Letwin in new bid to engineer a soft Brexit
REBEL MPs will attempt to change the law within days to force Theresa May into accepting a softer Brexit – or even a second referendum – if her deal is rejected again today.
Backbenchers led by Sir Oliver Letwin will take control of the Commons timetable on Monday for a second round of indicative votes on alternatives to her plan.
A first attempt ended in deadlock this week after none of the eight options put to MPs secured a majority.
However, a plan to stay in a customs union was narrowly defeated by just six votes, while a proposal for a second referendum lost by 27. The rebels last night revealed plans to take control again next Wednesday so that if a majority emerges on Monday they can put through legislation forcing ministers to act.
If they are successful it would put them on a collision course with the Government and could precipitate a general election.
Cross-party groups of MPs were last night meeting to discuss how they could adapt the eight proposals in a bid to find a compromise that can command the support of the House.
Tory former Cabinet minister Ken Clarke, who drew up the customs union plan defeated by 271 votes to 265, said he was ‘reasonably confident’ it would get over the line if the Commons does not pass the Prime Minister’s deal today.
He told Sky News: ‘We are very near, we lost by [six] votes. We will have another go on Monday. We will be able to get it through if the House goes dotty and rejects the withdrawal agreement again.’
Sir Oliver, the architect of the indicative votes process, said MPs would be looking for a Plan B to avoid No Deal if Mrs May’s deal fails to secure enough support.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘At some point or other we either have to get her deal across the line or accept we have to find some alternative if we want to avoid No Deal on April 12.
‘At the moment we are heading for a situation where, under the law, we leave without a deal… which many of us think is not a good solution.
‘Of course, the issue is – and nobody knows the answer to this yet – whether we can get to the point where Parliament has a majority in favour of an alternative on Monday.’
Sir Oliver, who backed the Prime Minister’s deal in both meaningful votes, added: ‘MPs will be voting on the basis of seeing what happened last time. And something else will have happened, which is that either the Prime Minister will have got her deal through on Friday, in which case all this is unnecessary and I’ll be breaking open the bottle of champagne. If it
‘On collision course with ministers’
doesn’t then I think people will finally see that isn’t going to happen by April 12.
‘I think quite a lot of Tories who didn’t vote for any of the options because they were, perfectly honourably, taking the view that until they had a last chance to vote for the Prime Minister’s deal they didn’t want to commit themselves to anything else, may come round and say, “OK, we’ll choose among these options.”’ Ministers have warned that a general election may have to be called if MPs try to force the Prime Minister into accepting a proposal that contradicts the Tory manifesto, which ruled out membership of the single market and customs union.
But Damian Green, her former de facto deputy, last night warned: ‘If this is the will of Parliament, any Government has to obey it.’
And Mr Clarke said there would be a ‘major constitutional crisis’ if ministers ignored a Commons majority for a Brexit alternative.