Brexit: Long delay may not be needed - Stephen Kinnock

Stephen Kinnock: "It would be a tragedy if we were to try to ram something through without proper scrutiny"

A Welsh Labour MP has said a long Brexit extension may not be needed to get Boris Johnson's withdrawal agreement through Parliament.

No 10 has indicated Mr Johnson will push for a general election if the EU agrees to delay Brexit until January.

On Tuesday, MPs rejected his plan to get the deal signed off in three days.

Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock told BBC Wales the extension need not be "particularly long" and it was wrong to try to "ram" legislation through.

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Mr Johnson has paused his bill and EU leaders are considering whether to grant an extension to the 31 October Brexit deadline and what length it should be.

A letter Mr Johnson sent after failing to secure MPs support for his deal on Saturday, calls for a three-month extension.

Mr Kinnock, who has previously talked about backing a deal, said he did not support the government on Tuesday night because ministers had not gone far enough on protecting environmental standards, workers' rights and consumer protections.

On the length of any delay to Brexit he said: "I don't think it needs to be a particularly long period, but this is the most important piece of legislation Parliament has looked at since the Second World War.

"I think it would be a tragedy if we were to try to ram something through without proper scrutiny.

"There are substantial changes in it compared to what Theresa May brought and Parliament has simply not had time to scrutinise it properly yet or to amend it.

"So, I think it's time for everybody now to behave in a mature manner and to get a timetable that works for everybody."

On the form that Brexit should take, Mr Kinnock said "you've got to respect the result of the referendum" but "you've got to do it in a way that protects jobs and livelihoods".

"Those are not easy things to reconcile and to balance," he said.

"There is definitely a way of doing it which means being close to the single market and having frictionless trade and being out of the political project of the European Union.

"I think that respects the 52-48 mandate."

Most of Wales' 40 MPs opposed Boris Johnson's three-day Brexit bill timetable on Tuesday.

Mr Kinnock also said now was not the right time to hold a general election.

"I think that a general election whilst we're still in this state of limbo would be really bad for our politics and our democracy," he said.