May’s bold offer is a doomed retread, say MPS
THERESA MAY’S final attempt to get a Brexit deal through Parliament appeared doomed last night as a leaked document suggested it was nothing more than a “retread” of old ideas.
The Prime Minister claims she has a “bold offer” to put to MPS next month, but The Daily Telegraph has learnt it contains nothing new on customs arrangements and retains the controversial Northern Irish backstop.
To stand any chance of winning the vote, Mrs May must persuade Brexiteer Tory MPS who opposed her deal in the previous three votes to change their minds. However, leading Eurosceptics said last night that there was “nothing new” to tempt them.
If Mrs May loses the vote in the first week of June, she will be expected to announce her resignation plans immediately and call a leadership election to find her replacement.
Boris Johnson, the favourite to replace Mrs May, is being given daily advice by Sir Lynton Crosby, the Tory election guru who helped Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, to a “miracle” win at the weekend. Other candidates are also ramping up their campaigns with speeches this week.
Polling analysis for The Telegraph shows Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party on course to win more votes than the proremain parties combined this week in the European parliament elections, polling at an average of 32 per cent against the collective 26 per cent of the Lib Dems, Greens and Change UK.
In a sign of the dramatic demise of
the Conservative Party under Theresa May, just 13 per cent of over-70s told a Yougov poll that they would vote Conservative. In the 2017 General Election 69 per cent of over-70s backed them.
The Prime Minister announced yesterday that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the legislation needed for Britain to leave the EU with a deal, would “represent a new, bold offer to MPS across the House of Commons, with an improved package of measures that I believe can win new support”.
However, a five-page summary sent to the Cabinet last week appeared to contain no new ideas. It promises to incorporate Tory MP Sir Hugo Swire’s January proposal to give Parliament the final say on implementing the backstop as well as obliging the Government to seek alternative arrangements to the backstop by the end of 2020.
It also incorporates an amendment first proposed in March by the Labour MPS Lisa Nandy and Gareth Snell, giving Parliament a say in what objectives future trade negotiations should have.
Sir Bill Cash, the Brexiteer Tory MP who has consistently voted against Mrs May’s deal, said: “This is pretty cosmetic stuff. It will not have any effect on Leave-supporting MPS and in fact there are votes coming back to our side from people who backed the deal last time.”
David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, told LBC radio he would vote against the Bill to prevent MPS trying to pass amendments that would tie Britain into a customs union or a second referendum. A Whitehall source said: “It is simply a retread of old ideas.”