‘High noon’ for May amid warning that no-deal will trigger resignations
A DOZEN or more Government ministers could quit by the end of the month if Theresa May refuses to extend the Brexit negotiating period beyond March 29, a leading Tory opponent of EU withdrawal has said.
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve said that the next round of Brexit votes on February 27 would be a “high noon” moment when resignations on this scale — which he said could include six Cabinet members — might bring Mrs May’s Government down.
He was speaking as Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt made clear his unwillingness to accept a no-deal departure, telling hardline Brexiteers in a tweet: “We are not leaving without a deal.
“If you want to leave, you’d better agree one. In the next fortnight would help.”
Angry Tory loyalists have turned on the party’s Brexiteers after Mrs May’s plans suffered another humiliating Commons defeat on Valentine’s Day.
Business Minister Richard Harrington accused the European Research Group (ERG), led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, of “treachery” and said they were “not Conservatives” and should join former Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s new Brexit Party.
Defence minister Tobias Ellwood accused the ERG of acting as “a party within a party” and described their behaviour as “provocative”.
Meanwhile, Margot James became the latest minister to rule out remaining in the Government if it allowed a no-deal Brexit. The Digital Minister told Channel 4
News: “I could not be part of a Government that allowed this country to leave the European Union without a deal.”
Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister would continue with her negotiating strategy, with ministers dismissing Thursday’s vote as no more than a “hiccup”.
The position of the UK Parliament over Brexit was yesterday criticised by a former Taoiseach as “unreasonable”. Brian Cowen was addressing a meeting of the Diversity Europe Group of the European Economic Social Committee at Riddel Hall in Belfast. He stressed his belief that there will be a trade agreement, and that backstop arrangements are “highly unlikely” to ever come into operation.
“The backstop will not come into operation and yet we have a Parliament withholding agreement to allow that transition period to take place so that negotiation can happen on the basis that it is there as a contingency in the first place,” he said.
“I just don’t think it is reasonable. I wouldn’t be popular for saying it, but I don’t think it is reasonable.”