May tasks Tory MPS on unity, Brexit deal

TMay has urged Conservative MPS to put aside “personal preferences” and support a Brexit deal in the Commons.

In a letter to all 317 Tory MPS, the prime minister said, “history will judge us all” over the handling of Brexit.

The PM faces continued opposition to her approach from Brexiteers in her party, with many failing to back her in her latest Commons defeat last week.

Labour argues her party cannot be united; saying only cross-party negotiations will get a deal approved.

The UK remains on course to leave the EU on 29 March. But Mrs May has been unable to convince a majority of MPS to back the withdrawal agreement she struck with the EU last year.

If Parliament does not approve a formal deal, many MPS fear chaos at ports and for business.

Tobias Ellwood has become the first minister to publicly declare a willingness to rebel against the government if the PM failed to rule out a no-deal scenario.

“There are many ministers, me being one of them, that need to see ‘no deal’ removed from the table,” the defence minister told 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics.

The prime minister will return to Brussels to meet European Commission President Jean-claude Juncker this week, as she continues to seek changes to the deal.

She will also speak to the leaders of every EU member state over the coming days, her letter to MPS says.

Mrs May is trying to secure changes to the Irish backstop, an insurance policy designed to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit.

The plan is widely disliked by members of her party, who fear it will mean the UK will stay closely aligned to the EU for years to come, without Britain being able to end the agreement unilaterally.

But EU leaders have repeatedly said the withdrawal agreement is not open for renegotiation.