UK Labour leader under pressure after MPs quit

London / AFP

The future of opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn looked shaky on Sunday after two members of his top team quit and others seemed set to follow over his handling of Britain’s EU referendum.
Corbyn sacked his foreign affairs spokesman, Hilary Benn, late Saturday after Benn said he no longer had confidence in his leadership, while health spokeswoman Heidi Alexander announced her resignation on Twitter Sunday.
Media reports suggested that several other members of Corbyn’s shadow cabinet would follow suit.
There is widespread anger among Labour MPs. Many of them have been critical of the veteran socialist leader since his election last September, saying he did not fight hard enough for Britain to stay in the European Union.
The shock decision by the country to vote to leave the bloc, throwing the 28-member alliance into turmoil by becoming the first country ever to leave, was against the wishes of most Labour lawmakers.
The outcome of the vote has triggered a slump in the value of sterling and UK stocks and unleashed a fast-moving political and constitutional crisis.
Two Labour MPs tabled a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on Friday, which is expected to be discussed at a meeting of the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) on Monday.
But Corbyn gave a speech on Saturday indicating he was going nowhere and a spokesman Sunday insisted he has no intention of resigning.
“Jeremy Corbyn is the democratically elected leader of the Labour Party and will remain so,” the spokesman said.
‘Effective opposition’
Prime Minister David Cameron resigned shortly after the results emerged on Friday morning, triggering a leadership contest in his Conservative party.

2 million sign UK petition
for second EU vote

London / AFP

More than two million people have signed a petition calling for a second referendum, after a shock vote to pull Britain out of the EU, an official website showed.
The website of the parliamentary petition at one point crashed due to the surge of people adding their names to the call for another nationwide poll following Thursday’s historic vote.
“We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60 percent based (on) a turnout less than 75 percent there should be another referendum,” says the petition.
The “Leave” camp won the support of 51.9 percent of voters, against 48.1 percent in favour of remaining in the European Union.
Turnout for Thursday’s referendum was 72.2 percent.
Signatories to the petition appeared to be mostly in Edinburgh and London, both of which voted heavily in favour of “Remain”.