THERESA’S GAMBLE TOO FAR

Tories’ fury as May opens door to 2nd referendum ++ And even Labour reject her desperate bid to pass new Brexit deal

THERESA May’s Brexit deal was hanging by a thread last night as furious Tory MPs savaged her decision to open the door to a second referendum.

In a dramatic gamble, the Prime Minister offered MPs a binding vote on a second EU poll – if they

backed her withdrawal deal at the fourth attempt next month.

Mrs May pleaded with Parliament to finally approve her plan so Britain could avoid ‘a nightmare future of permanently polarised politics’.

Desperate to win over Labour MPs, she also suggested the agreement could be amended to include a temporary customs union. The move followed a fractious three-hour Cabinet meeting, in which at least two ministers are said to have hinted they might resign in protest at the concessions.

Boris Johnson, who voted for Mrs May’s deal at the third attempt, led the attacks on her latest offer, saying: ‘Now we are being asked to vote for a customs union and a second

referendum. The Bill is directly against our manifesto – and I will not vote for it. We can and must do better – and deliver what the people voted for.’

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who is lining up against Mr Johnson to succeed the PM, said he could not support legislation ‘that would be the vehicle for a second referendum or customs union’.

Mark Francois led hardline Eurosceptic MPs in insisting Mrs May’s concessions were ‘dead on arrival’. Some Tory MPs even called on the PM to quit immediately.

Jeremy Corbyn initially said Labour would ‘look seriously’ at the proposals. But he later warned: ‘Theresa May’s new Brexit deal is a rehash of her old bad deal and Labour cannot support it.’

As campaigners for a second referendum also rejected the PM’s offer:

Cabinet sources said Mrs May ignored warnings from Chief Whip Julian Smith that the deal would not win enough support in the Commons;

The Prime Minister confirmed she would discuss a timetable for her departure after the vote on her plans next month;

In a further concession to Labour, Mrs May pledged to legislate for the UK to follow EU laws on worker rights and the environment;

She warned Brexit was ‘ slipping away’ and a negotiated departure could soon be ‘dead in the water’;

The Democratic Unionist Party rejected assurances from Mrs May on the Irish backstop and said it would vote against her plan again;

Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay urged the Cabinet to step up preparations for No Deal;

Business leaders urged MPs to back the withdrawal agreement;

Mrs May tried to reassure Eurosceptic MPs that ‘alternative arrangements’ for the Irish border could prevent the need for the backstop.

During the stormy three-hour Cabinet meeting on the plans yesterday, Mrs May is said to have initially wanted to offer MPs a vote on a permanent customs union and guarantee a free vote on a second referendum.

Sources said she was forced to pull back after Brexiteer ministers Andrea Leadsom and Chris Grayling hinted they could resign, describing the plans as ‘unacceptable’.

‘Grayling was on the brink and Leadsom wasn’t far behind,’ a source said.

However, in a sign of the Cabinet tensions last night, both Chancellor Philip Hammond and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd urged MPs to back the new offer.

The Prime Minister herself will set out her ten-point ‘new deal’ to MPs today. She is hoping to break the deadlock that has gripped Westminster for months and seen Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party soar in the polls.

She told MPs: ‘I have compromised. Now I ask you to compromise too. Look at what this debate is doing to our politics. Extending it for months more – perhaps indefinitely – risks opening the door to a nightmare future of permanently polarised politics.’

Brexiteer Cabinet minister Liam Fox last night rallied behind the PM, saying: ‘Those voting against the Bill will be voting against the delivery of Brexit itself. Voters will see clearly whether their MPs have kept their promise or not. This is the moment of truth – honour your contract with the voters or break it – they will be watching and they will remember.’

But other Brexiteer ministers were horrified by the extent of the proposed compromises. Mr Grayling, Mrs Leadsom and the attorney general Geoffrey Cox all warned against the danger of flirting with a second referendum.

Mrs May has promised that a vote on her plan will be held in the first week of June.

Officials were unable to say what the question in a second referendum would be.

WITH customary fortitude and resilience, Theresa May faced the nation last night and vowed to persevere with the seemingly Sisyphean task of delivering Brexit.

From day one in Downing Street, the Prime Minister has been determined to usher in the biggest moment in Britain’s post-war history – when we finally escape the European Union’s clutches and step out into the world, a truly sovereign nation.

Unpicking 46 years of entanglement with the sclerotic bloc was bound to be fiendishly complex. But Mrs May valiantly set about the task, tenaciously attempting to fulfil the wishes of 17.4million Leave voters.

No one has held the Tory leader in higher regard than the Mail as she sought, during tortuous months of painstaking negotiations, to secure a deal. Even though her withdrawal agreement was imperfect, this paper has been its staunchest ally.

We believed there were overwhelming positives: Ending free movement, gargantuan payments into EU coffers and the strictures of EU judges – all manifesto commitments – while retaining tariff-free access to the single market.

It was a sensible compromise that stood the best chance of healing a nation fractured by Brexit. Thus far, however, her gruelling efforts have been futile.

Belligerent Eurosceptic hardliners who refused to dilute their ideological purity, recalcitrant Remainers nakedly seeking to sabotage Brexit, the epic intransigence of the DUP, Labour cynically hell-bent on forcing a general election… all conspired to thwart her and the people’s explicit will.

Three times she put her strategy to the Commons, and three times it was rejected.

That miserable failure of the political elite to deliver Brexit led to the howl of fury in the local elections recently, when voters gave the Tories and Labour a bloody nose.

If that painful lesson wasn’t enough, they both face annihilation in tomorrow’s European polls, buried by crowing Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Truly, Mrs May has bent over backwards to try to break the impasse. Yesterday, she had one last throw of the dice – unveiling a new package of measures. Using a TV speech to implore MPs, she warned not backing her deal would lead to ‘a nightmare future of permanently polarised politics’, with Brexit ‘slipping away’. And she may be right.

But in a sop to Labour, she pledged to follow EU rules on workers’ rights. However, what if Brussels attempts to stymie Britain with crippling trade union laws?

And under her plan, she suggests a temporary customs union – which might harm our ability to sign global trade pacts. But the real hand grenade was promising MPs the chance of a second referendum. Unsurprisingly, it detonated in her face.

Mrs May is and always has been against a second referendum and claims to have proposed it as a realpolitik ploy to entice Labour to back her withdrawal agreement.

But after promising myriad times there would not be another vote, it is difficult to explain – and will surely be too much for many Tory members.

The damage to democratic trust would almost be too grim to contemplate. Even for the Mail, which has been Mrs May’s most loyal supporter, this is at best high risk and at worst a dangerous compromise.

In reality, the chance of her deal succeeding is minuscule. The backlash last night included even dutiful Tory MPs – aware that countless ordinary people would feel betrayed. Naturally, Marxist Jeremy Corbyn opposed her plans – even though it gave him practically everything he demanded.

With admirable dedication, Mrs May – who has vowed to step down – has tried to pick a path through the minefield to a final Brexit destination. It was an unenviable route.

Even if she fails, no one can doubt she has stoically and commendably done her best.

But the Mail reluctantly concludes this is a gamble too far.