May: I was forced into Brexit compromise to keep North in the UK

THERESA May has said she was forced into reaching a compromise Brexit or see Northern Ireland ‘carved off’ as separate from the rest of the UK.

Ahead of a crucial week in parliament, the British prime minister acknowledged feelings in her party were running high, but said her plan offered a ‘hard-headed and practical’ way forward.

Mrs May said she had been forced to come forward with the revised plans after the EU had offered two options: either stay in the Customs Union and accept continued freedom of movement, or see Northern Ireland effectively ‘carved out’ from the UK – the so-called ‘backstop’ backed by the Irish Government.

‘Faced with that, we had an option,’ the Tory leader told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

‘We could go for no deal – no deal is still there, it is still possible, but I think the best thing for the UK is to have a deal that sets a good relationship with our trading partners in the future.

‘So if we were going to find something that was [in] Britain’s interest, that delivered on the referendum and that was negotiable, we had to make what is a compromise, but is a positive in terms of the benefits it gives us.’

She said the plan would avoid the need for a hard border on this island, maintain ‘frictionless’ trade with the EU, and still allow the UK to negotiate freetrade deals with other countries. ‘Many people voted from the heart to leave the EU,’ she said. ‘My job as prime minister is to deliver for them, but also I’ve got to be hard-headed and practical about this.’

However, leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg warned that trust in Mrs May was waning amid acrimonious claims that members of her cabinet were kept in the dark about her proposals.

In a scathing aside, he accused her of failing to embrace the opportunities of Brexit, saying she was ‘a Remainer who remained a Remainer’.

Meanwhile, Robert Courts, who succeeded David Cameron as MP for Witney, has become the latest ministerial aide to resign over Brexit, quitting his post as parliamentary private secretary at the Foreign Office.

Today, MPs will vote on a series of amendments to the Customs Bill tabled by members of the European Research Group (ERG), which Mr Rees-Mogg leads, intended to scupper Mrs May’s plans for a ‘UK-EU free trade area’ based on a ‘common rule book’. However, with no Labour backing, the changes stand little chance of getting through, although the votes could provide Conservative Brexiteers with the opportunity to stage a show of strength in parliament.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary in protest after the plan was agreed by the British cabinet, was yesterday reported to be preparing to make a resignation statement in the Commons, providing another potential flashpoint.

Mrs May could then face a further challenge tomorrow, this time from pro-EU Tories seeking to amend the Trade Bill to keep the UK in a Customs Union with the EU, although it is unclear if they will now put it to a vote.

Mr Rees-Mogg said the prime minister’s approach to the Brexit talks had been ‘hopeless’, giving too much ground to Brussels.

He played down the prospect of an imminent leadership challenge, but said Mrs May risked splitting the party unless she was prepared to change course. The prime minister, meanwhile, revealed Donald Trump’s advice to her on the Brexit negotiations had been to ‘sue the EU’.

Trump told May to ‘sue the EU’