Insults fly as split Cabinet feuds over customs union
THERESA May’s Cabinet was at war last night over how to save her Brexit deal following a mauling by MPs.
Ministers were left reeling by the scale of opposition to the Prime Minister’s deal on Tuesday night, which saw it rejected by a majority of 230 – the biggest Commons defeat in history.
As they picked up the pieces yesterday, Cabinet divisions which have been festering for months burst into the open.
Those who want the Prime Minister to move closer to Labour to get the deal through the Commons pushed for the consideration of a customs union with Brussels. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd declared that ‘nothing is off the table’ in the bid to find a deal.
But Brexiteer ministers urged Mrs May to play hardball with Brussels and Dublin over the controversial Irish backstop, which is at the heart of Tory opposition to Mrs May’s deal.
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom, a leading Brexiteer, acknowledged yesterday that she had ‘struggled’ to support Mrs May’s deal – and warned against a further softening.
‘No deal is better than a bad deal,’ she said, adding that new proposals would ‘not necessarily’ involve a softer Brexit.
Another Brexiteer minister said: ‘It sounds awful, but we are going to have to be brutal if we are going to get what we need on the backstop. We are going to have to threaten to screw Ireland over completely if there is no deal.’
One added: ‘We are going to have to be tougher with Brussels. The EU always makes these decisions at the last minute – that is why it would be a mistake to extend Article 50.’
A string of other ministers urged Mrs May to adopt a softer
‘Tougher with Brussels’
stance. One Cabinet minister accused Justice Secretary David Gauke of ‘talking c**p’ after he suggested the Government could accept Jeremy Corbyn’s plan to keep Britain in a permanent customs union.
‘He’s very vocal, but he’s in a small minority in Cabinet,’ the minister said. But Mr Gauke was later backed by Miss Rudd, who said ‘ nothing is off the table’ in attempts to find a compromise with Brussels that is acceptable to Parliament.
Asked if this included a customs union, Miss Rudd said: ‘It seems to me that everything has to be on the table because the priority is to find a negotiated settlement so we can leave the European Union.’
Several senior figures hit out privately at Mrs May over her decision to open talks with Labour and other opposition parties. Tory chairman Brandon Lewis warned on Monday that ‘the party wouldn’t wear it’ if Mrs May was seen to be cutting a Brexit deal with Mr Corbyn.
Another minister said the exercise was pointless. ‘We will never be able to rely on Labour votes on the scale they would be needed,’ he said.
‘Unless you can reunite the Tory tribe and bring the DUP back on board you can’t get anything through. The more you tack to Labour, the harder that becomes.’ In the Commons, Mrs May appeared to reject calls to agree to a permanent customs union, saying it was vital that the UK achieved an ‘independent trade policy’ after Brexit.
No 10 later said this was ‘incompatible’ with memberthat ship of a customs union. Some Brexiteer ministers have warned her that compromising on a customs union could lead to the collapse of the Government. One said: ‘You might pick up some Labour MPs if you went for a customs union but you would risk losing half of the people on our side.’
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox – whose job would be rendered pointless if the UK remains in the customs union – did not completely rule it out last night. However, he warned Labour’s plan for the a customs union with ‘a British say’ was not achievable.
Dr Fox said: ‘Labour have said they want a customs union but one which enables them to have an independent trade policy. That’s not possible.
‘If you’re in a customs union you’ll have a common external tariff applied to you. It doesn’t make any sense.’
Simon Hart, founder of the Brexit Delivery Group of moderate Tory MPs, predicted that the emphatic defeat for Mrs May’s deal was likely to lead to a softer Brexit.
Mr Hart said: ‘It cannot come back in the same form. The danger, if you are Jacob ReesMogg, is that the chances of a softer Brexit have increased quite significantly.
‘Rather than increasing the chances of No Deal I think it’s increased the chances of a delay on Article 50. It’s hard to see how else it plays out.’
‘Delay on Article 50’