Tory rebels have made ‘no deal’ Brexit more likely, say EU leaders
By James Crisp in Brussels, Gordon Rayner and Steven Swinford TORY rebels have increased the chances of a “no deal” Brexit by giving Theresa May less time to negotiate a good deal for Britain, EU leaders have warned.
By insisting they have a “meaningful vote” on the final deal, the mutineers weakened Mrs May’s hand because Brussels knows anything she agrees could be overturned by Parliament.
She will also have to allow time for a vote, cutting short the time available for reaching an agreement with the EU.
Together, the two factors make it less likely that she will achieve the best possible deal, EU leaders said, and if Parliament rejects what is on offer Britain will crash out of the EU without a deal. Brussels will not renegotiate, meaning the vote will still be a “take it or leave it” choice.
Christian Kern, Austria’s outgoing chancellor, said he still hoped Brexit could be reversed, but Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, insisted that it was “unstoppable”. He said Wednesday night’s defeat for the Government “won’t for one second stop Brexit”.
Danuta Hübner, a Polish MEP and chairman of the European parliament’s constitutional affairs committee, said: “Once it is finalised and it is signed by both parties, then any change to it means reopening negotiations, meaning we will not make it within the two years, meaning there is a hard Brexit.”
Mrs May was in Brussels last night for the start of a two-day European Council summit at which the leaders of the other 27 countries are expected to agree that negotiations on a post-brexit trade deal can begin. The Prime Minister told them she wanted to move on to the next phase of negotiations “with ambition and creativity”.
She said: “A particular priority should be agreement on the implementation period so that we can bring greater certainty to businesses in the UK and across the 27.”
Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg, said Mrs May’s job had been made harder by the 11 rebels in her party who helped Labour defeat her in the Commons on Wednesday night. He said: “As soon as she negotiates something she will need to go back to London to get approval from the Parliament and this is not making her life easier. If every time we announce something there is a risk that it will unravel in London, it is not very good for making concrete progress.”
David Davis agreed, telling the Commons that Wednesday’s vote left him with “a very compressed timetable”.
Mrs May, meanwhile, is preparing to back down over plans to enshrine the Brexit date in law after Tory rebels threatened to inflict another defeat on the Government next week.
The Prime Minister and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, both refused to rule out a climbdown, while another minister told The Daily Telegraph “we’re not going to die in a ditch over it”. The rebels argue that the Government should give itself extra flexibility in its negotiations by leaving the Brexit date open-ended in case the process over-runs by a matter of days or weeks. Downing Street said there were “no plans” to take the date off the Bill, while Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, said: “We will take the Bill forward, we will assess where we stand in the wake of last night.”
The rebels now face a grass roots backlash with calls for them to be deselected.
Nicky Morgan, a former Cabinet member, was accused by constituency councillors of handing Jeremy Corbyn a significant win. One said: “She is going to cost us votes, at the last election her majority was down quite heavily. It puts her in a ... precarious position.”
Heidi Allen is also facing criticism from local party members in South Cambridgeshire for rebelling. Paul Diamond, a barrister, said: “We are concerned that she is acting without accountability ... I am taking soundings from fellow members about what further action we should take.”
However, despite being “disappointed” with the Government’s defeat the Prime Minister is refusing to support any moves to deselect the MPS.
Meanwhile, Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said there was still a hard battle ahead to ensure Ireland’s interests were laid down in a legally binding international treaty. He said Ireland had secured “very strong language” assuring there would be no hard border with Northern Ireland but “we’re not complacent either ... this is politics and we’re going to need to stay very engaged in the months and years ahead and be vigilant”.