The poll story
PM faces big Tory backlash over stinker of a compromise
THE only question to ask Michael Russell about his plan for a second European Union referendum to be read as a verdict on Scottish independence, is how would he vote in the fourth referendum?
If one referendum is not enough, why should two be?
Russell yesterday suggested that if Scotland voted again to Remain in the EU and the UK voted overall to Leave then that would amount to a vote for Scottish independence. Eh?
Although it may take a few seconds to follow Russell’s convoluted logic, a vote to Remain in the EU is not a vote for Scotland to leave the UK. Not in a month of Sunday show appearances.
It is an attempt to shoehorn Scots Remain voters into the independence camp, and a desperate one at that.
The Brexit Secretary always likes to be the most intelligent man in the room. Unfortunately, he sometimes goes to pains to prove it. Clever he might be, but a smart move this was not.
THE Prime Minister faces a showdown with furious backbenchers today over her compromise deal on leaving the EU.
Theresa May’s Brexit fudge, agreed with her Cabinet at Chequers on Friday, is in danger of crumbling after it was described as a “polished turd” by Boris Johnson, dismissed by Eurosceptic Tories and attacked by Labour and the SNP.
May managed to keep the arch-Brexiteers in her Cabinet on board with the threat of sackings for insubordination.
But it has been reported that as the deal was being thrashed out, Foreign Secretary Johnson said defending it would be like “trying to polish a turd”. He did join his colleagues in signing up to May’s proposals though.
Backbench Brexiteers, however, have hit out at plans to set up “a free trade area for goods” with the EU and “maintain a common rulebook” for standards – which they see as a soft Brexit.
Yesterday, Michael Gove made a fawning appeal to fellow Brexiteers to get behind May.
He admitted the Chequers plan was not everything he had hoped for but said May’s lack of a Commons majority meant the “parliamentary arithmetic” was an important factor.
He added: “All those of us who believe that we want to execute a proper Brexit, and one that is the best deal for Britain, have an opportunity now to get behind the Prime Minister in order to negotiate that deal.”
May faces a stormy meeting with Tory MPs tonight, amid reports that letters calling for a leadership contest have been submitted to the backbench 1922 Committee.
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said the Chequers proposals were “unworkable” and a “bureaucratic nightmare”.
Calling for a Commons vote on the plan, he added: “I’m afraid it’s got fudge written all over it.”
The SNP’s Brexit Secretary Michael Russell said the proposals were a “step in the right direction” but didn’t go far enough to protect Scotland “in any real way from the damage of Brexit”.
And First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted yesterday: “It hasn’t taken long for the Chequers plan to start to unravel.”