Defiant May sets date with destiny
‘Being asked to take a huge gamble’
THERESA May last night vowed to press on with a Commons vote on her Brexit deal in just two weeks, despite warnings it could cost her her job.
Downing Street announced that the so-called ‘meaningful vote’ on the Brexit deal will be held on December 11, following five days of debate by MPs.
In a bruising session in the Commons yesterday, Mrs May appealed to MPs to give her deal a chance, saying it would deliver an end to free movement ‘once and for all’, while protecting jobs and trade links with Europe.
She acknowledged concern about the so-called Irish backstop, which critics fear could leave the UK locked in a customs union for years. But she warned rebel MPs: ‘There is no deal that comes without a backstop, and without a backstop there is no deal.’
Last night Mrs May appeared to have a mountain to climb to win the vote. A Daily Mail survey of 93 Tory MPs who previously voiced doubts about Mrs May’s approach yesterday found that 53 said they would vote against the deal now they had seen it.
The remainder did not respond or indicated they were undecided. None said they would vote for the deal.
Former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon, a loyalist who backed Remain, indicated that he would not back the deal, even though he accepted that Mrs May had ‘tried her very best’.
Sir Michael said: ‘Are we not, none- theless, being asked to take a huge gamble here: paying, leaving, surrendering our vote and our veto, without any firm commitment to frictionless trade, or the absolute right to dismantle external tariffs?
‘Is it really wise to trust the future of our economy to a pledge simply to use best endeavours?’
However, Environment Secretary Michael Gove yesterday publicly backed the deal for the first time since it was signed on Sunday, saying: ‘It is very important that we back the Prime Minister. She has secured a good deal for Britain.
‘It will mean we will be able to control our borders, in charge of immigration. We will be outside the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy, and it provides us with the opportunity to forge a brighter future for Britain.’ Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also gave his support, saying the PM’s deal represented ‘the most realistic prospect of us leaving the EU on March 29 next year’. Downing Street insisted Mrs May still believed she could win the vote if MPs examine the deal and consider the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit on their constituents. But senior Tories are now wargaming what to do if she loses. Even some allies fear she could be forced to resign if the deal is defeated by more than 100 votes. Yesterday’s Cabinet meeting was dominated by a discussion of nodeal preparations, with Home Secretary Sajid Javid telling ministers: ‘We need to be prepared for all consequences and outcomes.’ It came as Tory Eurosceptic Andrew Lewer became the 25th MP to declare publicly that he had written a formal letter of no confidence in Mrs May, nudging the total closer to the 48 needed to spark a leadership challenge. The Prime Minister is preparing to travel to Wales and Northern Ireland today as part of a bid to change the public mood on her deal and pressure MPs to toe the line. She insisted the backstop was ‘an insurance policy that no one wants to use’. Mrs May added that anger in the UK over this issue was balanced by concerns in the EU that the arrangement would give UK firms a competitive edge.
She said: ‘I do not pretend that either we or the EU are entirely happy with these arrangements. And that is how it must be – were either party entirely happy, that party would have no incentive to move on to the future relationship.
‘But there is no alternative deal that honours our commitments to Northern Ireland which does not involve this insurance policy.’
Former minister Nick Herbert hit out at Brexiteer MPs for ‘overblown’ descriptions of the impact of the Irish backstop, which he said could ‘only be temporary’.
Fellow Tory Gary Streeter said it was ‘ironic that those who might be scuppering Brexit are the ones who voted for it in the first place’.
But Mark Francois, deputy leader of the European Research Group, said: ‘I have politely told my whip I will not vote for this even if they put a shotgun in my mouth.’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged Mrs May to abandon her plan and adopt his call for ‘a comprehensive customs union and a strong single market deal.’ He added: ‘Ploughing on is not stoic, it is an act of national self-harm’.