Is May set for total Brexit surrender?
BRITISH prime minister Theresa May was last night poised to mount a humiliating climbdown over a customs union as the price of winning Labour support for her Brexit deal.
According to senior sources, Tory negotiators have told Labour that the British Government would accept UK membership of a customs union – a ‘red line’ for Brexiteers – but on condition that they ‘call it something else’ to avoid inflaming anger among Eurosceptic Conservatives.
It is understood that Jeremy Corbyn has also been offered a ‘lock’ mechanism, which would prevent any future pro-Brexit prime minister such as Boris Johnson from unravelling the deal by having it written directly into legislation. The moves are certain to trigger fury among pro-Brexit Tory MPs. The parties have also discussed offering MPs a vote on whether to hold a second referendum. Neither the Tory nor Labour leadership want the public to vote again on Brexit, and they hope a Commons defeat will banish the idea forever.
A source in the cross-party talks said: ‘It was offered with a nod and wink – if we unite to vote it down, a second referendum can be put to bed once and for all.’
With just four days to go until an emergency Brussels summit on whether to further delay Brexit:
Mrs May warned that Brexit would ‘slip through our fingers’ if she did not cut a deal with Mr Corbyn.
Chancellor Philip Hammond signalled the Government was ready to climbdown by declaring there were ‘no red lines’ for a Labour deal.
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab told The Mail on Sunday that Mrs May’s negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn risked ‘handing the keys to Downing Street’ to an avowed Marxist and destroying Brexit.
Tory associations warned they would go on strike in May’s council elections if the PM cuts a deal with Labour and clings to office, as a Tory minister warned fighting the EU elections would be a ‘suicide note’ for the party.
Tory MPs swung behind the ‘unity’ leadership ticket of pro-Brexit Boris Johnson and pro-Remain Amber Rudd, which they have codenamed ‘Bamber’.
Allies of British home secretary Sajid Javid produced polling data to claim he is in a better position than Mr Johnson to win a general election.
International trade secretary Liam Fox was accused of making an undiplomatic remark about French President Macron’s marriage after last week’s Cabinet meeting.
According to sources close to the negotiations – which took place over the phone on Saturday rather than through face-to-face meetings – Labour have indicated they don’t mind how the ‘customs union’ is described as long as it conforms to the World Trade Organisation definition of it being ‘an arrangement with a common external tariff’.