Draft Brexit deal goes to ministers
THERESA MAY is facing a Brexiteer backlash as her Cabinet has begun consideration of a deal with Brussels.
Number 10 confirmed a draft deal had been reached by officials negotiating in Brussels after months of protracted talks.
Ministers were invited to Downing Street to read documents relating to the agreement before a Cabinet meeting today.
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson urged his former colleagues to “chuck it out”, warning that the proposals made a “nonsense of Brexit”.
And Jacob Rees-mogg, chairman of the influential European Research Group of dozens of Tory MPS, said: “It is a failure of the Government’s negotiating position, it is a failure to deliver on Brexit and it is potentially dividing up the United Kingdom.”
A series of ministers were seen entering and leaving Downing Street following the Number 10 announcement.
Chief Whip Julian Smith told reporters: “I am confident that we will get this through Parliament and that we can deliver on what the Prime Minister committed to on delivering Brexit.”
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said ministers would have to “reflect on the detail”.
“That’s what the Government has been working for all this time, to get a deal, and negotiators have worked incredibly hard to get us to this point but we have to reflect on the detail and consider at Cabinet tomorrow,” he said last night.
The special meeting this afternoon could potentially be a flashpoint for tensions between Brexiteers and Remainers around the Cabinet table, with speculation that Leave-supporting ministers including Penny Mordaunt, Esther Mcvey and Liam Fox could be prepared to walk out if a deal ties the UK too closely to Brussels.
The deal follows intense negotiation in Brussels, with measures to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland the main stumbling block.
Irish broadcaster RTE reported that a “stable” text had been agreed on the thorny issue of the Northern Irish border.
The broadcaster said the deal involved one overall “backstop” in the form of a Ukwide customs arrangement – as sought by Mrs May – but with deeper provisions for Northern Ireland on customs and regulations.
A review mechanism is understood to be part of the text, but it is unclear whether that would meet the demands of Tory Brexiteers – including some in the Cabinet – who want the UK to be able to unilaterally walk away from the deal to prevent it becoming a permanent settlement.
Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the DUP which props up Mrs May’s minority administration, said that the deal as reported would leave Northern Ireland “subject to the rules and laws set in Brussels with no democratic input or any say”.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party would vote against the deal if it failed to meet its tests.