Government not ruling out no-deal Brexit, Downing Street insists

NEGOTIATIONS: Eurosceptic Tories threaten to rebel in key vote today

Downing Street has denied that Theresa May is taking a no-deal Brexit off the table.

Eurosceptic Tories are threatening to rebel in a key Brexit vote today over a motion tabled in the prime minister’s name which they claim would commit her to avoiding EU withdrawal without a deal.

The motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising Mrs May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

But members of the backbench European Research Group say that it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs the same day, which rules out no-deal but is not binding on the government.

Leading ERG member Mark Francois told the BBC: “We cannot vote for this as it is currently configured because it rules out no-deal and removes our negotiating leverage in Brussels. The prime minister, if she went through the lobbies for this, would be voting against the guarantees she has given in the Commons for months. It is madness.”

Mrs May’s official spokesman told reporters at a Westminster media briefing: “What the motion reflects is the position the prime minister set out after those votes, which is the Parliament wants the UK to leave with a deal, but in order to do so it requires us to secure legally-binding changes in relation to the backstop.”

He added: “No-deal is an eventuality we wish to avoid, but one we continue to plan for. Does no-deal remain on the table? The answer is yes.”

The spokesman declined to discuss reports that senior negotiator Olly Robbins was overheard in a Brussels bar saying that Mrs May planned to wait until the end of March before confronting MPs with a choice between her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit.

But he rejected suggestions that the backstop arrangement – designed to keep the Irish border open in the absence of a wider trade deal – was being treated as a “bridge” to a future UK/EU relationship, insisting instead that it is “an insurance policy that is never intended to be used”.

There were howls of anger from Eurosceptics over Mr Robbins’s reported comments, with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage calling for him to be sacked for “treachery and incompetence”.

But Conservative vice-chairman Chris Philp said: “What a civil servant might speculate in a bar after a few drinks is frankly not that important.”

Answering questions in the House of Commons, Mrs May insisted the government’s position concerning the Article 50 withdrawal process had not changed. “We triggered Article 50 – in fact this House voted to trigger Article 50. That had a two-year timeline. That ends on March 29,” she told MPs at Prime Minister’s questions.

“We want to leave with a deal. That is what we are working for.”

European Council president Donald Tusk appeared to express frustration with London’s stance. He tweeted: “No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse.”

Meanwhile shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour was committed to preventing Mrs May from pursuing a “reckless” policy of running down the clock to the point where MPs may be faced with a choice between her deal or no-deal with just days to go to the March 29 deadline.

No-deal is an eventuality we wish to avoid, but one we continue to plan for. Does no-deal remain on the table? The answer is yes.

THERESA MAY’S SPOKESMAN

Picture: Getty. Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrating in front of the Houses of Parliament in London yesterday.