May squeezes Brexiteers with threat of delay

‘Third vote on deal could be scrapped’

THERESA May is threatening MPs with a Brexit delay of up to two years if they refuse to back her deal for the third time.

Having been heavily defeated twice, the PM wants to try again either tomorrow or on Wednesday.

If she is successful, she will ask EU leaders to delay our departure until June during a crunch Brussels summit on Thursday.

Should she fail, she could even launch a fourth vote next week, if EU leaders insist on a long delay.

Yesterday she warned that if MPs did not back her deal before the summit “we will not leave the EU for many months, if ever”.

However, Chancellor Philip Hammond admitted Mrs May could scrap the vote if she faces defeat.

He said: “We will only bring the deal back if we are confident enough of our colleagues and the DUP are prepared to support it.

“We’re not going to just keep presenting it if we haven’t moved the dial.” The Chancellor, appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, also claimed it is now “physically impossible” for the UK to leave on March 29 as promised.

Jeremy Corbyn indicated he could launch a fresh bid to oust the PM if her Brexit pact is rejected a third time. The Labour chief said it would be “appropriate” to table another confidence motion. Mrs May is said to be at the mercy of about 10 Brexiteer Tories who could side with Labour in a confidence vote.

But Lord David Trimble, an architect of the Good Friday Agreement, backed Mrs May to get her deal through the House. The sticking point with the DUP and Brexiteer Tories is the backstop – the insurance policy designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland. He said: “The Government has succeeded in securing substantive changes that will affect and limit the impact of the Irish backstop.”

Mr Hammond signalled he is ready to shovel more cash into Northern Ireland if the DUP supports the deal.

“We are coming up to a Spending Review and we will have to look at all budgets, including devolved, block grant budgets,” he told the BBC.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell warned another “bung” put the PM “in danger of destroying all confidence in our political system”.

We will only bring the deal back if we are confident that enough MPs are prepared to support it PHILIP HAMMOND YESTERDAY