The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Brexit bloodbath, but the lady’s not for turning
Prime Minister Theresa May backed her Brexit deal yesterday on a day marked by Cabinet resignations and growing support for a no-confidence vote.
Theresa May has vowed to fight on and deliver Brexit, after one of the toughest days of her premiership saw her hit by four ministerial resignations and a wave of demands for her removal as prime minister.
Dominic Raab and Esther Mcvey sensationally walked out of Mrs May’s Cabinet, while leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-mogg declared he had no confidence in her leadership amid a furious backlash against her plans for the UK’S withdrawal from the EU.
During three hours of questioning in the House of Commons, the PM faced Tory backbench accusations that the Brexit deal agreed by Cabinet on Wednesday was “dead on arrival” and would never survive the parliamentary vote expected next month.
Only a handful of her own MPS spoke up in favour of the plan, denounced by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a “halfbaked deal” which did not meet the six tests his party had set for it to get their support.
But in a defiant press conference in 10 Downing Street, the prime minister insisted she would “see this through”.
Standing before a pair of Union flags, Mrs May compared herself to her stubborn but effective cricketing hero as she told reporters: “What do you know about Geoffrey Boycott?
“Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got the runs in the end.”
Her appearance came at the end of a chaotic day in which the value of the pound plunged amid widespread doubts over whether Mrs May could deliver her deal or would even be able to cling on to power.
Mr Raab, the man chosen in July to represent Mrs May in negotiations with Brussels, quit as Brexit secretary, warning the deal represented a “very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom” because of provisions for Northern Ireland. And Ms Mcvey resigned as work and pensions secretary, telling the PM she could not defend the agreement approved by Cabinet in a stormy five-hour meeting.
Mr Rees-mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPS, dramatically announced he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mrs May’s leadership, declaring that her deal “has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the prime minister”.
His move is expected to be matched by other ERG members, raising expectations that the tally of letters to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, may soon pass the threshold of 48 which would trigger a confidence vote.
But at a press conference in Number 10, Mrs May said: “As PM my job is to bring back a deal that delivers on the vote of the British people, that does that by ending free movement ... ensuring we are not sending vast annual sums to the EU any longer, ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, but also protects jobs and protects people’s livelihoods, protects our security, protects the union of the United Kingdom.
“I believe this is a deal which does deliver that, which is in the national interest, and am I going to see this through? Yes.”
Two more junior ministers – Suella Braverman at the Brexit department and Shailesh Vara at Northern Ireland – also quit. And Mrs May also lost two parliamentary private secretaries and a vice-chairman of the party.
As PM my job is to bring back a deal that delivers on the vote of the British people