May could be forced to abandon threat to leave EU with no deal
PM’S approach to Brexit negotiations under threat as she seeks to form an agreement with Unionists
THERESA MAY has been warned that she will have to abandon her threat to walk away from the European Union without a deal following the Tories’ disastrous election performance.
The Prime Minister repeatedly told European leaders in the run-up to the election that “no deal is better than a bad deal” and said that such an approach was essential for negotiations.
However, Mrs May could now be forced to abandon the position as she seeks an alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party, which fears that having no deal could lead to a new hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic.
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Tories in Scotland, where the party gained MPS, has called for a new approach building cross-party support for an “open Brexit”.
It came as senior Tories joined Labour in demanding a rethink on Brexit, calling for the economy and jobs to be put before migration controls.
Pro-european Conservatives yesterday said Mrs May will have to abandon the approach.
George Osborne, the former chancellor who now edits the London Evening Standard, yesterday told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One: “The DUP need a deal because they are absolutely committed not to have a hard border with the Republic of Ireland. Theresa May’s central claim, which is no deal is better than a bad deal, now becomes undeliverable because the DUP will never allow no deal.”
Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Alistair Burt, former ministers, warned that a softer approach was now the only way of getting a deal through Parliament.
Lord Heseltine, a Conservative grandee, went further, describing the commitment to “hard” Brexit as “a cancer gnawing at the heart” of the party.
Ms Morgan, who was also sacked by Mrs May, predicted a leadership challenge over the summer. “I think it’s fairly clear Theresa May cannot lead us into another election – of course, we don’t know when that’s going to happen, and I don’t think we should rush that,” she told ITV’S Peston on Sunday.
“But I do think if we’re going to have a leadership contest in the Conservative Party. What we cannot do is have another coronation like last summer.”
Asked about the timing of such a contest, she said: “Much to the upset probably of every journalist who was hoping for a summer off, I suspect it could be over this summer and I think it should involve our party conference as well.”
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is reported to have told the Prime Minister that she needed to put “jobs first” in negotiating a new deal with Brussels, in comments seen as a coded attack on her focus on controlling immigration.