I STAND TO FIGHT

After Cabinet bruising battle PM five-hour wins support for Brexit deal – but Tory rebels threaten coup to topple her in days . . .

THERESA May last night vowed to press ahead with her Brexit agreement despite dissent from a third of her Cabinet and a coup threat from Tory MPs.

The Prime Minister had emerged from a bruising five-hour Cabinet meeting to claim a decisive breakthrough. Standing on the steps of No 10, she said a ‘long, detailed and impassioned debate’ had ended with a collective decision to back the settlement with Brussels. But with Brexiteer MPs threatening to spark

a leadership contest unless she changes course, she acknowledged that ‘difficult days’ lay ahead.

Sources on the European Research Group of backbench Tories said it was a question of ‘when, not if’ they force a vote of no confidence, possibly tomorrow.

Conor Burns, a former aide to Boris Johnson, led the way, saying: ‘I have consistently said we don’t want to change the PM, we want to change the policy of the PM. However there comes a point where if the PM is insistent that she will not change the policy, then the only way to change the policy is to change the personnel.’

ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg last night wrote to Brexiteer MPs urging them to oppose a deal he said would make the UK a ‘permanent rule-taker’.

Tory Brexiters are said to have become angrier and angrier as they went through the 585 pages of the withdrawal agreement. ‘This is a worse capitulation than we feared,’ one told Robert Peston of ITV.

A Cabinet source said No 10 was worried that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab would walk out of government because of concerns over elements of the agreement.

Another insider said the agreement was approved by only a ‘slim majority’, with ten ministers raising ‘serious concerns’.

Mrs May turned down repeated requests from Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey to put the deal to a vote, saying she preferred to judge ‘the mood in the room’. Miss McVey told the meeting she was ‘opposed to the deal’.

A source said: ‘Esther is the closest to going. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has walked out before the night is over.’

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said he ‘could not see a way out’ of the controversial Irish ‘ backstop’, which could leave the UK in a customs union with the EU.

Mr Javid urged the PM to go back to Brussels and try to renegotiate the

‘Fully supporting the Prime Minister’

arrangement, but acknowledged that ‘perfection is a pipe dream’.

Allies insisted Mr Javid’s criticism was constructive and he supported the PM.

Mr Raab and attorney general Geoffrey Cox are also said to have raised concerns about the ‘backstop’ plans.

Several ministers, including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, warned the deal was set to be rejected by MPs. International Development secretary Penny Mordaunt urged Mrs May to ‘dig in and fight for more concessions from Europe’.

Miss Mordaunt, tipped as a minister who could resign, also called on Mrs May to allow MPs outside the Cabinet a free vote on the deal, arguing it would make it easier to survive if the vote is lost.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell and 12 other Scots Tory MPs signed a letter to Mrs May warning her against any backsliding on pledges to take back control of the UK’s fishing grounds.

Michael Gove is said to have been the only Brexiteer minister fully signed up to the plans. One source said the mood was ‘much worse’ than at the end of the Chequers summit in July, which led to the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis. But No 10 said no one had threatened to resign, and that ministers had even finished the meeting with a glass of wine.

Some pro-Brexit Tory MPs said they hoped to persuade several of the ministers to quit over the next two to three days – as was the case with the Chequers resignations.

The marathon Cabinet meeting overran by two hours, meaning plans for Mr Raab to fly to Brussels for a joint press conference with Michel Barnier last night were cancelled.

A Whitehall source acknowledged ministers were being asked to swallow ‘some uncomfortable stuff’, but insisted the length of the meeting was not a sign of dissent. ‘There are 30 of them and they all wanted their ten-minute say,’ the source said.

The row came as the withdrawal deal, and a short statement on the future partnership with the EU were published. The documents revealed:

The EU has agreed plans for ‘zero tariff’ trade with the UK – potentially the most comprehensive trade deal it has with any country;

Northern Ireland will have to retain ‘full alignment’ with a string of single market regulations in order to prevent a hard border. New regulatory checks will also be introduced on some goods flowing between the Province and the rest of the UK.

The UK will not have the ‘unilateral’ right to withdraw from the ‘ backstop’ plans, having to rely instead on a joint arrangement;

Britain’s transition could be extended – at a price – beyond its planned end in December 2020, but MPs will get a vote on the end date;

The document suggests European judges will have jurisdiction in the UK over the EU customs code, technical regulations, VAT and excise, agriculture and the environment, single electricity market and state aid during transition.

Michel Barnier last night declared ‘decisive progress’ had been made, paving the way for EU leaders to debate the agreement at a summit in Brussels on November 25.

The EU negotiator suggested the bloc would use the agreement to keep Britain permanently in a customs union, using its terms as the basis of a future trade deal.

Mrs May will face MPs this morning when she makes a Commons statement outlining the plans. Last night she said: ‘When you strip away the detail, the choice before us is clear: this deal, which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects

‘This enables us to take back control’

jobs, security and our Union; or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all.’

Chancellor Philip Hammond briefed business leaders that the proposals would protect the economy from the ‘horrific’ impact of a no deal exit.

But he warned them: ‘Nobody is pretending that we have a perfect solution that will give everyone everything they wanted.’

The provisions on Northern Ireland threatened to end the ‘confidence and supply’ deal with the DUP that props up Mrs May’s government at Westminster. The Democratic Unionist Party indicated it would vote against the deal. Leader Arlene Foster warned the PM would face ‘consequences’ if she pressed ahead.

Damian Green, Mrs May’s former deputy, appealed to critics on both sides of the debate to remain calm, saying: ‘The vote was 52:48. The message that sends to me is that we have got to leave, but we have got to leave in a way that is not extreme.’

Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon likened the deal to being ‘blackmailed into a choice between the frying pan or the fire’.

‘It is obvious the Prime Minister can barely unite her Cabinet and it is also increasingly clear she will struggle to get a majority for it in Parliament,’ she said. ‘In these circumstances it is more important than ever that we are not faced with a false choice.’

She also tweeted: ‘PM tried to tell me Scotland’s “distinctive” interests had been protected. I pointed out that there isn’t a single mention of Scotland in the agreement.’