Davis urges cabinet to make

LONDON: Critics of Theresa May’s plans for leaving the European Union stepped up the pressure on the British prime minister on Sunday, with one former minister saying her cabinet team should exert its authority to force her to change course.

With less than six months until Brexit day and with May due in Brussels for a summit on Wednesday, both sides are holding intensive talks to try to seal an agreement on the terms of Britain’s divorce.

Brexit Minister Dominic Raab was due to meet the EU’S chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Brussels later on Sunday, after his department said it was “jointly agreed that face-to-face talks were necessary” on the “big issues still to resolve.”

One major issue was on a “backstop” to prevent a hard border with EU member Ireland, an arrangement that has strengthened opposition to May’s plans after her Northern Irish partners accused the bloc of trying to annex the province.

Former Brexit minister David Davis, who resigned his post in July, criticised the government for accepting “the EU’S language on dealing with the Northern Ireland border” and said it was now up to senior ministers to use their influence.

“This is one of the most fundamental decisions that government has taken in modern times. It is time for cabinet members to exert their collective authority,” wrote Davis, who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.

“This week the authority of our constitution is on the line,” he said in an article in the Sunday Times. Davis also pressed May to abandon her proposal for leaving the EU, saying the bloc “has rejected it. The public does not like it. Parliament will not vote for it”.

This is one of the most fundamental decisions that government has taken in modern times. It is time for cabinet members to exert their collective authority DAVID DAVIS Former Brexit minister

So far, May has shown little appetite