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Jeremy Corbyn will go to Buckingham Palace in a cab to tell the Queen “we’re taking over” if Boris Johnson loses a vote of no confidence, John McDonnell has claimed.

The Shadow Chancellor said Mr Corbyn’s party was preparing to bring down Mr Johnson’s government and block a no-deal Brexit with cross-party support.

He said Labour would demand the keys to Number 10 from prime minister Mr Johnson if he loses his grip on power, and would call on the monarch to appoint Mr Corbyn.

Speaking at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Wednesday, Mr McDonnell said: "I don't want to drag the Queen into this but I would be sending Jeremy Corbyn in a cab to Buckingham Palace to say we're taking over."

Mr Johnson faces the threat of a no-confidence vote - fuelled by a promise to take Britain out of the EU on Halloween "do or die" and a refusal to rule out suspending parliament.

Mr McDonell's comments came after SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon hinted at possible “progressive alliance” that would “lock the Tories out of government”.

The Scottish First Minister said she does not envisage any formal coalition with Labour but wants the SNP to be part of a "progressive alternative" to the Tories at Westminster.

Mr McDonnell later ruled out forming a pact with the SNP, saying they are not progressive and are "Tories".

Ms Sturgeon said during 2015 and 2017 General Elections she wanted her party to be "part of a progressive alliance against the Conservatives" if the post-election arithmetic lent itself to this.

"I think it's even more important now that we try to build that kind of progressive alliance that gets the Tories out because they are intent on taking the country down a catastrophic Brexit path," she said.

"So my position hasn't changed - I don't envisage any formal coalition with Labour but I want the SNP to be part of efforts to get things on to a better track than they are on now.

"The stumbling block to that is Labour - Labour are still on the fence on Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn is abdicating his position of leadership by not giving that clear direction.

"So we need to get Labour off the fence and then we can look to stopping Boris Johnson in his tracks, hopefully."