May: Not enough support for deal
PRIME Minister Theresa May has acknowledged that there is not enough support in the House of Commons for her to bring back her Brexit deal for a third “meaningful vote”.
But Mrs May said she would continue her efforts to build support for the deal – defeated by 230 votes in January and 149 votes in March – and stage a vote before the end of the week.
The European Council has set a deadline of Friday for the PM to secure parliamentary approval for her Withdrawal Agreement if the UK is to leave the EU with a deal on May 22.
If she cannot get it through the Commons, then the UK has until April 12 to propose a different approach or crash out of the EU without a deal.
Mrs May has struck a conciliatory tone with MPS as she sought to repair the damage done by her Downing Street statement on Brexit.
The Prime Minister used her Commons appearance to acknowledge they were doing “difficult jobs” as they wrestled with Brexit.
It was a markedly different approach to last week’s Downing Street statement, in which she blamed MPS for failing to implement the result of the 2016 EU referendum and told frustrated voters: “I am on your side.”
PRO-EU Tory Sam Gyimah, who quit as a minister over her deal, described her remarks at Number 10 as “toxic” and a “low blow”.
The Prime Minister needs to win over MPS if she is to have any chance of overturning the 149-vote defeat suffered by her Brexit deal.
She stopped short of apologising for her remarks, but admitted they were made in “frustration”.
She said: “This is the first chance I have had to address the House since my remarks last Wednesday evening.
“I expressed my frustration with our collective failure to take a decision, but I know that many members across this House are frustrated too. We all have difficult jobs to do. People on all sides of the debate hold passionate views and I respect those differences.
“I would also like to thank all of those colleagues that have supported the deal so far, and those that have taken the time to meet with me to discuss their concerns.”
Meanwhile, senior Conservative Crispin Blunt has accused Mrs May of a “shameful surrender” over her apparent willingness to take a no-deal Brexit off the table.
Mr Blunt said the Prime Minister was acting under orders from a “Remainer Parliament” and had “put the final torpedo” in her own Brexit deal.
The former minister claimed Mrs May’s comments represented “the most shameful surrender by a British leader since Singapore in 1942” – when Singapore surrendered to Japan, something Sir Winston Churchill described as a “heavy and farreaching military defeat”.