Peers threat to Brexit process
possible in the hope that the whole thing will collapse.”
Some ministers believe Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, the head of the Civil Service, must do more to ensure that Whitehall obeys the commands of elected politicians seeking to implement the verdict of last year’s referendum vote to quit the EU. According to insiders, civil servants are taking too long to deliver reports on Brexit-related issues requested by ministers and other instructions are getting lost in the Whitehall chain of command. “The whole machinery of Government needs to be overhauled. It is just not fit for Brexit,” the ministerial source said.
One complaint is that minutes of Cabinet meetings and other toplevel discussions fail to identify contributors, allowing Civil Service opposition to ministerial demands to be hidden. Another is that the Prime Minister, whose closest advisers were forced to quit Downing Street following the election flop, is failing to lead the Brexit charge. “We need some proper political leadership. She is an administrator, not a politician,” the ministerial source said.
On top of the Civil Service inertia, ministers fear the House of Lords could do serious damage to Brexit legislation in the New Year. “The real problems for the EU Withdrawal Bill are going to come in the Lords. The plan is to get the bill bogged down in amendments and string out the process as long as possible,” another senior Tory told me.
REMAIN-BACKING Tory MPs have been willing to voice their misgivings about the departure process while shying away from defying the will of the electorate by voting down or amending Brexit measures during the detailed Committee stage of the EU Withdrawal Bill. Unelected peers including former Labour minister Lord Mandelson, ex-Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown and Tory peer Baroness Wheatcroft are expected to have far fewer qualms about ignoring the Leave verdict of the referendum.
Some Remain-backing peers are claiming Mrs May’s failure to win a majority at the last election vindicates their push to overturn the referendum result. If the upper house amends the EU Withdrawal Bill to force a second referendum or introduce other measures designed to undermine the Brexit process, the Government may not have enough time before the scheduled EU departure date in March 2019 to use the Parliament Act to overturn the changes.
The twin assault from within the Civil Service and the House of Lords is seen as a serious threat by Eurosceptics in the Government. “I am now seriously worried that Brexit could be stopped,” the ministerial source said. On second thoughts, it may be far too early for the Tories to hum Things Can Only Get Better after all.