DITCH THE TALKS WITH LABOUR!
Ministers urge May to halt Brexit negotiations to save the Tory Party
MINISTERS will today urge Theresa May to pull the plug on Brexit talks with Labour, amid fears a compromise deal could destroy the party.
The Prime Minister is set to come under intense pressure at a Cabinet meeting this morning to abandon talks with Jeremy Corbyn, which have dragged on for six weeks without any sign of a breakthrough.
Ministers, led by Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington, held fresh talks with their Labour counterparts last night in the hope of finding an acceptable compromise. But senior figures on both sides said the compromises involved were likely to prove unacceptable.
One minister said: ‘Talking to Corbyn is killing us with the party in the country. It’s time to put the whole thing out of its misery.’
Labour is also split on the issue and Mr Corbyn told a fractious meeting of his MPs last night: ‘The Government’s red lines have not changed and the idea that Tory MPs are going to come round any time soon to accept the deal is fanciful.’
One Tory source with knowledge of the talks said Mr Corbyn appeared open to the possibility of a deal, but was being held back by pressure within his party to secure a second referendum.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday said the second referendum demanded by Labour’s lead negotiator Sir Keir Starmer would amount to a ‘betrayal’ of the 2016 referendum.
Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, one of Mrs May’s closest allies, warned that a second referendum would amount to ‘ not giving effect to the original vote’. Mr Brokenshire said it looked ‘very, very difficult to identify a deal with Labour’ that could win approval from Parliament.
Senior Tories are also alarmed at Labour’s demand for a permanent customs
‘Betrayal of the referendum’
union. Ministers are expecting a briefing today on proposals for a possible ‘customs arrangement’ compromise.
But International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has already warned that he ‘cannot accept’ anything that has the same effect as a customs union.
Former Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson savaged Mrs May over the talks with Labour at the weekend, describing the initiative as ‘politically naïve’ and ‘doomed to fail’. Huw Merriman, parliamentary aide to Chancellor Philip Hammond, said Mr Williamson was ‘probably right’, adding: ‘The Labour Party will not vote for something that doesn’t have a (second referendum) attached to it.’
Brexiteer ministers, including Dr Fox and Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, are expected to urge Mrs May to step up preparations for a possible No Deal Brexit.
It came as Michael Gove appealed to Tory grandees not to force Mrs May out before she has delivered Brexit. In a series of interviews, the Environment Secretary said getting Brexit ‘ over the line’ was ‘ more important’ than forcing Mrs May to set out a timetable for her departure.