corbyn may
© REUTERS/Toby Melville
Theresa May has confirmed that Parliament will have a vote on her Brexit deal on the week of January 14 after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn threatened to call a vote of no-confidence in her as prime minister.

A spokesperson for Corbyn confirmed to Business Insider that he would call a vote of no confidence in May on Monday afternoon if she refused to set out a date for the parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal.

The non-binding no confidence motion would have been targeted at May personally, rather than her government, in an attempt to win over Conservative critics of the prime minister.

However, speaking to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, May confirmed that the Brexit deal will be voted on by MPs in the week of January 14.

"I can confirm that we will return to the meaningful vote debate on the week of 7th January and put it to a vote in the week after," she said.

She dismissed Corbyn's push for a new general election, saying "at this critical moment in our national history this House should be thinking not about our parties' interest but the national interest."

The Labour leader said the prime minister had been "dragged kicking and screaming to announce a date for the debate."

He added: "It is disgraceful that a month has been wasted. We were due to vote on 11 December and there can be no further attempts to dodge accountability to Parliament."

A spokesman for the prime minister insisted that Theresa May had already planned to announce the timing for the Brexit vote before Jeremy Corbyn threatened to call a no-confidence vote.

May last week survived a no-confidence vote launched by Conservative MPs, with 117 voting for her to stand down as leader, as opposed to 200 saying she should stay.

The opposition no-confidence motion would have been non-binding but will add to growing pressure on May to stand down.

Corbyn has been under pressure from Labour MPs and other opposition parties to call a vote of no-confidence in the government.

Pro-European MPs in Corbyn's party have been urging Corbyn to attempt to trigger a no-confidence vote in the government as a pretext to moving on to backing a second Brexit referendum.

The Labour party is committeed to seeking a general election if May's Brexit deal fails in the Commons. If this attempt fails Labour has also committed to leaving "all options on the table" including pushing for a so-called "People's Vote" on Brexit.

The move was likely to have failed however, after the Democratic Unionist Party, which props up May's government, told the BBC that they would not support it.

Some Labour MPs also dismissed Corbyn's plans.

"Can't see that there's much point in a vote of no confidence in the PM - and not the Government (are we saying we have got faith in Grayling, Hunt and the rest of them?)" former shadow cabinet member and leadership contender Owen Smith MP tweeted on Monday.

"Government will simply ignore it - they can't ignore a motion of no confidence in the Government."