Tories warn May not to budge over Brexit giveaways
PRESSURE is mounting on Theresa May to deliver a clean Brexit after two leading Tory organisations issued 10 key demands for the negotiations.
The Bow Group think tank and the eurosceptic Bruges Group laid out “red lines” to the Prime Minister, warning against more concessions to Brussels.
The demands include a pledge that Article 50 will not be reversed, a promise the UK will not sign up to an “EU army” and the introduction of tough new immigration rules.
The Bow Group, led by former cabinet minister Lord Tebbit, believes approximately 130 Brexit-supporting Tory MPs back their campaign.
The demands were created amid concerns that Labour, the SNP and Tory Remainers in the Commons and Lords will try to water down Brexit.
The groups want a pledge that Mrs May will not allow the Lords to change the EU Withdrawal Bill in a way that keeps Britain tied to Brussels rule.
Support
They have also hit back at Mrs May’s promise to pay up to £39billion as an EU divorce bill, with both the Bow and Bruges groups demanding the EU gets nothing.
Another point of contention is any transition deal that could tie Britain to the EU for another two years beyond the official departure date in March next year.
On immigration, they do not want EU students to be automatically allowed to stay after graduating from British universities.
The groups said the Prime Minister needs firm commitments on UK citizens’ rights in the EU before EU citizens’ rights in the UK are guaranteed.
They are seeking an end to free movement with an immigration bill devised to get net migration down to the tens of thousands after Brexit.
They also want the Prime Minister to reaffirm her commitment that the European Court of Justice will have no role in the UK after Brexit, and that the UK will not be in the EU’s single market or customs union. Benjamin Harris-Quinney, the Bow Group chairman, said: “What these MPs have told the Bow Group is that their red lines are very clear and they will not support a government that does not deliver on them. “They are far greater in number than the Remain rebels and many of them have spent 30 or 40 years campaigning for Brexit – they aren’t going to give up now. “While technically Theresa May has enough support in Parliament as a whole to pass a soft Brexit, 130 Conservative MPs being opposed to it will topple the government immediately, preventing such a bill from being passed.” The pressure mounting on the Prime Minister comes as Brexit Secretary David Davis reportedly told civil servants to speed up the talks. It is also understood Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has told friends he is concerned other members of the cabinet are trying to stop a clean Brexit. One ally said: “The other Leave supporters tend to hide behind his skirts and don’t say very much.”