Cabinet members bid to change text of agreement
CABINET ministers are planning a final push to remould parts of Theresa May’s Brexit strategy in a bid to find a way through the political crisis engulfing the Government.
Brexit-backing members of Mrs May’s team will meet within days to discuss their approach, with a drive to change the text of the UK’s withdrawal agreement not ruled out.
It emerged as Mrs May sought to shore up her leadership after a wave of resignations, appointing staunch ally Amber Rudd back to the cabinet six months after she was forced to resign over the Windrush scandal.
Stephen Barclay has been picked as the new Brexit secretary. He replaces Dominic Raab, who was one of four ministers to resign on Thursday over Mrs May’s Brexit plan.
Locally, John Penrose will join the Northern Ireland Office, replacing Shailesh Vara, who also stepped down.
Downing Street is on high alert as rebel backbenchers submitted further letters urging Mrs May to quit, ahead of a possible vote of no confidence next week.
It is believed House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom will convene the meeting of Brexiteer frontbenchers to decide how Mrs May’s strategy might evolve before a critical European summit in just over a week.
Michael Gove is among their number, having decided not to follow Dominic Raab and Esther McVey in quitting the cabinet.
Environment Secretary Mr Gove said: “I think it’s absolutely vital that we focus on getting the right deal in the future.”
Others in the group include Liam Fox, Penny Mordaunt and Chris Grayling, and there are efforts to bring in Liz Truss, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt.
They will look at how they can allay deep concerns within the party about the backstop mech- anism, which binds the UK into a customs union with the EU if no trade deal has been reached by the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020.
Many Conservative MPs wanted the UK to have a unilateral option to withdraw from the arrangement, which Mrs May had concluded is unobtainable.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has said there is “no question” of reopening talks as a document is now “on the table”.