Don’t come back empty-handed
Whip’s warning as May jets to Brussels for talks:
THERESA May needs to wring fresh concessions from Brussels this week if she is to get her Brexit deal through parliament, the Government’s chief whip has warned.
A tory source said Julian Smith has privately told the Prime Minister the deal risks being voted down unless she can extract new concessions in the final days of talks.
the deal is due to be signed off by Eu leaders at a crunch Brussels summit on Sunday.
the source said: ‘ the chief whip’s view is that fear of no deal will not be enough to win this one. the numbers are terrible and he needs something sufficiently different from what people currently think they are voting for in order to get this through.’
the PM tried to calm Brexiteer jitters yesterday by reviving plans for a technological solution to the Irish border problem during an extended cabinet discussion. the so- called ‘Max Fac’ plan was dumped at chequers in July, but Downing Street said the deal with Brussels could allow for future technology to remove the need for border checks. the suggestion was said to have been welcomed ‘positively’ by some senior Eurosceptics.
Mrs May will fly to Brussels this afternoon for talks with European commission chief Jean- claude Juncker. Mr Smith’s warning came as:
Jacob rees-Mogg stepped up calls for Eurosceptics to topple Mrs May, saying it was ‘now or never’, but acknowledging his faltering coup was starting to resemble a plot from Dad’s Army.
Spain threatened to veto the entire deal unless Mrs May agrees concessions on Gibraltar. It also predicted Brexit would break up the UK and said Scotland could join the Eu as an independent nation.
France demanded further concessions on fishing, saying the Eu had to make it clear that Brexit would have ‘consequences’ for the UK.
Bank of England Governor Mark carney threw his weight behind the PM’s Brexit deal and warned of disruption if the agreement collapses.
The Government’s ‘confidence and supply’ deal was on the brink of collapse after the Democratic unionist Party failed to vote with the conservatives on the Budget for the second night running in protest at the Brexit deal.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused the Government of ‘falling apart’ after accepting Labour amendments to the Finance Bill rather than risk defeat at the hands of the DUP. He insisted: ‘the tories are in office but not in power. We’re watching a Government falling apart in front of us.’ Mrs May is pushing for a draft ‘political statement’ on the UK’s future relationship with Europe to be fleshed out this week to make it clear that Britain will get a good deal in return for the £39billion divorce payment.
Some allies of the Prime Minister believe that the fear of no deal will ultimately persuade MPs to reluctantly back her Brexit proposals when parliament holds a ‘meaningful vote’ next month.
But Mr Smith is said to be concerned that opposition to the deal is hardening. Some 53 Eurosceptic MPs have now signed up to the ‘Stand up for Brexit’ campaign which commits them to voting down any deal based on Mrs May’s chequers proposals.
A senior Eu diplomat last night said the final deal would be published tomorrow, after ‘fine tuning’ talks between Mrs May and Mr Juncker. the source said the document was expected to run to about 20 pages. ‘Juncker and May will sort it out,’ the insider added.