Vote against me and you help Brussels, May tells Tory rebels

Prime Minister insists she will not accept any amendment that allows MPS to dictate Brexit terms

By Gordon Rayner, Steven Swinford

and James Crisp in Brussels

THERESA MAY has told rebel Tory MPS she will not back down over a key Brexit vote today as she warned they will be handing a victory to Brussels if they inflict a damaging defeat on the Government.

The Prime Minister said she “cannot accept” a Lords amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill that would enable MPS to direct negotiations with the European Union if they do not accept the final Brexit deal.

Mrs May believes Government whips can persuade enough of the rebels to back down before the vote takes place this afternoon, but Dominic Grieve, the leader of the so-called “mutineers”, insisted last night that none of them will change their mind.

Last week the Government defeated a similar Lords amendment over a socalled “meaningful vote” on the Brexit deal by just 26 votes, meaning that if just 14 Tory MPS switch sides Theresa May will suffer her most damaging defeat to date on Brexit.

It came as EU countries were told by Brussels to step up their preparations for a “no deal” Brexit in a memo that claimed little progress had been made towards solving the problem of the Northern Ireland border, which is due to be discussed at a summit of EU leaders later this month.

Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief Brexit negotiator, also told Britain to be more “realistic”, insisting the UK cannot remain part of the European Arrest Warrant system.

Most of the Tory rebels backed down last week after Mrs May gave them a verbal assurance that she would address their concerns, but they cried foul when the Prime Minister refused to allow the “meaningful vote” to be amended – the mechanism by which MPS could issue instructions to the Government to steer Brexit talks. A Government source said: “The [rebels] need to understand that we need the freedom to negotiate the best possible deal for us, and that is the message we need to send Brussels with this vote.”

Mrs May has been clear that she will not agree to anything that would bind her hands in negotiations, meaning she is not prepared to accept any amendment to the Bill that would allow MPS to dictate terms to ministers.

Mrs May’s advisers believe that around eight Tory MPS are likely to rebel against the Government over the amendment which was drafted by Mr Grieve, the former Attorney General.

Stephen Hammond, Bob Neill, Vicky Ford, Nicky Morgan and Oliver Heald, all of whom are among a 15-strong group of Tory Remainers accused of trying to thwart Mrs May’s Brexit plans,

‘I don’t think there’s any peeling away happening at all. I have seen no evidence of that’

are understood to be in talks with whips as ministers seek to “peel them away” from the rebel group.

Two MPS who had previously threatened to threatened to vote against the Government over plans to enshrine a Brexit date in law – Tom Tugendhat and Paul Masterton – will not rebel.

However, last night Mr Grieve told The Daily Telegraph: “I don’t think there’s any peeling away happening at all. I have seen no evidence of that. Conversations with the Government have been going on during the course of the day and they remain ongoing.”

Yesterday Mr Barnier ruled out Britain’s call to continue participating in the European Arrest Warrant extradition system because it was underpinned by acceptance of the free movement of people, which Mrs May has pledged to end after Brexit.

“We need more realism on what is and what is not possible,” he said, before warning that Britain would lose access to the bloc’s pooled criminal intelligence databases.