Hundred Tory MPS denounce May’s deal
PM’S tour of the country backfires as support collapses in Westminster
THE number of Tory MPS who have spoken out against Theresa May’s Brexit deal hit 100 yesterday as critics said her two-week charm offensive was failing.
Matthew Offord, the Tory MP for Hendon, yesterday became the hundredth MP to say he would vote against the Prime Minister’s deal, warning that it would leave the UK “bound” to the EU and put the Union at risk.
Jo Johnson, the former minister who quit in protest at the deal, warned that the Tories would face a landslide defeat at the next election on a scale similar to 1997 if they pushed ahead with Mrs May’s plan.
The Prime Minister yesterday flew to the G20 meeting of world leaders in Argentina, where she will attempt to convince them that her Brexit deal is good for the world economy.
However, she is not expected to hold a private meeting with Donald Trump, the US president, who earlier this week described her agreement as a “good deal for the EU” and warned it would put a US-UK trade deal at risk.
The Prime Minister will land in Argentina to discover that half of her backbenchers – nearly a third of her MPS – have publicly criticised the deal. Most of her Cabinet now privately believe it will not get through the Commons.
Last night an alliance of Labour and Tory MPS tabled an amendment that would scrap Mrs May’s Brexit deal, stop a no-deal Brexit and give MPS a say in what happens next.
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader, said: “When this many people tell you that you’re going down the wrong road, which will be damaging to the UK, it doesn’t mattter who you are. You must stop, you must listen and not just lecture. This whole plan to go round the country to try and put pressure on MPS isn’t working.
“I do not want a Conservative prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to face a defeat which could have been avoided. The consequences of that defeat could also be personally damaging for her, which I do not want. “It is time to think again.”
It comes a day after the Government and the Bank of England were accused of orchestrating “Project Hysteria” in an attempt to prop up Mrs May’s agreement with a series of bleak warnings about the impact of no deal.
The Daily Telegraph can today disclose that the Bank admitted in previously unreleased minutes that its no-deal predictions “could be misleading”.
Senior figures at the Bank warned that releasing them could be “against the public interest” because “a suggestion of apparently precise scenarios could be misleading and liable to misinterpretation”.
It emerged yesterday that net migration from the EU has fallen to 74,000, the lowest level since 2012, amid concerns about a “Brexodus”. However, net migration from non-eu nations is at a 14-year high.
Cabinet ministers are increasingly questioning why Mrs May has embarked on a tour of the UK to promote her deal when the MPS that she needs to win over are in Westminster.
Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary and a prominent Eurosceptic, will say today that Tory MPS opposed to the deal need to “face up” to their duty to do “what is right for our country”.
Plans for a televised Brexit debate descended into a stand-off yesterday after Mrs May and Jeremy Corbyn clashed over which channel it should appear on.
The Prime Minister said that she would take part in a debate on BBC One on Sunday, Dec 9, but Mr Corbyn wants the debate to be broadcast on ITV.
The 100 MPS include both Eurosceptic Tory MPS and those campaigning for a second referendum, with nearly 30 former ministers on the list. Mr
Johnson, the brother of Boris Johnson, said yesterday: “Brexit is seen as a project driven by the Conservative Party and this half-baked, worst of all worlds Brexit could trigger an electoral defeat on the scale of 1997, or worse, with this ‘Tory Brexit’ label an albatross around our necks for years to come.”
“When we were told that Brexit would mean taking back control, none of us in our wildest imaginations thought it would mean powers being taken [from Westminster] to other European parliaments and the European Parliament.”
Jacob Rees-mogg, a leading Eurosceptic Tory MP, said: “This shows the deep concern felt throughout the party. It’s not just a few mavericks and it means that the majority of MPS who are not in Government in any sense are unsympathetic to the deal. Leaders must listen to their supporters.”
The Prime Minister said yesterday that in the event that her deal is voted down she would order officials to take “practical” steps and accelerate nodeal planning.
Justine Greening, a former education secretary and prominent remainer, claimed yesterday that a second referendum could be held on May 30 next year.
In an attempt to win round critics David Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de-facto deputy, yesterday pledged that Great Britain would follow the EU’S Single Market rules while the customs backstop is in force.
Critics of the deal have repeatedly warned that the backstop risks breaking up the Union by aligning Northern Ireland more closely to the European Union.