Mutiny threatens May’s Brexit plan
BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered a major Conservative mutiny against her Brexit plans, with 11 of her MPs refusing to back the government and boasting that Parliament had ‘‘taken control’’ of the process of withdrawing from the European Union.
May lost a key vote in the House of Commons yesterday despite senior Conservatives pleading with the self-styled ‘‘rebel alliance’’ to back her or risk a disorderly Brexit.
Following chaotic scenes in Parliament, the rebels defied their party by voting through an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill, demanding a ‘‘meaningful’’ vote on Brexit.
In a sign of the ongoing bitter recriminations, one of those behind the mutiny was sacked as vice-chairman of the Conservative Party.
The disunity in her party threatens to undermine May on the eve of a crucial Brussels summit at which she is hoping to receive backing from other European leaders to move forward on Brexit talks to begin discussing trade. Whitehall sources fear that some European politicians may seek to use the problems May faced in Parliament to secure further concessions or legal guarantees.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, hailed the government’s defeat as a ‘‘good day for democracy’’.
The dispute arose over the status of the vote on the Brexit deal before March 2019, which the rebels had insisted must be guaranteed in law.
Ministers had pledged to give Parliament a proper vote but warned that the rebel amendment demanding that a ‘‘meaningful vote’’ should be enshrined in law risked derailing a ‘‘smooth and orderly’’ Brexit.
What had been seen as a technical row erupted into a major political embarrassment for No 10 Downing Street.
Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs rounded on their colleagues who were led by former ministers Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry, Ken Clarke and Nicky Morgan warning that they had undermined Brexit and boosted the opposition Labour Party’s chances at the next election.
‘‘Tonight, the Tory rebels have put a spring in Labour’s step, given them a taste of winning, guaranteed the party a weekend of bad press, undermined the prime minister and devalued her impact in Brussels,’’ MP Nadine Dorries said. ‘‘They should be deselected and never allowed to stand as a Tory MP, ever again.‘‘
Stephen Hammond, who was sacked as Conservative vicechairman last night, was one of 11 Tory MPs who joined Labour, the Scottish National Party and the Liberal Democrats in the antiBrexit move.
The government said it was ‘‘disappointed’’, and senior Conservatives raised concerns that the vote could be used to frustrate or block Brexit entirely.
The rebel MPs accused the government of being ‘‘stupid’’ for failing to make more concessions ahead of the vote, and vowed to defeat the government again next week in a rebellion on plans to enshrine the date of Brexit in law.
Throughout the day, May called the rebels into No 10 one by one in an attempt to win them over.
There were extraordinary clashes between the government and pro-European Tory MPs in the run-up to the vote. Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, threatened to sue pro-European MPs for defamation as he strongly denied claims that he had ‘‘bullied’’ a female MP and reduced her to tears.
Tory MPs also clashed in the Commons, where one pro-Brexit MP was heckled by rebel Tories and told to ‘‘sit down’’.