May prepared to walk away from Brexit talks to avoid ‘bad deal’
THERESA MAY last night insisted she wanted to regain the “trust” of the British people in order to have a “strong hand” in the Brexit negotiations.
The Prime Minister made her appeal to the public after a dramatic drop in the Conservatives’ polling figures in recent days, following the party’s U-turn over capping the cost of social care..
Following repeated questions from Jeremy Paxman over whether she would be prepared to “walk away” from the Brexit negotiating table, she finally conceded that in the event of a bad deal, “we have to be prepared to walk out”.
A central theme of Paxman’s questioning was how the public could trust her when her party had reversed policies on social care and national insurance in recent months – as well as her earlier repeated claims that there would be no election before 2020.
To audience applause, the former BBC Newsnight presenter cited the Conservatives’ U-turn over national insurance earlier this year, asking if the Prime Minister was “a blowhard that collapses at the first sign of gunfire”.
The Prime Minister insisted she changed her mind about whether to hold an election “after it became clear “that other parties want to frustrate the process of Brexit negotiations”.
Mrs May said: “I am going out across the country asking people, for me to gain their trust at this election.”
Paxman also asked when Mrs May realised she had the “wrong answer” over the question of whether Britain should leave the EU, after she campaigned for a Remain vote. The Prime Minister insisted the British people made a choice and it was important for politicians to respect that.
But asked repeatedly if she had changed her mind over her vote – or still believed it was a “duff idea” she refused to provide a direct answer, instead saying Britain could “make a success of Brexit”.
Paxman repeatedly asked if Mrs May was prepared to walk away without a deal. She repeated her mantra that “no deal would be better than a bad deal” before conceding that, yes, she would “have to” walk away.
One of the most passionate audience questions came from Philip Webster, who said he had started his first job 74 years ago on 32 shillings a week, and asked why his generation should vote for the Conservatives despite the prospect of the value of his home being “eroded” by the so-called “dementia tax”.
The Prime Minister said her social care policy, now including a cap on the amount people have to spend on their care, was intended to take away the
risk of people not being able to leave their homes to their families.
Paxman asked “explicitly, unambiguously” if Mrs May could say what the cap on social care would be. She faced laughter from the audience when she did not provide a direct answer, instead repeating that it was fairer to have a consultation first, and “it’s about thinking about what the right approach is to get to that figure”.
She defended her party’s record reducing the numbers of police, saying: “We were living within our means.”
Mrs May was also criticised by a teacher and mother-of-two over her “damaging” plans for schools funding. Faced with heckling from the audience, she insisted that people should focus on the achievement of schools rather than funding.
‘I am going out across the country asking people, for me to gain their trust at this election’