More ministers threaten to quit as Cabinet remains split over no deal
Heavyweight group urges PM to step up plans for exit without deal, but it could be final straw for Remainers
THERESA MAY faces a Cabinet split tomorrow over no-deal plans with two ministers threatening to quit and another warning that money assigned to no-deal preparations should be spent on domestic priorities.
The Prime Minister will be urged to step up preparations for leaving the EU without a deal, with 11 Cabinet ministers understood to favour a “managed” no-deal, including Jeremy Hunt, Gavin Williamson and Sajid Javid alongside Eurosceptics including Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox.
The move is being strongly opposed by five Remainers in Cabinet: Amber Rudd, David Gauke, David Lidington, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark.
Mr Gauke signalled yesterday that he would quit the Cabinet if the Prime Minister pushed ahead with a no-deal Brexit in March 2019. He told the Financial Times: “I couldn’t support a conscious decision to crash out at the end of March and I don’t think there are many who could.” Mr Lidington, the Prime Minister’s de facto deputy, last week repeatedly refused to rule out resigning over the issue. Ms Rudd has warned that if ministers pressed the button on no-deal preparations, it would cost the Government billions “that we need for other things”.
While Remainers in Cabinet believe no-deal is off the table, other Cabinet ministers have said that failing to prepare for a no-deal Brexit would mean an “abject surrender” to the EU. Ms Mordaunt will today fuel leadership speculation as she unveils detailed plans for a “managed” no-deal that will slash the UK’S Brexit bill. The International Development Secretary will say how she would unblock the Brexit logjam by agreeing the two-year transition period after Britain leaves the EU on March 29 to allow the UK to develop a “maximum facilitation” scheme to trade with the European Union.
This would involve the UK continuing to pay £10billion a year into the EU while plans were laid for an organised exit in early 2021. A £20billion bill to take Britain out is about half the planned £39billion Brexit bill agreed with Brussels.
Mr Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph yesterday that the UK would “flourish and prosper” even if it walked away with no deal.
He said: “We’ve faced bigger challenges in our history. But we shouldn’t pretend that there wouldn’t be disruption, there wouldn’t be risk, and there wouldn’t be impact and that’s why as a responsible government we have to make all the preparations necessary.”
Senior ministers want Mrs May and Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, to significantly step up plans, partly because some believe that the Government’s only chance of securing changes to the Prime Minister’s deal is if the EU believes there is a serious prospect of her walking away from the Withdrawal Agreement. Senior figures are expected to call for the Chancellor, who has been repeatedly blamed for holding up full preparations, to unlock new funding for such an outcome.
Ms Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, is believed to want the Government to provide no-deal updates to the Commons each week until exit day.