May gambles on leading Leaver to sway MPS, as Home Secretary says deal ‘is best option available’
It’s not too late to deliver the Brexit the people voted for, but only Conservative MPS are able to do it
THERESA MAY has handed the task of winding up the five-day debate on her Brexit deal to Michael Gove, a leading Cabinet Brexiteer, in a move that surprised MPS.
Although No10 said it was not convention for a debate to be closed by the opening speaker, it had been widely expected she would take the chance to make a final appeal to MPS to avoid defeat. It may be that Downing Street be- lieves Mr Gove, a leading figure in the referendum campaign to quit the EU, could sway backbench Brexiteers, but it opens her up to further criticism if the strategy backfires.
In the Commons yesterday, the scale of the task was laid bare as former ministers, senior Tory MPS and DUP MPS voiced their opposition to the deal.
Mark Harper, the Tory former chief whip who revealed in yesterday’s Daily
Telegraph that he planned to disobey the party whip for the first time in 13 years as an MP, said Mrs May’s deal would see the Tories’ relationship with the DUP break down and make it impossible to govern.
He said it could still be saved if the backstop was removed but, if not, then next Tuesday’s anticipated defeat would be repeated over and over again as the relationship with the DUP was “fractured beyond repair.”
“I think we would be in office but unable to govern our country effectively,” he said. Yesterday’s second day of the debate was opened by Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, who acknowledged Mrs May’s deal was not “perfect in every sense,” it was the “best option available” in ensuring “a smooth exit”.
He warned a no-deal Brexit would mean “an immediate and probably indefinite loss of some security capability which, despite our best efforts, would likely cause some operational disruption when we leave”.
By contrast, the deal would allow the UK to continue to work with Brussels on cross-border investigations on modern slavery, using DNA databases to catch criminals, the fast-track extradition of suspects, along with working alongside Europol and Eurojust, he said.
The stance was mocked by Chris Bryant, the former Labour Europe minister. The MP for Rhondda said: “That’s a great wish list, and it’s all in the Political Declaration, but it’s no more deliverable than a letter to Santa Claus. It really isn’t.
“It’s all very well having a wish list, but how on earth could a serious MP vote for nothing more than a wish list?”
Mr Javid indicated the long-awaited White Paper setting out Britain’s postbrext immigration system would be published before Christmas even though MPS will not get a chance to debate it before Tuesday’s vote on the deal.
Challenged on the timing by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, chairman of the home affairs select committee, he said: “I can tell her that it’s certainly still my intention to publish it in December and that hasn’t changed.”
Douglas Ross, the Tory MP who also sits on the committee, said Mr Javid had committed last week to publish before the “meaningful vote” on Dec 11 but then later said this was unlikely.
He asked: “What happened in those
‘That’s a great wish list, but it’s no more deliverable than a letter to Santa Claus’
four or five days to change the Home Secretary’s mind and does he think it’s acceptable that this House should vote on the withdrawal deal without information in the White Paper?”
Mr Javid responded: “He asks me what’s happened and it’s just worth reminding him and the House that this is the most significant change in our immigration system in 45 years and rather than rush the White Paper, it is important that we focus on the detail and we get it right.”
Justine Greening, the Tory former education secretary, and Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Tory chairman of the health and social care committee, later raised concerns over the fact education and health professionals are not highly paid and could as a result be excluded by the new immigration system.
Mr Javid said the new system would “take a careful look at salary levels”.
In 1984, George Orwell described totalitarianism as “a boot stamping on a human face – forever”. Well, if you want a picture of the future under the “deal” Theresa May has “negotiated” with the EU, it’s the Brexit debate stamping on the face of British politics – forever. In leopardprint heels, perhaps.
The crippling defect at the heart of Mrs May’s plan is its built-in uncertainty. It resolves nothing and postpones everything, indefinitely prolonging negotiations over Britain’s status. Those who oppose leaving the EU without a deal cite the “economic disruption” that would cause. But anyone who has run a business knows that the most disruptive thing for investment is uncertainty. Of course we must minimise disruption. But that’s precisely why Mrs May’s scheme must be rejected: it guarantees ongoing economic disruption with barely any compensating gains.
Today’s crisis is the result of leading Tories’ shambolic handling of Brexit since June 23 2016: from David Cameron’s premature resignation, to the Johnson/gove leadership election fiasco, to David Davis’s lack of seriousness, to Amber Rudd’s offensive foreign workers “blacklist”, to Philip Hammond’s depressingly anti-business tenure at the Treasury. And, of course, the catalogue of incompetence is capped by Mrs May herself, a pitiful figure delivering almost nothing of real substance.
There’s no need to imagine what “no deal” looks like: no deal is what the prime minister has come back with after two wasted years in pursuit of something that was always impossible – the EU agreeing to anything other than punitive terms. Just as foolish is the pursuit of alternatives like “Norway.” Even Norway doesn’t think “Norway” is a good option. We would keep all the disadvantages of staying in without any of the benefits of leaving.
But now Tory MPS can atone for these mistakes. If they don’t, they will be indelibly associated with, and justly blamed for, one of the biggest catastrophes in British political history. Here are the three positive steps they must take.
First, vote down Theresa May’s no-deal Brexit. It obviously does not deliver Brexit: in the most important sense – national sovereignty – the UK will still not be the independent, self-governing nation that a majority backed two years ago. I understand the argument for support: “Yes, it’s terrible but at least we’ll be leaving. Let’s just get it across the line, we can deal with the problems later.”
Er – no, you can’t. We know from the Government’s legal advice that the EU has a veto on future changes. And the one truthful thing the Prime Minister has said about her plan is that it’s the best that could be negotiated. Pro-brexit ministers who believe they can extract better terms are fooling themselves. What incentive is there for Brussels to improve its offer once Parliament has approved it?
After voting down Mrs May’s plan, the next step for Tory MPS must be to vote her out. Again, I understand the arguments for inertia: “Who would replace her? What if we end up with a Remainer?” Really? You think that, after all this, Tory members will elect someone who wants to keep Britain in the EU? No such candidate would get the votes. There are multiple qualified Brexit champions who could enter the race. And when people say “be careful, you could get someone even worse”, I beg to differ.
Isn’t it perfectly obvious that nothing good will happen with Mrs May and her baleful sidekick, Mr Hammond, in charge? Forget about an investment boom with Mrs Doom and Mr Gloom at the helm. They have to go.
The third step is to back a positive plan to deliver a genuine Brexit – which means the only version that was ever a realistic possibility: a clean break, Brexit without adjectives. Yes, this will cause disruption. But who says we just have to endure it? We can and should take active steps to counteract disruption: make post-brexit Britain the world’s best location for business and investment; slash corporation tax and the regulatory burden; announce plans to build the most modern infrastructure and best-trained workforce.
It’s not too late to clean up the mess of the past two years. But only Tory MPS can do it. Over to you.