Vote to reveal anger at May’s Brexit plan
LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May prepared to face the anger of Brexit supporters in her party yesterday when they tried to force her to change course on her strategy for leaving the European Union.
Ms May is battling for her political survival after announcing a Brexit negotiating strategy that enraged eurosceptics in her Conservative Party, who see it as a plan to keep Britain too closely tied to Brussels.
Lawmakers were expected to vote on amendments to legislation on the government’s post-Brexit customs regime, with leading eurosceptics set to vote in favour of amendments that Ms May opposes and back their own proposals to toughen up her exit plan.
While Ms May is not expected to be defeated on the amendments, a high number of votes in favour of altering the customs bill by members of her party would further undermine her negotiating strategy, agreed at a cabinet meeting at her Chequers country residence this month.
“I cannot find someone who supported leave within the Conservative MPs [Members of Parliament] who is happy with the [Chequers] proposal if you talk to them in private,” Peter Bone, a Conservative lawmaker and Brexit campaigner, told Sky News.
The Chequers agreement has already led to the resignations of high-profile cabinet members David Davis and Boris Johnson.
Ms May attempted to face down wouldbe eurosceptic rebels by warning on Sunday that if they sink her premiership then they risk squandering the victory of an EU exit that they have dreamed about for decades.
A party meeting last week looked to have snuffed out talk of a confidence motion challenging Ms May’s leadership, which would require 48 Conservative members of parliament to initiate, and 159 to win.
But, fuelled by criticism from US President Donald Trump and anger at the grassroots level in the party, the sentiment against Ms May has gained fresh momentum.
Much of t he attention yesterday expected to fall on Mr Davis, who led the Brexit negotiation until he quit in protest at Ms May’s plan, and Mr Johnson, the former foreign minister who is seen as a challenger for her job.
Both could speak in the debate, which was due to start yesterday afternoon and end with votes at 9pm, and they may have an important influence over how many colleagues are willing to speak out.
The amendments to the Taxation Bill have been proposed by arch-eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg. He said he did not expect the bill, or another key bill on trade due to be debated tomorrow, to be blocked outright by the 650-member parliament.
“I’m sure Theresa May does not want to split the Conservative Party and therefore she will find that the inevitable consequence of the parliamentary arithmetic is that she will need to change it [the Brexit policy] to keep the party united,” Mr Rees-Mogg said.
“We’ll have an idea of the numbers, I suppose, by 10 o’clock.”