May gambles with vote on customs union
Prime Minister returns from her Brussels failure with plan to let MPS have their say in move Eurosceptics fear will lead to soft exit
THERESA MAY will allow MPS to vote on keeping Britain in a customs union, under plans drawn up by Downing Street, as she refuses to quit as Prime Minister despite ministers urging her to stand down.
After Brussels rejected her request for a three-month delay to Brexit, Mrs May returned to the UK yesterday and began drawing up new plans for Britain’s departure from the EU.
Under the latest proposals, MPS will be offered “indicative votes” on a range of Brexit options if, as anticipated, the Prime Minister’s deal is defeated a third time in the House of Commons.
MPS will be asked to vote on membership of the single market and customs union as well as on revoking Article 50 and holding a second referendum.
It immediately led to another backlash, with one minister warning it would hasten her departure from office.
A succession of senior Tory MPS, including some of the Prime Minister’s own whips, have over the past fortnight directly called on her to quit.
The Daily Telegraph can also disclose that Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, met the Prime Minister in Downing Street twice this week, including yesterday. He reminded Mrs May of her commitment to Tory MPS in the wake of the snap election in 2017 that she would only serve “as long as you want me”. The Prime Minister, however, is said to have made clear that she has no
intention of standing aside. Mr Johnson, seen as a potential successor to Mrs May, also asked her how she intended to change her approach. She is said to have responded by setting out plans to restructure the Brexit department, hinting there could be a new Brexit Secretary.
In a letter to Tory MPS last night the Prime Minister suggested she may not hold a vote on her deal in the Commons next week, saying only that the Government would table the third meaningful vote “if it appears there is sufficient support” and “the Speaker permits it”. It raises the prospect that indicative votes on Brexit could be held before a vote on Mrs May’s deal, potentially killing it before its third Commons appearance.
David Lidington, her de facto dep- uty, is leading discussions on indicative votes in the event the deal is voted down. The Government is considering endorsing the approach amid concerns backbenchers may force the Government to hold the votes on Wednesday.
Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, yesterday said No 10 would offer MPS indicative votes but Downing Street said no decision had been taken.
A Cabinet minister told The Telegraph:
“The Prime Minister is in a very difficult position. It [indicative votes] would tip her over. This is what various Cabinet ministers have been for months pushing for. It’s a way of getting a customs union and a soft Brexit. She needs to set out a timetable for her departure and try to get her meaningful vote through.”
Yesterday there was growing pessimism in Brussels and the UK about the chances of her winning a third “meaningful vote” next week. In an excoriating attack on Mrs May, Nigel Dodds, the DUP deputy leader, accused her of being “far too willing to capitulate” to the EU. He said her failure to negotiate changes to the Withdrawal Agreement was “disappointing and inexcusable”.
Leaders including Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, and Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, hinted they would support a move for a customs union and Mr Varadkar suggested Brexit could be delayed by a year.
Under the EU’S plans agreed in Brussels, Brexit would be delayed until May 22 if the Prime Minister’s deal passed.
However, if as expected it was voted down a third time, Mrs May will have until April 12 to find an alternative to her deal. European leaders have said they will offer a longer extension if there is support in the House of Commons for an alternative Brexit plan.
SIR – Theresa May is now well established as Britain’s worst ever prime minister. Every day she stays in office makes it more difficult for any future leader to challenge her position. David James
Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire
SIR – Mrs May is now a puppet of the European Union. Hugh Ellwood
Lytham St Annes, Lancashire
SIR – I look forward to the day that Brexit is behind us, not least because I hope it will bring an end to the ridiculous sight of our Prime Minister’s kissy embraces with Messrs Juncker, Tusk, Macron et al before submitting herself and our country to yet another day of humiliation. James Charrington
Stamford, Lincolnshire
SIR – Isn’t it about time Philip May gave the same advice that Denis Thatcher gave to Margaret? Jenny Burrington
Great Bookham, Surrey
SIR – Fraser Nelson (Comment, March 22) wonders at which point it became inevitable that Brexit would descend into the chaos we now see.
I would suggest that it was doomed the moment Mrs May formed a Cabinet composed of two thirds Remainers who only served to dilute Brexit, aiming to make it almost meaningless. R G Hopgood
Kirby-le-soken, Essex
SIR – Have Conservative MPS realised they have a week to save their party? Alastair Mcculloch
Dunblane, Stirling
SIR – Democracy died on the day of the 2017 election, when 70 per cent of the elected candidates cheated voters by knowingly standing in contravention of their respective manifestos. These MPS must never be allowed to stand for election for their parties again. Garry Mitchell
Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire
SIR – Now we know the strategy the EU has been following all along. Refuse to talk about a trade deal until the UK has left the EU. Put a really bad withdrawal agreement on the table that only a fool would swallow. Sit back and watch the infighting. Result: Brexit stopped. Neil Bailey
Manchester
SIR – If the three million or so who have signed a petition to revoke Article 50 had read yesterday’s letter from France by Professor Edouard Husson, they might have changed their minds about signing it. Roger Stainton
Buntingford, Hertfordshire
SIR – I was dismayed to see the head of the Confederation of British Industry, Carolyn Fairbairn, suggest that we are in a national crisis and that businesses are not prepared for Brexit, while on the same day the Governor of the Bank of England stated that 80 per cent of businesses were prepared for no deal.
Of course, both of these statements could be true. As someone who was the chairman of the CBI Distributive Trades Panel and its economic spokesman for several years, I know very well that the CBI represents only a small proportion of UK businesses. However, even if this were the reason for the discrepancy, one wonders what the CBI members pay their subs for. The job of a trade association is to help and prepare its membership and it has had nearly three years in which to do it. Perhaps the CBI has been concentrating too much of its effort on trying to frustrate Brexit, rather than helping its members prepare and seize the opportunities which Brexit affords. John Longworth
Chairman, Leave Means Leave London SW1
SIR – How apt of Amber Rudd (report, March 22) to use the analogy of Hastings Pier for the EU. This fragile structure, expensive to maintain, leads to a dead end. Its function is to give those with nothing better to do an opportunity to strut about. Robin Bramley
Gillingham, Norfolk
SIR – I wish I could give up Brexit for Lent. Frank Dean
Stockport
SIR – I have just had a sneak preview of the Hollywood blockbuster Brexit.
In the film Amber Rudd is Jeanclaude Juncker’s mistress. Dominic Grieve is actually Michel Barnier in disguise. Michael Heseltine bursts into the chamber, seizes the mace and beats John Bercow to a pulp. Theresa May turns out to be a Stepford wife, goes into overload and disintegrates into a pile of electro-mechanical junk.
Jeremy Corbyn unleashes his Momentum brownshirts to incite civil unrest, invites Vladimir Putin to send in his troops to restore order, has the Queen beheaded, declares himself president and announces to cheering supporters that he has fulfilled his promise to free the country from the clutches of Europe. The End. Jonathan Goodall
Bath, Somerset