Labour says it could form UK minority government with SNP support

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has said Labour could form a minority government with support from the SNP to get its own Brexit deal through the Commons.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who has insisted the option of campaigning for a second referendum remains on the table

Ms Thornberry would not say whether there had been discussions with Nicola Sturgeon on the issue, but said her party would “assume” it would have the SNP’s backing.

Asked if she would consider a minority government alongside the SNP in an ITV interview, she said: “Anything, frankly, at this point is possible. What we’ve said in the past is no coalitions. If we’re a minority government, we’re a minority government. It would be up to the nats to say, oh we didn’t vote for Labour so the Tories have come back in again. We would assume the SNP would support us on a deal we would be able to come back with.”

Asked if there had been discussions with Ms Sturgeon, she said: “We have talks with the other political parties and I can’t really go into the details of that. Obviously, we talk to everybody.”

John Lamont, Scottish Conservative MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk, said: “Emily Thornberry has shown, once again, that you can’t trust Labour to defend Scotland’s decision to stay in the UK. They would agree to a second referendum on independence in a heartbeat.”