Victory? She is just stumbling nearer to chaos
THERESA May will not be popping the champagne corks after last night’s “victory”. Only a last-minute concession saved her from defeat.
Unable to impose her will on her fractured party, Mrs May has been forced to accept that MPs will be able to dictate what happens if there is no Brexit agreement by November 30.
In effect, she has agreed to hand over the reins if she is likely to crash the coach. By doing so she gives Brussels the incentive to drag out the negotiations knowing MPs are more likely to back a much softer Brexit than the one Mrs May is proposing.
Tory remainers will also be emboldened as they face the battles ahead. In the next few weeks the PM faces seeing her customs plans rejected at the EU summit and more backbench revolts as the Trade Bill arrives in the Commons in July.
Then there is the small matter of getting the Cabinet to agree on its preferred Brexit outcome.
At the heart of Mrs May’s problems is she is limping towards a Brexit which is unacceptable to both remainers and leavers.
Her proposed solution to the Irish border issue could see us accepting EU rules and regulations and paying Brussels for the privilege. We would, as Phillip Lee said in his resignation statement, have neither fully left nor fully stayed in the EU. Little wonder the drumbeats of a leadership challenge are growing louder.