Rotherham MP Sarah Champion: I would take no deal Brexit

The Rotherham MP also refused to commit to backing a Labour attempt to bring down the Conservative government.

Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Live, she said: “The country wants us to leave and, for our democracy, I think we have to leave. 

“So therefore if it came to it, I would take no deal if that meant we could leave, because we have to leave.”

Ms Champion voted against Theresa May’s deal three times, while Rotherham colleague Sir Kevin Barron, MP for Rother Valley, moved to back the prime minister.

Tory MP Mark Harper, also on the programme, said he could not understand the position, adding: “You just said you’d prefer to do no deal than not leave, but you weren’t prepared to vote for the deal you had the chance to vote for three times.”

Ms Champion responded: “There were so many opportunities for Theresa May to put in things which didn’t need to go back to the EU, which would have guaranteed workers’ rights, environmental rights, equality rights.

“It’s poker,” she added. “I hoped she would listen to what the Labour frontbench were saying and move.”

Labour has consistently stated that no deal would be devastating for jobs and the economy.

The party has shifted position towards trying to stop Brexit in recent weeks, but Ms Champion’s fellow South Yorkshire Labour MP Caroline Flint has also argued against this tactic.

Ms Champion campaigned to remain in the EU in 2016. The Rotherham constituency result was 68 per cent in favour of leaving.