The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has blamed “wannabe Tory leaders” for the breakdown of cross-party talks as he renewed his call for a second referendum on leaving the EU.

The government and Labour sought to blame each other after talks to find a compromise Brexit plan collapsed on Friday, leaving any remaining hopes of an imminent solution to the impasse in tatters.

While both sides insisted the discussions had taken place in good faith, the prime minister said a key sticking point had been Labour splits over a second referendum, while the opposition said May’s imminent departure from Downing Street meant there was no guarantee any promises would be kept by her successor.

Quick guide Tory leadership contenders Show Hide Jeremy Hunt His style is notably technocratic, with few rhetorical flourishes and an emphasis on his consensual approach and long record as a minister, notably during more than five years as health secretary, a traditional graveyard of ministerial careers. Hunt’s attempts to talk up a backstory as an 'underestimated' entrepreneur can fall flat given he is also the son of an admiral and was head boy at Charterhouse. Overall, Hunt’s approach can seem uninspiring and hard to pin down in terms of core beliefs, hence the 'Theresa in trousers' nickname among some Tory MPs – one that is more catchy than accurate (since May herself often wears trousers). In the final round of MP voting Hunt edged out Michael Gove, 77 votes to 75. Boris Johnson Johnson’s progress to Downing Street appeared unstoppable even before an overwhelming victory in the first round of voting among MPs. Most of his colleagues believe it is now all but inevitable that he will be Britain’s next prime minister. His well-disciplined campaign team will continue with their strategy of subjecting him to minimal media exposure, though once the field is narrowed down to two, the final pair will appear in more than a dozen head-to-head hustings for Tory members. The team’s main aim is simply to keep heads down and avoid Johnson creating headlines for the wrong reasons. It may not have worked. Johnson came first in the final round of MP voting with 160 votes.



Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Starmer said: “The real problem was this question of how on earth do you future-proof any deal – if there was a deal – against an incoming Tory leader?. Because … the prime minister said before we started the talks that she would be going. It’s not for me to criticise that, that’s her judgment about when she wants to go.

“But it does mean that during the talks – almost literally – sitting in the room as we’re talking, cabinet members and wannabe Tory leaders were torpedoing the talks with remarks about not being willing to accept a customs union.”

Play Video 0:18 McDonnell likens Brexit talks to dealing with firm going bust – video

He echoed the words of the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, last week that the negotiations were like “trying to contract with a company about to go into administration. There was a weakness, because circling around those in the room trying to negotiate were others who didn’t want the negotiation to succeed because they had their eye on what was coming next.”

He said the situation put May “in a position where she was in reality too weak to deliver, in our judgment”.

Starmer said the government had to find a way to end the stalemate, and suggested: “They could seek to break the impasse by putting a confirmatory vote on the face of a bill.”

Starmer’s comments came as Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said May’s successor should not call a general election until Britain had left the EU.

He said an early poll could hand the keys of No 10 to the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and risk “killing Brexit altogether”.

He said it was essential the Conservatives delivered on the 2016 referendum result in the current parliament.

A poll of Tory members made Boris Johnson the frontrunner to succeed May after she bowed to pressure and agreed to set a timetable at the start of next month to elect a new leader.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Hancock, who voted remain in the referendum, said: “I think a general election before we’ve delivered Brexit would be a disaster. People don’t want it. I’m with Brenda from Bristol. We need to take responsibility for delivering on the referendum result.”

May is to make one final attempt to get her Brexit deal through parliament when she introduces the withdrawal agreement bill in the Commons in the first full week of June. But after the cross-party talks collapsed, few in Westminster give her much chance of success.

Whatever the result, May has agreed to meet the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, Sir Graham Brady, after the vote to agree a timetable for the election of her successor.