In a crushing blow to Remoaners in parliament, shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will today guarantee that the Labour leadership will not seek to block or delay Article 50 being triggered.
It means that if Supreme Court judges uphold the controversial High Court ruling that Parliament must pass legislation to trigger the process of ending Brussels rule then Theresa May will have the backing of the official Opposition and can pass a one line bill quickly.
It will leave a hardcore group of around just 80 “remoaner” MPs – made up of rebel Labour and Tory MPs along with the Lib Dems and SNP – isolated in trying to block or delay the process and with cross party support in the Commons it will be difficult for peers to block it in the unelected Lords.
This means Mrs May will be able to trigger Article 50 before the end of March as planned without the fear of being bogged down in parliament.
In a major speech today Mr McDonnell at Dragon Hall, a tech hub in central London, will warn: “We must not try to re-fight the referendum or push for a second vote and if Article 50 needs to be triggered in parliament Labour will not seek to block or delay it.
“To do so would put us against the majority will of the British people and on the side of certain corporate elites, who have always had the British people at the back of the queue.”
He will insist that “the question of what Brexit means will be fought in the months and years through the negotiations and in the next election when we will define what a post-Brexit Britain looks like.
“It is time we all were more positive about Brexit, Labour wants to see an ambitious Brexit Britain.”
The shadow Chancellor will say that Brexit and the election of Donald Trump have “underlined the point that the old rigged economy working just for those at the top has failed.
“That is why people in western democracies who have been left behind are rejecting it.”
He will add: “While Labour supported remaining in the EU to protect workers’ rights, we cannot hide from the fact that too much of the EU also had aspects of the old model, putting the interests of big business over ordinary people.”
And in a major shift from threats just over a week ago to use the High Court ruling to delay or block Brexit, Mr McDonnell will say that his party must accept the result of the majority and “embrace the enormous opportunities to reshape our country that Brexit has opened for us.”
He will say: “In that way we can speak again to those who were left behind and offer a positive, ambitious vision instead of leaving the field open to divisive Trump-style politics.”
And with Ukip threatening to sweep Labour’s heartland seats in the North of England and Midlands, there is also an appeal for Labour to be “more positive about Brexit” and embrace the “enormous opportunities to reshape our country”.
Mr McDonnell will also it clear that the battle to define Brexit needs to take place during the negotiations and at the next election not before triggering Article 50, warning that any attempt to block or delay it will put Labour “against the majority of the British people”.
It had been claimed during the referendum that key members of the Labour leadership including Mr McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn had been bounced into supporting Remain even though they knew Britain was better off out of the EU.
A senior source has told the Daily Express that the threats to Mr Corbyn’s leadership “made it impossible for him to even consider” supporting Leave, even though previously he had backed ending membership of the EU.
And it is understood the divisions in the Labour meant that the leadership needed to take time to consider its final response to the High Court ruling last week that Parliament needed to pass a bill to trigger Article 50.
Richard Tice, co-chairman of Leave Means Leave said that the Labour leadership conversion to Brexit was “better late than never.”
He said: “While I welcome this development, I do so with caution.
“There has been huge inconsistencies on the issue of the EU from the Labour leadership. As long term Eurosceptics, it was hugely disappointing that John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn campaigned to remain in the EU.
“The Labour Party must make it crystal clear that there will be no backsliding on this – they must attach no conditions to voting through an Article 50 bill.
“The result of the referendum must be respected and delivered in its entirety.”
The appeal to Labour remoaners – including former leadership contender Owen Smith and former Labour leader Ed Miliband – to stop whining about the historic result on 23 June comes amid more good news for the economy as Brexit Britain continues to boom.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said Project Fear predictions of a collapse in the housing market after a Brexit vote had failed to materialise as trading remained “resilient” during the second half of this year.
The FTSE 100 firm sold 0.70 homes per week over the period, down slightly from 0.74 in the second half of 2015, while cancellation rates rose to 13 per cent from 11 per cent.
A survey by Hays recruitment firm has also revealed that business confidence has been almost completed unaffected by the vote.
The results revealed that 93 per cent expect higher or stable activity in the next 12 months, down only one per cent from 94 per cent before June’s referendum.
Mr McDonnell’s intervention appeared to be a major slap down for euro-fanatics in his party who refuse to accept the result or embrace a positive vision for an independent Britain, including former European commissioner and New Labour spin doctor Lord Mandelson.
The former business secretary in Gordon Brown’s failed government has made an intervention for Open Britain trying to talk down the country’s prospects again by claiming that a so called “hard” Brexit will cost the UK £1.2 billion.
In a bid to revive the discredited Project Fear campaign and keep Britain under the sway of the European Court of Justice and force it to have to accept free movement, Lord Mandelson claimed that it should remain in the single market undermining the referendum vote.
He said: “The best way to keep these deals in place would be to negotiate for membership of the Single Market and the Customs Union. Doing so would be a big boost for British importers and exporters.”
November 15th, 2016: Express