BREXIT IN CRISIS
MPs get free vote today as PM’s power ebbs away
THERESA May is likely to oppose a No Deal Brexit tonight as she gives her ministers a free vote on the issue.
She is amid suspending claims Cabinet that her collective power is responsibility ebbing away as she fights to hold on to her job.
The PM told MPs she ‘passionately believed that the best way’ to deliver on the referendum result is ‘to leave in an orderly way with a deal’.
If she votes against a No Deal, it will go against her repeated declarations during negotiations that ‘No Deal is better than a bad deal’.
By holding a free vote, Mrs May hopes to avoid ministerial resignations from both Remainers and Brexiteers in her Cabinet. However, it sets a precedent that could make it more difficult for her to exert authority.
backlash It also from prompted Eurosceptics a furious who want to keep the prospect of a No Deal Brexit.
Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly last night warned it would be a mistake for MPs to take No Deal off the table. He said: ‘I believe it weakens our hand.’
DUP Westminster leader Mr Dodds told Sky News: ‘The best way to get a deal you can actually vote for is to keep the threat of a No Deal on the table.
‘Once you take that threat off you are bound to be offered terms which are less advantageous in the sure and certain knowledge that the other side have that you’re not going to walk away. So, it’s totally self defeating, it’ s utterly counter-productive.’
Tory MP Johnny Mercer said: ‘I will vote to keep No Deal on the table. That was our manifesto promise. I’m very surprised that she has decided to give that as a free vote.’
A Labour Party spokesman said: ‘Allowing a free vote on No Deal shows Theresa May has given up any pretence of leading the country.’
Ministers will this morning publish a plan for the Irish border in the event of a No Deal, as well as the tariffs to be charged on imports.
MPs will then vote on whether they agree with a motion that says they do not want to leave the EU without a deal. However backbenchers led by Tory former minister Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Jack Dromey last night put down an amendment that would reject No Deal outright.
Another group, led by former Brexit minister Steve Baker tabled an amendment that would seek an extension of Article 50 until May 22. It was signed by Damian Green, Iain Duncan Smith, Nicky Morgan, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Simon Hart and the DUP’s Nigel Dodds. If MPs oppose No Deal, Mrs May has promised a further vote tomorrow on extending Article 50 beyond March 29. Ahead of last night’s vote, Tory former minister Nick Boles warned hardline Eurosceptics he was ready to spearhead a push for a soft Brexit if the deal was voted down. The MP, who is proposing a ‘Norway-plus’ option that would see the UK remain in a customs union with continued freedom of movement, former Remainers said he would and other ‘ do whatever it takes’ to prevent a No Deal.
In a series of tweets directed at arch-Brexiteers, he wrote: ‘ We are just as committed to our cause as you are to yours. We have learned to ignore the whips and shrug off deselection threats. And one last thing: with our friends on the opposition benches there are many more of us than you. Please don’t say I didn’t warn you about what comes next.’
Key Brexiteers refused to back the PM’s deal last night despite warnings they risked jeopardising the prospect of Britain ever leaving the EU. Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, former Tory leader Mr Duncan Smith and leader of the European Research Group Mr Rees-Mogg all voted down the agreement.
Mrs May had warned the rebels earlier that they risked ‘losing’ Brexit if they voted against the deal and opened the door to a second referendum.
But on a dramatic night, only 39 Tories and one Labour MP actually changed their vote to support the deal.
Among the most surprising converts from those who voted against in the first meaningful vote, was former Brexit secretary David Davis. He had originally quit the Cabinet in protest at the shape of Mrs May’s deal, but backed it at the second time of asking last night.
Arch-Brexiteers Philip Davies and Nadine Dorries also voted in favour, as did a former Government aide and two Tory vice chairmen who quit in opposition to Brexit policy.
But Mr Johnson, Mr Duncan Smith and Mr Rees-Mogg were among 75 Tory MPs who voted against the deal. Despite the PM’s concessions to Labour MPs on worker rights, just three backed the deal – just one more than had backed it previously.
After the vote, Miss Dorries tweeted: ‘I voted for the deal tonight because I felt the danger of a No Deal motion being tabled and then lost, was too high to risk.’ Former minister Tim Loughton, who voted against the deal originally, tweeted: ‘This evening I have held my nose and voted for the Government’s deal with the Attorney General’s
‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you’ ‘My duty is to the people’
extra assurances with no enthusiasm but with a greater fear of the damage that prolonged uncertainty and chaos could cause but I fear with little chance of it going through.’
Ben Bradley, who resigned as vice chairman of the party, said he voted for the deal because he could ‘not justify’ no Brexit to his constituents.
Mr Mercer said he would vote for the deal because it ‘reduced the risk of us being trapped in this backstop that I felt was so out of keeping with the spirit of Brexit’. Brexit- backer Nigel Evans tweeted: ‘My duty is to the people. They have spoken. I do not intend to betray them.’