with the support of the Democratic Unionist party, Cable said Labour policy meant Corbyn should endorse a second public poll.

“Since he appears to be determined to play party political games rather than acting on the wishes of his own members and MPs, he will no longer be able to rely on our support for further no-confidence motions,” he said.

“I believe other parties are taking the same view. It’s time Mr Corbyn got off the fence and made his position plain.”

Cable’s intervention came as the Conservative backbencher Sarah Wollaston pledged to put down an amendment to Theresa May’s Brexit plan, which would give MPs the chance to vote on whether to hold a second referendum. This amendment would be unlikely to pass the House of Commons unless it had the support of the Labour leadership.

Sarah Wollaston had previously withheld her amendment because Corbyn would not support it, but she said it was time to put it to a vote of MPs when Brexit was next debated in the Commons, and called on the Labour leader to back her.

Wollaston said: “I very much hope Labour will finish going through their process and Jeremy Corbyn will come out and stick to their commitment that he will back a second vote, which is what a majority of his members want.”

A Lib Dem source said Cable was not ruling out ever supporting a confidence vote, but the party would not be part of an internal Labour spat.

“We will support any real opportunity to take down the Tories with relish,” the source said. “We will not be party to Corbyn using spurious means to avoid Labour policy, by pursuing unwinnable no-confidence votes.”

Labour has not ruled out tabling further no-confidence votes in the hope of peeling off exasperated Tory rebels and triggering a general election. An abstention by the Lib Dems would mean Labour needing about 20 DUP or Tory MPs not to vote with the government to force an election.

Cable, along with the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, and Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville-Roberts wrote to Corbyn on Wednesday night, saying the parties expected him to honour his promise to back a public vote if Labour failed to secure an election.

“We are now locked in a Brexit impasse, as we do not believe the prime minister will be able to come back and offer the house any deal that will secure the support of a majority of MPs,” the letter said.

“This is why we believe the only way forward is to hold a people’s vote on the final Brexit deal.

“We believe, as per the motion passed at your party conference, it is only correct that you now move to back a public vote.”

The four leaders of the smaller parties in parliament met May for discussions after the confidence vote. A Lib Dem spokeswoman described the talks as constructive, but said they were futile without a new referendum being considered as an option.

“No deal must be taken off the table and there has to be constructive discussion of [a] people’s vote,” Cable’s spokeswoman said. “We are willing to listen but just fiddling with the agreement is not sufficient.”

Lucas said she had pressed May to consider a public poll. “One of her main concerns is about how it looks if parliament is unable to deliver on the result of the referendum,” she said.

“I’ve been talking and listening to people across the country and can assure her that parliament is already considered to have failed – and the way to start bringing our society back together is with more democracy.”

Lucas said she had also promised to send May more information about a possible role for a citizens’ assembly.

“Sadly, these talks are coming far too late and there is no sign the prime minister is genuinely willing to compromise,” she added.

A Labour party source said: “The Lib Dems propped up the Tories for five years, so it’s no surprise they’re still committed to keeping them in power.”