Britain’s Brexit secretary resigns in shocking move

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May’s government was thrown into turmoil late Sunday with the surprise resignation of David Davis, her “Brexit minister” in charge of negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union.

The midnight resignation came as a shock to British politics, exposing May to challenge by Conservative Party members outraged over what they see as her plan to secure a “soft Brexit” that keeps Britain tied to many rules and regulations of the European Union after it leaves the bloc next year.

Hardline Brexit backers who argue that May should have a clean, decisive break from Brussels, spent the weekend complaining that her recently revealed proposals were a timid capitulation, a “Brexit in name only,” that ignored “the will of the people” who voted 52 to 48 percent in June 2016 to leave the European bloc.

In his letter of resignation, Davis told May that her tactics and proposals make it “look less and less likely” that Britain would leave Europe’s single market and customs unions — two promises May has made.

While May’s plan for exiting the EU has not been fully revealed to all members of her party — let alone to parliament, the business community or the public — the brief outline that was released shows she supports a middle way of compromise with Brussels, keeping Britain closely aligned with Europe on standards, “a common rule book for industrial goods and agricultural products.”

This, her critic charged, would shackle Britain and make it a rule taker versus a rule maker.