Remainer Hilary Benn in bid to be chair of Brexit committee 'to get best deal for Britain'
HILARY Benn has announced he will stand to be chairman of a Brexit committee “to get the best deal for Britain”.
Hilary Benn has announced his bid to be chairman of the Brexit Select Committee
The former shadow foreign secretary declared his bid to be chair of Parliament’s new Brexit Select Committee on Twitter.
Mr Benn said he was putting himself in the running in a post on Twitter this afternoon.
He said: “I will be standing for the post of Chair of the new Brexit Select Committee.
We need to get the best possible deal for the British people
“We need to get the best possible deal for the British people.”
The announcement means Mr Benn is ruling himself out of a return to the Shadow Cabinet.
Members of the Shadow Cabinet are not usually eligible to become members of Select Committees.
Mr Benn announced he will stand as chairman on Twitter
The Brexit Select Committee will shadow David Davis’ new Brexit department and is expected to provide cross-party oversight.
Speaker John Bercow announced a Labour MP will chair the committee following an agreement between party whips earlier this week.
The Labour leadership formally supported the Remain campaign but a number of MPs backed Britain leaving the EU.
Mr Benn was dismissed from Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet in June
The Labour leadership formally supported the Remain campaign during the referendum
Farage: It's clear no lessons will be learnt from Brexit
Mr Benn was dismissed from Jeremy Corbyn’s Shadow Cabinet in June after he said he no longer had confidence in the Labour leader.
He called for Mr Corbyn to quit and led a mass walkout of shadow ministers which left the Labour Party in turmoil.
The announcement comes Mr Benn, son of late left-winger Tony, criticised Theresa May’s plans to scrap the ban on grammar schools.
The Brexit Select Committee will shadow David Davis' new department
The Leeds Central MP said: "The Secretary of State well knows that, apart from the best possible teaching, the most important thing we can do for our young people is to encourage them as they make their way through school.
"Given that we still, as a nation, are dealing with the legacy of a divided education system, why on earth does she think that subjecting more 11-year-old children to that experience of their tearful parents having opened the envelope telling them that they have failed, is going to encourage and support them in their self-esteem and their continuing career through the education system?"