Top Labour MP Kate Hoey walks out of Vote Leave in ‘tittle-tattle’ row

Diplomatic dash: David Cameron with his Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo in Warsaw today
Reuters
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Senior Labour MP Kate Hoey today led a dramatic walkout from one of the main groups campaigning for Britain to quit the European Union, with an attack on “tittle tattle” and infighting.

The entire Labour Leave campaign team was expected to make a statement later today saying it would not longer be part of the Vote Leave group.

Its decision is a bodyblow to Vote Leave’s hopes of being officially designated as lead campaigners in the forthcoming referendum, which carries £7 million of public funding and rights to TV and media coverage.

The meltdown came amid strains in the Cabinet, with Iain Duncan Smith said to be increasingly unwilling to stay silent about his private disquiet about the draft deal on EU reforms being trumpeted as a “success” by the Prime Minister.

A former Cabinet colleague told the Standard: “I don’t think Iain will be able to keep quiet if David Cameron carries on using the next fortnight to say this deal is a success, when Iain’s face in the Commons made clear he does not share that view.”

Chancellor George Osborne is said to be urging Mr Cameron to go for a June 23 referendum while the Brexit campaign groups are in disarray.

Ms Hoey’s decision follows months of toxic backbiting and counter- briefings which climaxed earlier this week in two top officials, Dominic Cummings and Matthew Elliott, being downgraded from the Vote Leave board.

Vauxhall MP Ms Hoey told the Standard: “Some people in Vote Leave have been more interested in tittle tattle and personal fights. I’m only interested in a vote to get out of the EU.

“Labour Leave will be independently working with our Labour supporters across the country. We want to work with everybody across the country who wish to leave the anti-democrat EU.”

Labour Leave intends to campaign under the cross-party Grassroots Out campaign. Its departure is important because cross-party support is vital to Vote Leave’s bid for lead status.

Ms Hoey was given a standing ovation by Tories last night at a packed Grassroots Out meeting in Kettering. A rally for 2,500 is being staged in Manchester tonight.

A YouGov poll claimed support for Brexit has increased since Mr Cameron struck his draft deal. Some 45 per cent said they would vote to leave, with 36 per cent wanting Britain to remain.

The survey says nearly a fifth — 19 per cent — are undecided.

Mr Cameron set off on a fresh diplomatic dash round Europe to push for support from counterparts in Poland and Denmark ahead of the crunch meeting on the proposals later this month.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has become the most senior figure in the party to suggest he is ready to campaign for Britain to quit since the proposals were put on the table.

Asked if he would rule out backing Brexit, he replied: “I wouldn’t.”

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