LABOUR is just as much a barrier to breaking the Brexit deadlock as the Tories, Nicola Sturgeon has insisted.

The First Minister spoke out as she ramped up the pressure on Jeremy Corbyn to table a confidence motion and bring down Theresa May’s “weak and unstable” Government.

Ms Sturgeon said the SNP was prepared to take matters into its own hands if the official opposition failed to act.

It came as Labour’s shadow communities minister Andrew Gwynne said the party would not table a confidence motion until after MPs got a chance to vote on Mrs May’s Brexit divorce deal.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “The main thing we want next week is to have that meaningful vote on the Withdrawal Agreement. We were promised it last week – it was pulled. We want it before Christmas.

“Parliament has to decide whether or not it supports the Prime Minister’s deal. We will assess our tactics on a day-to-day basis but fundamentally until we secure that meaningful vote from the Parliament we can’t move to the next stage.”

Mrs May’s Brexit deal is not expected to be put before MPs until mid January, but Mr Gwynne insisted his party would use “whatever mechanisms we have at our disposal” to try to force a vote before Christmas.

Ms Sturgeon accused Labour of being stuck in a “catch-22 position”.

She told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “I think it is possible that a confidence motion right now could succeed. This is a Government that is weak and unstable and becoming more weak and unstable with every day that passes.

“But even if it didn’t pass and succeed at the first time of asking, there is another merit in having a confidence motion called just now, because it would help clarify Labour’s position.

“Labour’s position right now is it won’t back a second EU referendum until it has tried and failed to trigger a general election, but if it won’t try to trigger a general election then we’re in this catch-22 position.

“It seems to me right now that Labour is as much of a barrier to making progress on Brexit as the Tories are.”

Ms Sturgeon said the SNP would “continue to consider” tabling a confidence vote itself, but added that as the official opposition, Labour is the only party that could guarantee the motion would be called for debate.

She added: “We can table a motion and we may well do that, but we want to do more than just have a gesture around this – we actually want to bring this to a vote.

“Let me be very clear – the SNP will keep all options open, and if Labour won’t act then we are prepared to act.

“But it’s Labour that can bring a motion that is guaranteed to be debated and voted on, and I’m sure most people would agree that’s the most sensible way to proceed.”

Alongside other opposition leaders, the SNP’s Ian Blackford has invited Mr Corbyn to a meeting in Westminster today to discuss Brexit.

Elsewhere, Mr Gwynne, who is also Labour’s election co-ordinator, suggested his party would back leaving the EU under a newly negotiated deal in any second referendum.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell previously insisted he would back Remain.

Meanwhile, Tory grandee Lord Chris Patten branded hard line Brexiters in his own party “Maoists and fanatics”.

He told the BBC: “It is impossible to get a deal on the European Union and our relationship with it which is both in the national interest and satisfies the Maoists in the Conservative Party.”