Shami Chakrabarti was asked to justify her decision not to back the Brexit withdrawal agreement Theresa May proposed when she is seeking to avoid a no deal scenario. Tory MP Andrew Bowie challenged the Labour Party frontbencher to explain her position as he insisted the UK would not be on the verge of leaving the European Union without a formal agreement if Parliament had backed Mrs May’s deal. BBC Any Questions? audience members erupted into applause as the Tory MP grilled the shadow Attorney-General on her decision to support plans to vote down the divorce deal three times in the Commons. 

Discussing demands for compromise on Brexit, Mr Bowie said: “It suggests a compromise was very much on the table in January, February, March of this year when we presented a deal that was negotiated with the European Union to the House of Commons.

“I would challenge Shami and Sarah – if a no deal Brexit is that terrifying and as bad as you say it’s going to be, why didn’t you vote for the deal that was on the table that would have prevented us even being in this situation today?

“It was on the table three times and your parties refused to vote for it.” 

The West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine MP added: “If the deal was that bad, and it wasn’t a compromise deal why is it that now upwards to 20 Labour MPs are saying they would vote for Theresa May’s deal if it was reintroduced into the House of Commons when the new session begins in October?”

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Ms Chakrabarti sought to defend her position claiming she could not back the May agreement because the Government had failed to offer opposition parties a compromise.

She also launched a scathing attack on “figures in Number 10” she claimed to be trying to ensure a no deal Brexit pans out to cause “chaos” across the UK.

The shadow Attorney-General said: “I couldn’t support it because it was a deregulatory deal. I will put the rights and freedoms of women and workers and so on above us just getting your deal.

“This is no compromise, to say ‘it’s my deal or no deal.’ That is not the kind of compromise we have been talking about. That’s what we are dealing with now.”

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She continued: “Andrew, we met earlier and you are a really nice guy, no doubt about that but there are some people in Number 10 at the moment who are complete headbangers and they want no deal, and they want chaos and they want fear and loathing on the streets and they want that kind of division.

“I now agree we have to put something back to the people.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn led an alliance of opposition parties to have a new bill pass through the Commons to effectively take a no deal Brexit off the table.

The new legislation, which received Royal consent on Monday, would force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to request a new extension to the Brexit deadline if no agreement is reached by October 31.

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Mr Johnson dismissed the new act, insisting he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than travel to Brussels to request a further delay.

Downing Street officials have said the Prime Minister’s negotiating team have drawn up plans to ensure any new deal he strikes with the EU clears Parliament within 10 days of striking it.

An MP told the Financial Times: “He hasn’t really got anywhere else to go. Let’s see what he gets in Brussels.”

The news comes after Mr Johnson on Friday claimed to have the “rough shape” of a Brexit agreement in place, a statement that had the pound soar 1.1 percent against the dollar.

The Prime Minister will meet with European Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday to talk about “the ideas we’ve been working on and we will see where we get,” according to Mr Johnson.

He said: “I’m cautiously optimistic.”

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