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David Lammy was met with a swift backlash online after he urged the EU and UK to extend the Brexit talks again. The Labour MP and Shadow Justice Secretary told BBC Question Time that the economic impact of the pandemic meant “we should have an extension while we work this out”. Viewers took to social media to accuse Mr Lammy of “scaremongering” on Brexit and trying to “corner the government into staying in the EU”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly vowed he would not extend the transition period – which is set to come to an end on December 31.

He has said he is prepared to move forward without a deal, with the talks between the two sides currently deadlocked.

Speaking on BBC Question Time last night, Mr Lammy savaged Mr Johnson’s handling of Brexit and the Government’s failure to finalise a trade agreement.

He said: “We were told by Boris that we would have an oven ready deal, we have no deal.”

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Mr Lammy continued: “We have Boris putting the Good Friday Agreement on the table that jeopardises that deal.

“We have the chief executive of the port of Dover saying a no deal Brexit could cost us £1bn a week.

“The clock is ticking. We are running out of time. It is now looking worrying that we will have no deal with the EU and then no deal with the US either.

“It is desperately important that we get a deal that has frictionless trade, that doesn’t involve tariffs, that we have food safety and health safety, and no queues backed up in Kent.

“We wait to see what will happen. Now we know we have just days to deliver this against the backdrop of the coronavirus.

“This is tough. We have all European countries dealing with this pandemic, all European countries dealing with the economic consequence.

“Let’s have an extension while we work this out.”

However, viewers took issue with Mr Lammy’s remarks, saying: “Lammy more interested in moaning about Brexit, get over it.”

One person tweeted: “David L comments on Brexit but gives no real response or proper answer. I hear a lot of scaremongering but again no Labour policy.” 

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Another added: “Labour scaremongering again. Give it a rest. We voted leave. The EU have blocked any deal, which is irresponsible at best given they stand to loose more than us in a no deal scenario.”

Others noted: “Just another Labour MP trying to corner the government into staying in the EU.”

This comes after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was told by ex-shadow ministers to apologise for Labour’s Brexit position.

Three former shadow ministers have argued that Sir Keir’s policy during Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership had left many of the party’s leave-backing traditional supporters “in a rage”.

The party went into the election last year promising a second referendum, a stance seen as largely led by Starmer, who was shadow Brexit secretary.

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