LEXITEERS accused the Labour Party of being “politically dead” today for warning the government against a “chaotic” no-deal Brexit while Britain approaches its peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

New shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds urged ministers, who have just over eight months until Britain is no longer subject to European Union rules, not to put “ideology over national interest.”

She called for “desperately needed” co-operation with the EU and international bodies on the coronavirus crisis, adding that provision of personal protective equipment, tests for Covid-19 and hospital ventilators rely on international co-ordination.

Downing Street recently blamed an email mix-up for missing the deadline for an EU ventilator procurement scheme, which the EU said Britain was eligible to join during the transitionary period which lasts until the end of the year.

Britain left the EU in January and negotiators have until December 31 to strike a trade deal, but new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that it was a mistake to put the date in law.

Downing Street has insisted that the Brexit timetable remains unchanged, although Brussels doubts that a deal will be struck by then.

Former MEP Ms Dodds and former shadow Brexit secretary Mr Starmer campaigned during the 2019 election on a promise to renegotiate a deal with Brussels and then put it to a referendum.

Mr Starmer last month, during the Labour leadership contest, declined to rule out rejoining the EU if he becomes Prime Minister.

Paul O’Connell, spokesman for left-wing pro-Brexit group Leave Fight Transform (LeFT), told the Morning Star: “The statement from Dodds, in a context in which Starmer’s Labour have been so tepid on everything else, reveals a potentially dangerous political orientation and set of priorities.”

After Labour suffered its worst loss of parliamentary seats since 1935, LeFT warned that Labour would see similar losses in future elections if it continued to reject the Leave result of the 2016 referendum.

Mr O’Connell added: “It’s common knowledge that Starmer was one of the chief architects of Labour’s disastrous soft-Remain position at the last election.

“If the re-vamped shadow cabinet is looking to carry on the long war for Remain/rejoin, then it will further demonstrate the decline of Labour as any sort of serious force committed to the transformation of society.”