PM will face ‘political meltdown’ if she does not deliver on Brexit
THERESA MAY faced growing Tory tensions over Europe today, with one Right-winger warning of a “political meltdown” if she fails to deliver a full Brexit.
Labour today offered to join Conservatives who favour a “soft Brexit” in Commons votes, to force concessions on the single market and the customs union.
Shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman told BBC Radio 4 that Labour were reaching out to Tories and “trying to get knife-edge votes ... to try and force [Mrs May’s] hand”.
With increasing talk of concessions in the air, Leave campaigner Bernard Jenkin said there would be trouble if the House of Lords blocked Brexit legislation.
Writing for think tank Politeia, he said: “If the Lords fail to respect the mandate that the Commons has to press forward with Brexit ... then they will be courting the prospect of the kind of political meltdown we have not seen for a century or more.”
It came after renewed speculation about a leadership coup, with David Davis and Philip Hammond both touted as c aret akers. One Right-winger claimed the Chancellor spent a suspiciously long time at a reception for new MPs organised by the 1922 Committee, saying: “Hammond is on manoeuvres.” Sources close to Mr Hammond denied he was drumming up votes.
Mrs May was hoping to gain momentum this afternoon by unveiling the full details of her offer of lifetime residency rights to three million EU citizens who have settled in the UK.
Government sources said the 15-page paper would answer questions such as whether family members would gain similar rights and what would happen to anyone who left temporarily.
But the demand by EU leaders for the European Court of Justice to oversee disputes remains a sticking point.
The Conservative Right is protecting Mrs May because members believe she is best placed to push ahead with a “hard” exit from the EU in 2019.
It has emerged that Jeremy Corbyn believes he will become Prime Minister this year. Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis said: “I said to him, ‘When are you going to be prime minister?’ He said: ‘In six months.”