Ex-ministers urge May to consider a ‘sensible’ Brexit
THREE former Cabinet Remainers have launched a further attempt to persuade Theresa May to ‘compromise’ on Brexit.
Damian Green, Amber Rudd and Justine Greening have joined forces to put pressure on the Prime Minister ahead of crunch talks with Brussels this month.
The trio, who have all left the Cabinet in the past six months, insist they accept the result of the 2016 referendum but say they want Mrs May to pursue a ‘sensible Brexit’ – even if that means delaying a clean break with Brussels for years.
The PM held private talks with them in Downing Street this week, prompting concern yesterday she could be forced to make further concessions.
Tory Eurosceptic Peter Bone warned that the Government was at risk of betraying the referendum result if it made further concessions to Brussels at the behest of pro-Remain MPs.
Eurosceptic sources said MPs had already had to accept the £40billion Brexit divorce bill, a 21-month transition deal and the possibility of EU tariffs continuing after Brexit.
Mr Bone said: ‘There are certain things that we have compromised on enough and we really can’t go any further on those. We should be talking to everyone and trying to create an agreement that everyone can support, but that has to be based on what the British people voted for.’
Mr Green, Miss Rudd and Miss Greening were all prominent figures in the Remain campaign who concealed their opposition to Brexit while in government.
Mr Green, who was Mrs May’s deputy, was forced to resign in December after an inquiry found he had failed to tell the truth about pornography found on his office computer.
Miss Greening was sacked after she refused a sideways move in January’s Cabinet reshuffle. Miss Rudd quit in April over her handling of the Windrush scandal.
Their departure from government leaves them free to speak their minds and has raised fears they could join Tory Brexit rebellions in the Commons. But so far they have indicated they are not interested in backing amendments supported by diehard Tory Remainers such as Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve, seen by ministers as attempts to sabotage Brexit.
Mr Green yesterday said a ‘quiet majority’ of Tory MPs wanted a form of Brexit that produced no disruption for business. He said the trio were in discussions with pro-Brexit MPs about a potential compromise, suggesting this could include following EU customs rules for years after Brexit while alternatives are worked up.
‘We need to make sure we can trade freely,’ he said. ‘We are talking about the lifeblood of the economy and any new customs system has to work from day one.
‘Getting it right in practical terms is more important than making some ideological point.’
The trio are also pushing Mrs May to keep the UK closely aligned with single market rules on goods in the long term. Miss Rudd said: ‘We wanted to tell the Prime Minister what lots of people are telling us – sensible Brexit, please.’
Leading Brexiteer Lord Lawson has applied for a French residency card – carte de sejour – which would confirm his right to live at his 18th century home in the south-west of France after Brexit.
He faced claims of hypocrisy but insisted he was not applying for citizenship. And he has not made any secret of the fact his main home is in France.
‘The lifeblood of the economy’