May snubs critics with Brexit plan claim
PM says cabinet united on her programme and the EU exit strategy
Apologising for losing her Conservative Party’s majority at a June election, Prime Minister Theresa May responded to her critics yesterday by saying she had the right strategy to lead Britain and win a Brexit deal.
May, who has faced calls from within her party to step down, wants to use the Conservatives’ annual conference in the northern English city of Manchester this week to try to reset her agenda, offering money to students and those people she once described as “just about managing” in Britain.
In an interview with BBC television, she played down the rifts among top ministers, saying they were united on their programme and more importantly, Brexit. That came a day after foreign minister Boris Johnson, perhaps May’s biggest rival, set out four personal red lines in the complex talks with the European Union (EU).
“We’ve listened to the message that came from that election. But I’ve been very clear, I called the election...I take my responsibility and I’m sorry that some very good members of parliament lost their seats,” May said.
‘United’
“What I have is a cabinet that is united in the mission of this government … and agreed on the approach that we took in Florence,” May said about a speech she made in Italy last month to try to kick-start Brexit talks that had all but stalled.
Divisions in her cabinet have broken out into the open, with ministers using the media to air their differences on not only Brexit but also the government’s approach to austerity.