UK’s May facing key votes over Brexit
Former Cabinet secretary calls plan ‘fudge’, seeks new referendum
The next few days will be crucial for British Prime Minister Theresa May and her plans for how the United Kingdom should interact with the European Union after it leaves the bloc.
May is trying to negotiate the details of the UK’s exit from the EU but has struggled to appease members of her ruling Conservative Party, who hold a range of views on Brexit — from complete separation to not leaving at all.
She will face several key votes in Parliament this week, but woke up on Monday to hear Justine Greening, her former education minister, was describing her vision of a soft Brexit, as outlined in a recent white paper, as “the worst of both worlds” and a “fudge”.
Greening said in an open letter in The Times newspaper that a second referendum on Brexit was needed, offering the UK’s voters three choices: Stay in the EU, leave decisively with no deal, or conduct a soft Brexit in line with the prime minister’s wishes.
Greening, who resigned from government in January, said the decision should be taken away from “deadlocked politicians”.
She said on BBC Radio 4’s Today program that a compromise suits no one.
“The reality is Parliament is now stalemated,” she said. “Whatever the proposal on the table, there will be MPs who vote it down, but Britain needs to find a route forward.”
Greening, who is MP for the London borough of Putney, supported the losing side, “Remain”, in the 2016 referendum.
Both May and Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, have said they do not want a second referendum.
Greening’s call followed a tumultuous few days for May, during which Boris Johnson, her foreign minister, resigned over her soft Brexit stance, along with Brexit secretary David Davis and several junior ministers.
Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday that Robert Courts, who holds the seat vacated by former prime minister David Cameron, had become the eighth member of May’s senior team to quit over Brexit. He had been a parliamentary private secretary.
Feel the anger
Reuters, meanwhile, said May will feel the anger of MPs in her party this week, facing revolts from arch-Brexiteers and pro-EU die-hards who will attack her from both flanks. On Monday, MPs were voting on the Taxation (CrossBorder Trade) Bill and, on Tuesday, they will vote on the Trade Bill.
Some MPs had planned to vote for amendments that would tie Britain to a permanent customs union, something May does not want.
“This would be the ultimate betrayal of the Brexit vote,” May wrote in The Mail on Sunday newspaper, explaining it would remove Britain’s ability to have an independent trade policy and noting her government “will never stand for that”.
“This could lead to a damaging and disorderly Brexit,” she wrote.
The Tory MP Jacob ReesMogg, who favors a hard Brexit, said May needs to choose between amending her Brexit vision to one that is more hardline, or risk a split in the Conservative Party.
“The inevitable consequence of the parliamentary arithmetic is that she will need to change it to keep the party united,” he told the BBC.
The pro-EU former Labour prime minister Tony Blair told Sky News May was trying to fashion a compromise that was a “well-intentioned attempt to do Brexit whilst minimizing the economic disruption” but he said it was likely to be “decisively” rejected by Parliament because Britain would be bound by EU rules it could not change.
May’s new Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, is heading to Brussels this week for talks with the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, who has warned it will be difficult to conclude negotiations by the October target.