Leavers’ Brexit demands accepted by May
But the PM insists her Chequers plan is intact
THERESA MAY yesterday denied her Chequers Brexit plan was in tatters after bowing to pressure and accepting crucial changes to the proposals for leaving the European Union.
The Prime Minister accepted four amendments to the Customs Bill, aimed at imposing strict conditions on the Government, as Brexiteers claimed victory in the first battle of their promised “guerilla” campaign of parliamentary trench warfare.
A Brexiteer source said the move confirmed that “Chequers is dead on arrival” but Mrs May insisted the amendments do not change the blueprint agreed at her country residence.
The PM’s move helped her see off a series of potentially significant rebellions last night but sparked fury among Remainers. Amid the febrile atmosphere,
The Yorkshire Post learnt that Number 10 is set to propose breaking up Parliament early on Thursday, in a bid to diffuse leadership pressure mounting on the PM.
Tory Remainer Anna Soubry suggested leading Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg was now “running Britain”. And Labour MP Stephen Kinnock accused the PM of “dancing to the tune” of the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory Brexiteers led by Mrs ReesMogg. He claimed that by “capitulating”, the Chequers deal is now “dead in the water”.
But Mrs May replied in the House of Commons: “He is absolutely wrong in his reference to the agreement that was reached at Chequers, I would not have gone through all the work that I did to ensure that we reached that agreement only to see it changed in some way through these Bills.
“They do not change that Chequers agreement.”
Brexiteer Sir Bernard Jenkin said: “These amendments were only ever about clarifying Government policy, that the UK will not join a customs union with the EU, nor agree to split Northern Ireland from the UK for customs purposes, that we are leaving the EU VAT regime, and any customs arrangement with the EU is not one-sided.”
But so-called ‘blue-on-blue’ Tory infighting intensified last night with a Remainer backlash against the amendments.
Conservative former Cabinet Minister Ken Clarke told MPs that the Government’s adoption of ERG amendments was “directly inconsistent with the White Paper of a week ago”.
And during the debate on the Bill, veteran Eurosceptic Sir Edward Leigh compared Ms Soubry unfavourably with Margaret Thatcher, in a move labelled “pathetic” by the pro-EU former Cabinet Minister Nicky Morgan.
Earlier, Scott Mann became the latest ministerial aide to follow Boris Johnson and David Davis by quitting the Government, declaring he would not “deliver a watered-down Brexit”. And Mrs May faces further danger today, with pro-EU Tories tabling amendments to the Trade Bill, which returns to the Commons.
MPS ARE set to go on holiday early with Theresa May under intense pressure over her leadership and Brexit strategy, The
Yorkshire Post understands. Commons sources said the Government is today going to bring forward a motion to end the parliamentary term early on Thursday, ditching plans to sit on Monday and Tuesday next week.
It comes with the Chequers plan defended by the Prime Minister at Farnborough airshow yesterday coming under fire from all sides of the Conservative Party, with a string of Ministerial and frontbench resignations over the last week.
The move suggests Number 10 is seeking to send MPs away from Westminster early to break up any plots to oust Mrs May, amid intense speculation that the threshold of 48 letters required to trigger a vote of no confidence in the PM is close to being reached.
Breaking up on Thursday would theoretically give Mrs May’s opponents just three more full days to get the required signatures and hold a vote.
MPs will also go home as the new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab travels to Brussels to meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier for the first time since taking the role from David Davis, who resigned last week.
Their meeting will round off a week of fresh Brexit negotiations and any EU rejection of Mrs May’s proposals for a “common rulebook” with the EU on goods could spark chaos in Westminster, as Leavers do not want her to make any more concessions.
A Labour source said: “It is staggering that the Tories are in such a state they are considering just packing up and going home. Maybe Theresa May is eyeing up a walking holiday?”
Meanwhile, Mr Davis made his first Commons speech since resigning a week ago in protest at the Chequers plan and the subsequent White Paper.
After Mrs May accepted four Brexiteer amendments to the Customs Bill, Mr Davis urged colleagues not to vote against the legislation and the equally important Trade Bill, which returns to the Commons today.
The ex-Brexit Secretary told MPs the Bills were “vital pieces of legislation”.
Debating the Customs Bill, the East Yorkshire MP went on: “In the newspapers at the weekend I read that some people were so cross with the White Paper that they were proposing to vote against this.
“Well, I don’t think they can be much more cross than me with the White Paper, but I do urge them not to vote against them (the Bills).”
But while Mr Davis’s comments indicated he does not want to see the Government fall, he was clear in his criticism of Mrs May’s plan, saying the UK would have to give up “much more than is imagined” to join a customs arrangement with the EU.
“The European Union is a slow and not very effective negotiator of free trade agreements, we keep hearing about their negotiating power, their size,” Mr Davis said.
“Actually the fact that they represent 28 different countries means they come up with sub-optimal outcomes all the time and actually we’re the country that does least well out of the EU free trade agreements.”
He insisted the Detroit car industry was an example of how future customs checks could work, claiming “all can be dealt with by electronic pre-notification”.
And Mr Davis claimed the PM’s plans were not essential to avoid a hard Irish border, telling the Commons: “There may be 300 border crossings, but there are only six ports. So rest-of-world imports can actually be surveilled and controlled very straightforwardly.” Earlier, Rotherham-born former Cabinet Minister Justine Greening became the most significant Tory figure to back a second EU referendum.
The ex-Education Secretary also claimed other senior Conservatives quietly back the idea.
Ms Greening, who quit Mrs May’s Cabinet in January, said Parliament is “gridlocked”.
And discussing the PM’s Chequers plan for Brexit she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think it can work.
“In practice having looked through the detail now it just won’t and I cannot see how, going forward, the common rulebook will be workable in practice.”
I cannot see how the common rulebook will work in practice. Rotherham-born former Education Secretary Justine Greening on the Chequers plan.
THE POLITICAL pressure on Theresa May shows no sign of alleviating after a ninth resignation by a Government member who believes the Prime Minister’s watereddown Brexit is incompatible with the outcome of the 2016 referendum.
This has the hallmarks of a co-ordinated campaign on the part of the European Research Group – headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg – after David Davis, the veteran Haltemprice and Howden MP, quit as Brexit Secretary just over a week ago and others followed suit.
Yet, with former Cabinet Minister Justine Greening, a prominent Remain supporter, now breaking ranks and making the case for a second referendum, Mrs May’s position becomes more invidious with each passing day and Ministerial resignation.
If Mrs May redrafts her White Paper to appease her Eurosceptics, she will be accused of weakness. As such she had to accept their trade amendments last night. If she doesn’t act, however, she’s at the mercy of Labour if there’s to be any chance of her strategy being backed by MPs once the EU has eked out further concessions.
However, while a seemingly straightforward ‘Remain’ or ‘Leave’ vote in 2016 meant a close result was always going to be open to interpretation, and political events of the past two years are testament to this, the public did not vote for the chaos and confusion which has seen the whole business of government slow to a virtual standstill.
They expected Ministers – and Opposition parties – to work together, in the national interest, to come up with a practical and pragmatic strategy rather than rerunning the referendum. Yet, with Westminster paralysed by political deadlock on all sides and time running out, the likelihood of Britain leaving the EU next March with no deal in place is increasing by the hour, a scenario which has the potential to bring down Mrs May, split the Tory party and hand power to Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn at the ensuing election. Is that what the Conservatives really want?