TORIES’ CIVIL WAR ERUPTS
May edges towards customs union – but Corbyn deal could spark Cabinet exodus
THERESA May was edging towards a customs union deal with Jeremy Corbyn last night – despite warnings it would plunge the Tories into civil war.
Downing Street said talks with Mr Corbyn would continue today, despite a furious revolt from senior Tories at the prospect of pushing through a soft Brexit deal with the help of Labour’s ‘Marxist’ leader.
In a sign that Mrs May is serious about a compromise, her chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins was asked to attend to provide advice on options that would have a chance of success in Brussels.
Two ministers resigned in protest at the decision to meet with Mr Corbyn yesterday, and senior Tories warned of an exodus of Brexiteer Cabinet ministers.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘The spectre of Corbyn lording it over us in a prime ministerial way as he wrecks Brexit makes my blood run cold and fear for my party and my country.’ Cabinet ministers believe at least eight members of Mrs May’s top team could quit if the PM agrees to a formal customs union with the EU.
One Cabinet source said: ‘It can’t be a permanent customs union because it’s against the manifesto. If you do that then people will walk.’ Yesterday a group of senior Brexiteers – four Cabinet ministers and 15 junior ministers – met in the office of Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom.
As well as Mrs Leadsom, the meeting was attended by Development
‘Makes my blood run cold’
Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling as well as Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss. Last night Mr Corbyn was also facing a growing Labour backlash, as sources indicated he would not insist on a second referendum as the price for a deal.
Sources involved in the negotiations said the two sides were exploring whether they could reach agreement on a customs union and meet Labour’s demand that the Government agrees to adopt new EU laws on workers’ rights and environmental standards even after the UK has left. The talks came as: Attorney General Geoffrey Cox led Cabinet efforts to make the case for a customs union compromise;
Mrs May was hijacked at Prime Minister’s Questions, with four Tory MPs asking why she was calling on Mr Corbyn after previously branding him ‘unfit for office’;
But she insisted talks were the ‘only way to deliver the smooth, orderly Brexit we promised’;
MPs voted to change the law to force Mrs May to seek a Brexit delay after John Bercow allowed them to fast-track legislation;
Downing Street prepared to fire the starting gun on next month’s European parliament elections, but insisted they could be scrapped just 24 hours before they are due to take place on May 23 if Mrs May can agree a deal in time;
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who isn’t in Mr Corbyn’s negotiating team, wrote to Labour MPs saying any deal ‘must be subject to a confirmatory public vote’;
Furious Eurosceptic Tory MPs tried to hold an informal vote of no confidence in Mrs May, only to be told by party shop steward Sir Graham Brady that they could not try again until December following their botched coup last year;
Brexit minister Chris HeatonHarris, who resigned yesterday, said Britain was ready to leave with no deal next week.
The Prime Minister made the momentous decision to drop her Brexit red lines and open talks with Mr Corbyn following a fractious seven-hour Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. If her deal with Labour is successful, it could be put to a Commons vote on Monday and then presented to EU leaders at an emergency Brussels summit on Wednesday, when Mrs May will request a delay to the UK’s April 12 departure date. Emerging from the talks in Mrs May’s Commons office yesterday, Mr Corbyn said the discussions had gone ‘very well’. But he later played down expectations of a breakthrough, saying: ‘There hasn’t been as much
change as I expected but we will have further discussions tomorrow to explore technical issues.’ Downing Street described the talks as ‘constructive, with both sides showing flexibility to bring the current Brexit uncertainty to a close’. Technical talks will continue between the two sides today, although neither Mr Corbyn nor Mrs May will be involved directly.
If the talks fail, No 10 has said it will try and agree a compromise deal with parliament next week through some form of ‘run-off’ with Mrs May’s deal, although this is also likely to involve a customs union. Yesterday morning, Wales Office minister Nigel Adams became the 35th minister to quit Mrs May’s government since the election. In his letter to the PM he said Mrs May was ‘failing’ at both delivering Brexit and preventing the ‘calamity’ of a Corbyn government.