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All-female cabinet: MP cautious on idea to stop no-deal Brexit

Houses of Parliament Liz Saville Roberts and Caroline LucasHouses of Parliament
Liz Saville Roberts has been invited by Caroline Lucas help stop a no-deal Brexit

An all-female emergency cabinet to stop a no-deal Brexit is an "interesting" idea, Plaid Cymru's Parliamentary leader has said.

Liz Saville Roberts is one of 10 politicians urged by Green MP Caroline Lucas to oust PM Boris Johnson.

He aims to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October with or without a deal.

Ms Saville Roberts welcomed Ms Lucas's bid to break the deadlock, but said she was "not entirely comfortable" that only women would be involved.

Ms Lucas called for a national unity government of women MPs from all parties, led by Labour as the main opposition party, to "press the pause button" and organise another referendum.

She said it would offer a choice between staying in the EU and backing the government's Brexit plan, whether it be an agreed deal or no deal.

"In my experience, women tend to be less tribal, they tend to find it easier to establish trust more quickly," Ms Lucas told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Ms Saville Roberts, who has campaigned alongside Ms Lucas in support of another referendum, gave the plan a qualified welcome.

"Politics in the UK is broken," she told BBC Radio Wales.

"There have been very honourable women's roles in alternative politics in the past - the truth and reconciliation processes [such as in Northern Ireland] for example.

"I think it's an interesting idea of Caroline's - I'm not entirely comfortable with it being only women and certainly with it being only white women," the Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP continued.

AFP People's Vote event in December 2019AFP
Liz Saville Roberts (second right) and Caroline Lucas (second left) shared a platform at a People's Vote event

"But I think we need to discuss alternative methods.

"The only way of solving this is to take it back to people with a clear set of offers as a way of moving ahead.

"Because at present all we're doing [as MPs] is arguing amongst ourselves."

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss rejected the idea of an all-female cabinet on Twitter, saying: "Is there anything more sexist than claiming your gender determines your worldview/behaviour/attitude?"

Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott tweeted that it "won't work... whatever the gender of the participants".

Ms Saville Roberts has also joined Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price in calling for an immediate recall of Parliament and the Welsh Assembly from their summer breaks so members can express their views on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit.