Indian-origin MP,shadow cabinet min join Brexit bill rebellion

Britain's opposition Labour party faced a mounting crisis today afterIndian-origin MP Virendra Sharma refused to back the Brexit bill intended to trigger the UK's official exit from the EU while one of its South Asian MPs quit her shadow Cabinet role over the issue.
Ealing Southall MP Sharma saidhisconstituency had "overwhelmingly" voted to remain in the EU and he could not ignore their voices.
"I will not vote for a Brexit blank cheque...I cannot in good conscience vote to trigger Article 50 while it will threaten people's jobs, wages and pensions," he said.
"Access to the Single Market and a legal commitment to ensure the labour rights, health and safety protections, consumer rights, and environmental standards we currently enjoy are all key to my political beliefs," Sharma said.

"If we cannot get clarity on our relationship with crucial international institutions thenI will not vote to trigger Article 50 without a real plan for the future," he said.
His announcement follows party colleague Tulip Siddiq's resignation from her shadow Cabinet role as education minister in order to vote against the new Brexit bill in Parliament.

The niece of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stepped away from the Labour frontbenchfollowing party leader Jeremy Corbyn's decision to impose a whip on Labour MPs to vote in favour oftriggering Article 50.
"On the announcement of the three-line whip on the Article 50 vote, I feel I have no choice but to resign from my frontbench role as shadow minister for early years. I do not support the triggering of Article 50 and cannot reconcile myself to the frontbench position," the 34-year-old MP for Hampstead and Kilburn in north-west London said in her resignation letter.

"I have always been clear -- I do not represent Westminster in Hampstead and Kilburn, I represent Hampstead and Kilburn in Westminster. I feel that the most effective place for me to counter Theresa May's hard Brexit is from the back benches," she wrote.
Siddiq's constituency had voted in favour of remaining within the EU in the June 2016 referendum.
TheEuropean Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill was tabled in the House of Commons yesterday to give British Prime Minister Theresa May the go-ahead to invoke Article 50, which will trigger the official two-year period of negotiations for Britain's exit from the EU after a June 2016 referendum in favour of Brexit.

While Corbyn wants his party to not block the bill, Siddiq has joined a number of rebel MPs who plan to defy the party line.
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"Ultimately, I will not be satisfied until there is total clarity over the measures to protect the security, residential status, and living standards of those I am so proud to represent,"she said.
Another Labour MP, Jo Stevens, has also resigned from the shadow cabinet, quitting her role as Corbyn's Welsh secretary.
The Cardiff Central MP said she believed Brexit was "a terrible mistake" and said she "cannot reconcile my overwhelming view" that to endorse the bill would make it inevitable.

Frontbench members of political parties in the UK are generally expected to resign from their posts if they choose to defy a three-line whip, which is the strongest form of discipline political party leaders can impose.
Corbyn, who faces a fresh internal crisis over the issue, said he understands the pressures for MPs who represent leave constituencies and those who represent remain constituencies.
"I say to everyone, unite around the important issues...I'm asking all our MPs not to block Article 50 and make sure it goes through next week,"he said.
Two Labour whips -- MPs in charge of parliamentary party discipline -- have also said they will vote against the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, despite the order to support it.

Jeff Smith and Thangam Debbonaire have said they will vote against it, although neither have resigned their posts as party whips.
Theresa May had hoped to invoke Article 50 without having to seek parliamentary approval but a legal challenge concluded in the UK Supreme Court earlier this week directed her to acquire the consent of both Houses of British Parliament.
MPs will debate the new Bill on Tuesday and Wednesday, the government has announced, with a third day of debate and a vote on February 8.
It will then go to the House of Lords to be discussed.
The Theresa May-led government hopes this process can take place smoothly for the British Premier to adhere to her declared timetable of wanting to officially notify the EU of Britain's exit plans by the end of March.

Butthe Labour party is planning to table four amendments and the Scottish National Party are planning to table 60.
The Opposition MPs have also expressed their frustration that they will have just a few days to debate the bill in Parliament.