Davis: Remainers could wreck our Brussels deal

JEREMY Corbyn, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are trying to ‘wreck’ hopes of a good Brexit deal for Britain, David Davis warned yesterday.

The Brexit Secretary rounded on senior Remainers over their calls for the Government to publish its full negotiating strategy, saying this would ‘tie the hands’ of Theresa May and give a massive advantage to Brussels.

He said it would be madness to expect the Prime Minister to enter high-stakes talks ‘with all our cards face up for everyone on the other side of the table to see’.

His intervention came as MPs on both sides of the debate yesterday urged Mr Davis to fast-track a parliamentary vote on Brexit in the wake of last week’s defeat of the Government in the High Court.

Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs have seized on the judgment to demand that Parliament debates the Government’s negotiating stance before ministers trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal mechanism for leaving the EU.

But Mr Davis said this move would wreck the chances of a good deal.

He told MPs: ‘We will not achieve a good outcome if the negotiation is being run by 650 people in the House of Commons and nearly 900 in the Lords. No negotiation in our history has been run in that way. If Parliament insists on setting out a detailed minimum negotiating position, that will quickly become the maximum possible offer from our negotiating partners, and the talk of a second referendum from some opposition MPs will simply encourage the EU to impose impossibly difficult conditions in the hope that the British people will change their minds. In other words, their whole approach is designed to wreck the negotiations.’

He added: ‘We will give no quarter to anyone who, while going through the motions of respecting the outcome of the referendum, in fact seeks to thwart the decision of the British people.’

Labour’s position descended into chaos over the weekend, with Mr Corbyn suggesting his party could block Article 50 unless ministers guarantee Britain will stay in the single market – only to be contradicted by his deputy Tom Watson who said Labour would not ‘hold up’ the process. A source close to Mr Corbyn later told Sky News his support for triggering Article 50 was ‘unconditional’.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer yesterday insisted Labour was not trying to ‘frustrate’ the process. But he left open the option of Labour voting against Article 50 if ministers refuse to publish their negotiating position.

Mr Davis yesterday faced calls from both Remain-supporting and Brexiteer Tory MPs to bring forward an immediate parliamentary vote, to give ministers a mandate for triggering Article 50.

Mr Davis said he was ‘tempted’, but that ministers had agreed to focus on December’s Supreme Court appeal. Mrs May last night said the Government had ‘strong legal arguments’ for its case and that her plan to trigger Article 50 by the end of March would not be knocked off course. She also dismissed the idea of an early General Election. Ukip’s Nigel Farage came under fire last night over plans to stage a mass march on the Supreme Court to coincide with the hearing.

‘Thwart the decision of the British people’