May facing a new Brexit showdown

She tries to head off damaging Commons defeat

‘They took no notice of us’

THE Tory Chief Whip was locked in frantic talks with Eurosceptic MPs last night in a bid to head off another damaging Commons defeat for the Government on Brexit.

Members of the hardline European Research Group of Tory MPs were threatening to join forces with Labour tonight to vote down a bid by Theresa May to keep her deal on the road.

Defeat on the vote would have no binding effect on Downing Street, but it would kill the political momentum behind Mrs May’s bid to salvage her agreement – and would allow Brussels to continue claiming that the UK Parliament does not know what it wants.

The row centres on an apparently bland Commons motion backing ‘the approach to leaving the EU expressed’ by MPs in a series of votes last month.

Eurosceptic MPs oppose the wording of the plan, which will be debated tonight, saying that it effectively endorses a Commons vote ruling out the option of a No Deal Brexit. Mark Francois, vice- chairman of the ERG, said: ‘ We cannot vote for this as it is currently configured because it rules out No Deal and removes our negotiating leverage in Brussels.’

Another ERG source said MPs had ‘pleaded’ with ministers not to table the motion, adding: ‘They took absolutely no notice. Frankly, we despair.’

Downing Street said at lunchtime yesterday that the motion would not be reworded.

But after peace talks between Chief Whip Julian Smith and ERG leaders failed, Tory whips were examining whether to try to tweak the wording to get Eurosceptic MPs back on board. It came as:

Mrs May was forced to defend Transport Secretary Chris Grayling over the collapse of his plan to hire a start-up firm with no ships to provide emergency cover in the event of No Deal;

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said Britain was a ‘ more diminished country compared to two or three years ago’;

Campaigners for a second referendum were divided over whether to force a Commons vote on the issue tonight, with many fearing they would lose badly.

The row about tonight’s Commons motion vote appeared to catch Downing Street by surprise. It was intended to produce a show of unity for Mrs May to take back to Brussels.

But last night it had descended into infighting.

Former Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke described the prospect of a Government defeat on what should have been an innocuous vote as ‘a shambles’.

The ERG decision to pick a fight appeared to be motivated by anger over comments from Mrs May’s chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins in a Brussels bar, in which he suggested Mrs May would rather order a ‘long’ delay to the UK’s departure than leave without a deal next month.

Labour will back an amendment which would force Mrs May to delay Brexit if she cannot get her deal through Parliament.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the party would support a revised amendment by Yvette Cooper obliging the Prime Minister to ask for an extension to Article 50 beyond March 29.

It was defeated in the Commons last month, after a number of Labour MPs voted against it.