GET ON WITH IT!
The EU has signed off on May’s Brexit deal that has split the nation. On December 12th the ‘meaningful’ vote takes place in the Commons - just 107 days before we exit. Today we urge MPs to stop bickering and...
THERESA May will today warn MPs they have a duty to “get on” and deliver Brexit for voters.
In a stark message following the special EU summit yesterday, the Prime Minister is expected to tell the Commons that people around the country have had enough of the political infighting over her deal with Brussels and want the issue concluded as soon as possible. She will tell MPs: “I believe our national interest is clear. The British people want us to get on with a deal that
honours the referendum and allows us to come together again as a country whichever way we voted.”
Her remarks come ahead of the crunch Commons vote on her Brexit deal that was endorsed by EU leaders in Brussels yesterday.
Downing Street sources have told the Daily Express the “meaningful” and historic vote will be held on December 12 following five full days of debate in the Commons.
In a statement reporting on the special EU summit, the Prime Minister will tell MPs today: “Our duty, as a Parliament over these coming weeks, is to examine this deal in detail, to debate it respectfully, to listen to our constituents and decide what is in our national interest.
“There is a choice which MPs will have to make. We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future of opportunity and prosperity for all our people.
“Or this House can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one. It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail.”
Mrs May will warn that the EU has given the UK a take it or leave without a deal offer, saying: “I can say to the House with absolute certainty there is not a better deal available. This is that deal. A deal that delivers for the British people.”
Leaders of the 27 nations remaining in the EU after Britain leaves took just 38 minutes to rubber stamp the draft Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the UK’s future relationship with the EU at the special summit in Brussels.
At the gathering called to conclude 18 months of Brexit negotiations, a string of leaders said Parliament had to accept the deal on the table as no better alternative would be offered.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said: “This is the deal. It’s the best deal possible and the EU will not change its fundamental position when it comes to these issues.
“Those who think by rejecting the deal that they would have a better deal will be disappointed in the first seconds after the rejection of this deal.”
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte added: “This is the deal on the table. I don’t think there is anything more now.”
Mrs May yesterday acknowledged she faced a massive challenge to persuade MPs to back her deal in the run up to the vote. Five days of intense and rancorous Commons debates are expected before the crucial division. “It will be one of the most significant votes that Parliament has held for many years,” the Prime Minister said at a news conference at the end of the summit yesterday.
“On it will depend whether we move forward together into a brighter future or open the door to yet more division and uncertainty,” she added.
“I will take this deal back to the House of Commons, confident we have achieved the best deal available and full of optimism about the future of our country.
“In Parliament and beyond it, I will make the case for this deal with all my heart and I look forward to that campaign.”
Mrs May said: “The British people don’t want to spend any more time arguing about Brexit.
“They want a good deal done that fulfils the vote and allows us to come together again as a country.”
Mrs May refused to be drawn on whether she would stand down if she lost the vote.
“I am focusing on ensuring that I make a case for this deal to MPs,” she said.
The Prime Minister also admitted she did not share the sadness expressed by German chancellor Angela Merkel after the UK’s exit from the EU. Asked if she felt “sad”, she said: “No, but I recognise that others do. I recognise some European leaders are sad at this moment.
“But also some people back home in the UK are sad at this moment. The way I look at it is that it’s for us now to move on to the next stage.
“We are leaving the EU but we are not leaving Europe. We will continue to have that good, close partnership and relationship with countries within the EU.”
During her press conference, Mrs May said: “I believe there should not be that second referendum. We gave the choice to the British people, they voted, they voted to leave the EU, I think we should now deliver on that.
“They’d [the public] expect Parliament to vote on the deal as it is presented. This is a deal that’s the result of what has been tough and difficult negotiations over a significant period of time.”
By yesterday, more than 90 Tory MPs had publicly threatened to vote against Mrs May’s deal.
Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, who Downing Street aides had hoped to win over, said it would be “very, very difficult” to support Mrs May’s deal arguing “far too much has been given to the EU”.
He told Sky News Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “Well I don’t want to stay in the EU. I campaigned and voted to leave the EU.
“I don’t believe that, so far, this deal delivers on what the British people really voted for, take back control of your borders, your laws, your money. I think it has ceded too much control.”
Former Tory leader Lord Howard also joined the ranks of those opposing her deal yesterday. “It’s not a deal I can support. It’s not a deal that is a good deal for the UK in several respects, but the one sticking point that I have relates to the arrangements for leaving the backstop,” he said. “As members of the European Union we had a unilateral, untrammelled right to leave under Article 50 which we are exercising.
“Under the backstop arrangements we could only leave with the permission of the European Union. That seems to me to be an absolute negation of taking control, that would put us in a worse position than we are now.”
A senior Labour MP also dampened the hopes of Tory whips that a significant number of opposition MPs in Leave-voting regions of the country could be won over to back the deal.
Backbencher Lisa Nandy said: “There’s been no attempt to reach out to Labour MPs like me.
“It’s just too big a gamble for MPs like me to take with our constituents’ futures.”
Asked if she would be supporting the deal, she said: “It’s inconceivable now that when this comes before Parliament in just a few days’ time that I’ll be voting for it.
“I won’t be voting to support the Withdrawal Agreement.”