Labour votes give May a Brexit lifeline
PM still likely to face a no-confidence vote before MPs take their summer break
Theresa May’s future as British Prime Minister was saved by four Labour MPs yesterday as she avoided a critical Commons defeat on Brexit by the narrowest of margins.
Twelve Remain-supporting Tory rebels defied their party by voting with Labour as they tried to force the Government to seek a customs union with the European Union.
Conservative whips had warned their MPs that if May lost the knifeedge vote her authority would have been so badly undermined that it would trigger a general election.
The mutineers refused to budge, reportedly telling the whips to “sod off”, but the Government won with a majority of 307-301, thanks to four Labour Brexiteers who defied their own whip. Had they obeyed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, May would have lost by two votes.
May is not yet out of danger, as she could yet face a no-confidence vote in her leadership in the next week.
The Prime Minister had hoped to bring forward the start of Parliament’s summer recess to today, which would have thwarted any immediate attempt to hold a vote on her leadership. But she had to abandon the plan after an internal backlash led by Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, meaning she faces an anxious wait until Tuesday to see if her MPs try to topple her.
Boris Johnson, who resigned as Foreign Secretary this month, was expected to make his resignation speech in Parliament overnight, though allies said Johnson would not make any personal attacks on May.
Sir John Major, the last Conservative Prime Minister to face a noconfidence vote, yesterday suggested that Tory infighting could lead to Corbyn becoming prime minister. He told ITV News that May was in a “more difficult position” now than he was in the nineties, when hardline Eurosceptics in his party destroyed the Government over the Maastricht treaty. Major was defeated by a landslide in 1997 which began 13 years of Labour rule.
On Tuesday, May was forced to accept four changes to her customs plans from Brexiteers that they believe will kill off her Chequers plan, negotiated with her Cabinet at the Prime Minister’s country house, Chequers.
Earlier on Tuesday she lost a Brexit vote in the Commons for only the second time when an amendment to the trade bill requiring UK participation in the European medicines regulatory network was passed by four votes.
However, it was the Remainers’ attempt to force a change on her customs plan that threatened her future, as it directly contradicted her Chequers plan.
Whips tried to bring rebels into line by telling them their actions would lead to a no-confidence vote in May.
Two Tory MPs who rebelled in Tuesday’s vote supported the Government yesterday, along with four others who had rebelled in the past, suggesting the tactic may have had some success.— Telegraph Group Ltd