Theresa: Final deal on Brexit 95% there
A dEAL to take britain out of the EU is ‘95 per cent settled’, Theresa May will tell MPs today.
She will try to dispel suggestions that talks have stalled after a series of setbacks.
The Prime Minister will set out a string of areas where there is consensus, including ‘broad agreement on the structure and scope of the future relationship’ and agreement on how disputes between the two sides will be resolved after brexit.
‘Taking all of this together, 95 per cent of the withdrawal agreement and its protocols are now settled,’ she will say.
It comes as Mrs May faces a renewed threat to her leadership, and a potential Commons rebellion on Wednesday that could derail her plans for resolving the Northern Ireland border issue, seen as the last main sticking point.
She also faces the risk of Scottish Conservative MPs voting the deal down if it extends the UK’s membership of the hated Common Fisheries Policy.
A move to block the deal would see 12 Scottish MPs, or 13 if they are joined by Scottish Secretary david Mundell, siding with the SNP and plunging the UK towards a hard brexit if their combined numbers overturn the Government’s Commons majority.
Several Scottish Tory MPs won seats in areas where fishing communities are impatient to be freed from EU restraints.
Moray MP douglas Ross said: ‘I could not support a deal that would include staying in the Common Fisheries Policy beyond december 2020.
‘I think what’s important is that we send out a very strong signal to everyone who is negotiating on behalf of the UK that this is an issue that is extremely important for our Scottish communities.’
At Westminster yesterday, Mrs May’s hardline critics faced condemnation themselves after they suggested she would face a ‘show trial’ this week at which she would be well advised to ‘bring her own noose’.
one Eurosceptic MP even told The Sunday Times that Mrs May was entering the ‘killing zone’, while another said: ‘The moment is coming when the knife gets heated, stuck in her front and twisted. She’ll be dead soon.’
The chilling imagery provoked widespread condemnation, with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon urging Tory MPs to ‘get a grip’, saying ‘language like this debases politics’.
Eurosceptic former cabinet minister Theresa Villiers described the comments as ‘really disturbing’, adding: ‘It is very unhelpful – we have got to trust the Prime Minister to do the job. I don’t think a leadership election would be remotely helpful at this stage.’
Robert Halfon, a pro-Remain former minister who has been critical of Mrs May’s style, said: ‘This is not the way to change things. This just confirms what many in the public thinks of us, that we’re all out for ourselves and not on the side of working people.’
but brexit minister Suella braverman told Sky News: ‘Colleagues are free to express themselves in the way they wish.’
The row came as brexit Secretary dominic Raab said britain had only five weeks to agree a deal with brussels as he suggested december would be too late.
Former brexit Secretary david davis also urged Mrs May to play tough by threatening to ban European airlines from flying over the UK in the event of a no-deal exit. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister will face down her mutinous MPs today when she gives an update in Parliament on last week’s EU summit.
downing Street yesterday said she had not yet decided if she would attend a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee on Wednesday, when rebels have promised the ‘show trial’ over her brexit concessions.
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