MAY WINS THE DAY
Cabinet agree Brexit deal
THERESA May claimed the Brexit deal was the best possible for the UK as the Cabinet agreed a draft withdrawal agreement.
The PM will make a statement to Parliament today after a five-hour Cabinet meeting yesterday.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called the latest development a “decisive and crucial step in concluding these negotiations”.
But there is set to be dissent in Mrs May’s party over the 585-page document with one Tory source predicting a vote of no confidence.
Some Conservative backbenchers fear it will commit the UK to remaining indefinitely in a customs union with the EU and unable to forge its own trade deals elsewhere.
The lengthy summit also sparked speculation that Mrs May was having to address serious doubts among her top team with sources saying up to one third of her Cabinet are against it.
Talks
The PM has previously clashed with her Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.
She said in a Downing Street statement: “I firmly believe, with my head and my heart that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the UK.
“I firmly believe the draft withdrawal agreement was the best that could be negotiated and it’s for the Cabinet to decide whether to move on in the talks.
“The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop, but the decision of Cabinet was that the Government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration.”
Mrs May had hoped to make an address about the meeting at 5pm yesterday only to remain inside for more than two hours longer before emerging onto Downing Street.
The document will now be passed to the Commons for MPs to discuss but it did not take long for the critics against Mrs May to make themselves heard.
The right-wing Bow Group think tank called for her resignation, saying the PM was unable to deliver on Brexit.
Opposition leaders, including Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, slammed it as “entirely inappropriate” for her to brief the press before making a statement to MPs.
The PM’s fate could now lie in the hands of the Tories’ powerful backbench 1922 Committee.
If it receives 48 letters calling for her to quit, it will trigger a showdown.
In a letter to his fellow Conservative MPs, leading Brexit backer Jacob ReesMogg argued they should not support
the deal.