GIVE US PLAN B
MPs demand alternative to PM’s Chequers scheme or hard Brexit
THERESA May must come up with a fallback Brexit deal, her critics will demand today.
The PM yesterday insisted if her Chequers scheme is rejected by MPs or Brussels, we will crash out with no trade agreement.
Now MPs are to urge Mrs May to form a Plan B of membership of a customs union or the European Economic Area to see off a “chaotic and damaging” exit.
Today the cross-party Exiting the EU Committee will say there are significant problems to be resolved, with the Irish border backstop the main sticking point.
Chairman Hilary Benn will say: “If the Chequers Plan is not acceptable then the Government will need to find a different approach urgently.”
Under Theresa May’s plan, agreed in July at the PM’s country residence, Britain and the EU would share a “common rulebook” for goods but not services.
Last night, asked on the BBC’s Panorama what would happen if her deal was voted down, the PM said: “I think that the alternative to that will be having no deal.”
Former Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg said: “The idea that we should accept a fudge or the abyss is an insult to the intelligence of British voters.”
Mrs May yesterday mocked rival Boris Johnson for saying the backstop plan would leave Britain a “vassal state”of the EU.
The PM’s spokesman said: “He was a member of the cabinet which agreed to the backstop.”
■ Chancellor Philip Hammond warns exiting the EU without a deal would put the entire economic recovery since the 2008 financial crash at risk.