‘We need to embrace no deal’
Cabinet minister tells May that only a ‘bold’ move can end the Brexit deadlock Prime Minister hints at general election as Commons rejects deal for third time Protesters descend on Westminster on day Britain should have left the EU
CABINET ministers will attempt to take control of Brexit by telling Theresa May it is time to “embrace no deal” after her EU Withdrawal Agreement was rejected by MPS for a third time.
The Prime Minister will hold a conference call with her ministers tomorrow night amid calls for a Cabinet vote on how to proceed.
Senior backbenchers said Mrs May had reached the end of the road and should quit, but she stood firm, wanting to put her deal to a parliamentary vote for a fourth time next week.
She hinted that if MPS refuse to follow her she might call a general election to break the impasse, warning MPS: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.”
On the day that Britain was supposed to have left the EU, thousands of protesters gathered in Parliament Square to demand MPS deliver on the result of the 2016 referendum. Meanwhile, inside the Houses of Parliament, Mrs May lost the vote on her Withdrawal Agreement by a majority of 58 as MPS declared the deal “dead”.
Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-mogg and Dominic Raab, all of whom had previously rejected Mrs May’s deal, switched sides and backed it yesterday.
But 34 Tory MPS still voted against it, as did the DUP, and despite frantic lastminute lobbying by Tory whips, who offered Labour MPS £100 million for their constituencies if they backed the deal, only five Labour MPS voted with the Government.
In light of the defeat, The Daily Telegraph understands that Gavin Barwell, Mrs May’s chief of staff, has been told by ministers that it is time to give the Cabinet a vote on either no deal or membership of a customs union.
One Cabinet minister said: “Cabinet needs to vote and decide on the Government position. David Cameron did it before the referendum when he asked ministers to put on record their positions. We have got to put our names to something. The Remainers clearly want a customs union as an alternative but there isn’t a majority for that – it would destroy the party.
“We would end up with a Ramsay Macdonald-esque government where we would be completely at odds with our own party. It’s time to be bold, we need to embrace no deal.”
As well as tomorrow’s conference call, Mrs May is expected to hold a Cabinet meeting on Monday morning when ministers will have a second chance to insist she decides on a plan B.
Later the same day MPS will vote on the most popular alternatives to her deal, following a series of “indicative votes” last Wednesday.
Although no one idea achieved a majority, the idea of a customs union lost
THERESA MAY left the Commons chamber just over an hour after the debate on Britain’s “divorce” deal with the European Union had begun, with the words of veteran Eurosceptic Tory MP Sir Bill Cash ringing in her ears.
The Prime Minister had listened as Sir Bill said Mrs May’s deal with the EU risked leaving the UK trapped in the Northern Irish backstop and thus “politically castrated”, adding that “it is unthinkable that this deal can be passed for that reason alone”.
It was only 10.45am when Mrs May passed the Speaker’s chair, yet she would have known the game was up.
The day started with No10’s hopes of saving her Withdrawal Agreement hanging by the slenderest of threads. Mrs May’s team had pinned her chances on Labour MPS voting for the deal if it were shorn of the political agreement.
The Government even offered to accept an amendment tabled by Labour MP Lisa Nandy that would have guaranteed giving MPS a formal role in the negotiations.
Yet her plans slowly fell apart. First John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, refused to accept Ms Nandy’s amendment. Then Labour made clear the party would not be supporting the deal.
Nick Thomas-symonds, the shadow solicitor general, told her: “It is not in the national interest for the future of our country to be decided by a Tory leadership contest.” Other Labour MPS attacked the deal. Melanie Onn said on Twitter: “Asking us for a blindfold Brexit – which donkey would we be pinning our tail to?”
The Democratic Unionist Party – whose 10 MPS were crucial – made clear they would not support the deal either. Ian Paisley told the Commons that the deal would cause “irreversible damage and will be lasting on Northern Ireland and the precious union”.
Minutes later Nigel Dodds, the DUP’S Westminster leader, told MPS that “every single unionist party in Northern Ireland agrees with the position that this is a problem for the Union”.
The DUP had tried to work with Mrs May, he said, “to get changes to the backstop … sadly we have not made sufficient progress”.
Mrs May headed to her home in her Maidenhead constituency for a few hours’ respite, leaving her whips and aides to put pressure on the 52 Tory MPS who were still holding out. Number 10 aides sent out text messages saying vote for the deal or get a long delay to Brexit, European Parliament elections, a possible second referendum, general election or see “our opponents kill it off altogether”.
MPS received messages calling them to an “official briefing” with Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, at 11am. The briefing would “explain the intent of the Government motion, and the consequences – both for the date of our departure from the EU and European Parliament elections – of not meeting the legal deadline on March 29”.
Yet just 40 Tory MPS – none of them rebels who needed persuading – both
ered to show up for the meeting in the cavernous committee room where less than two days earlier 300 Tory MPS had heard Mrs May offer to resign.
Shortly afterwards, a senior whip took matters into his own hands, buttonholing one long-standing Eurosceptic MP in front of a group of journalists and asking to see him in his office.
“I wanted a dukedom but he only offered an earldom,” the MP joked as he left. He later ignored the whip’s entreaties and rebelled against the Government.
Another confrontation was already breaking in a nearby corridor between a Cabinet minister and an arch-brexiteer. The minister yelled: “You’re not going to get no deal on the 12th! Back it today, or this place is going to stop it – that’s your choice!” The pair shook hands before parting.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and a late convert to backing the deal, was pressed into service by trying to persuade as many as a dozen wavering Conservatives to back the deal.
And Tory MPS were not the only group being targeted. Rumours swept Parliament that at least two Labour members were demanding as much as £100million from the Government for regeneration and city deals.
Younger MPS were exasperated that the rebel Tories would not come round. Kemi Badenoch, a vice chairman of the party, told The Daily Telegraph: “We are in a time loop and we have to move on. People need to move on.”
Just before 1pm former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, tipped as a successor to Mrs May, said he would back the deal, ignoring entreaties to think again from Eurosceptic John Baron.
Mr Raab said: “The choice now is between the risk of being held in the backstop by the EU for a period, without being able to control our exit, and on the other hand a significant risk of losing Brexit altogether. Neither is palatable … I will vote for the motion.”
But resolve among Brexiteers was stiffened at a heated meeting of the European Research Group when Lee Rowley told wavering Tories: “I am in a marginal seat, and my marginal voters don’t want me to take a s--- Brexit and a s--- deal.”
Shortly after 2pm, Mrs May returned to the House to make one final plea, urging MPS to “look into our hearts and decide what is best for our constituents and our country”.
But it was all to no avail. MPS voted 344 votes to 286 to reject her Withdrawal Agreement, a majority of 58. All the DUP MPS and 34 Conservative MPS had voted against.
The question dominating Westminster was how to resolve the Brexit crisis. And no one – including MPS – had any answers.
‘I am in a marginal seat, and my marginal voters don’t want me to take a s--brexit and a s--- deal’