Remainers unite to call for second Brexit poll
Let voters decide between May’s deal and staying in the EU, says coalition of MPS
PRO-EU MPS will today raise the stakes in the battle over Brexit by publishing draft legislation to force a second referendum that could reverse the result of the 2016 vote.
A cross-party group of MPS, including Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, wants Theresa May to give Parliament a greater say in deciding how Britain leaves the European Union.
It comes after reports emerged at the weekend of a planned “coup” by unnamed senior MPS to grab control of the parliamentary timetable by allowing backbenchers’ legislation to take precedence over the Government’s.
MPS are to vote on Mrs May’s deal tomorrow night, with No 10 braced for a defeat by an unprecedented majority of more than 200.
The cross-party draft legislation published today by Mr Grieve, the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable and Lord Lisvane, the former clerk of the House of Commons, proposes another referendum in which voters would be given a choice between Mrs May’s deal or staying in the EU.
The draft law could in theory be tabled as early as Monday next week, if Mrs May loses tomorrow and she has to come back to the Commons with a new plan for delivering Brexit. It will require John Bercow, the Speaker, to suspend centuries-old rules and make it easier for MPS to table laws that can be passed.
Mr Grieve, who insists he is not working with Mr Bercow to overturn Brexit, said last night: “This Bill provides a le- gally credible way forward, and a politically credible way forward. With no majority in Parliament for the deal, or for ‘no deal’, the legislation provides the Government with an escape hatch.”
The MPS would also have to table a new law to remove the March 29 Brexit date from existing legislation.
Mr Bercow has been heavily criticised by MPS for his handling of last week’s Brexit debate, where he was accused of ignoring parliamentary convention to frustrate the Government’s attempts to take Britain out of the EU.
However, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, insisted yesterday that Mr Bercow had been “religiously fair”.
Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, Nikki da Costa, Mrs May’s former head of legislative affairs, says the putative “coup” was “dressed up as handing control to backbenchers, but in reality it’s handing control to Labour and the opposition parties plus a small group of rebel Conservatives”.
She added: “Given the lack of a majority following the June 2017 general election, the reality would be that Parliament would be able to legislate at will with just a handful of Conservative or DUP rebels. There would be no stability and such changes would likely expedite a general election.”
A separate plan to frustrate Mrs May’s Brexit deal is understood to have been drawn up by Nick Boles, the former minister, and could be published as early as tomorrow. Mr Boles said he was “working on ways” to develop a mechanism “which will give parliament control of the Brexit negotiations
and ensure we do not leave without a deal on March 29”.
Mrs May will warn in a speech today that MPS face a choice between her widely criticised exit deal and Britain not leaving the EU in March. The Prime Minister will say that, “based on the evidence of the last week”, she now believes that MPS blocking Brexit is a more likely outcome than leaving with no deal.
She will add: “As we have seen over the last few weeks, there are some in Westminster who would wish to delay or even stop Brexit and who will use every device available to them to do so.
“I ask MPS to consider the consequences of their actions on the faith of the British people in our democracy.”
After her speech today, Mrs May will return to the House of Commons to make a last-minute plea to MPS directly to back her deal. Number 10 confirmed last night that she would give a statement to MPS on her Brexit talks.
There was a boost for Mrs May when two veteran Tory MPS, Sir Geoffrey Cliftonbrown and Sir Edward Leigh, switched sides and said they would back Mrs May’s deal in tomorrow’s vote.
However, there are rumours that several MPS who work unpaid for ministers as parliamentary private secretaries could quit ahead of the vote today or tomorrow to allow them to rebel in the vote.
Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, warns in today’s Telegraph the fears are a “last desperate scare story” designed to persuade MPS to back Mrs May’s “complete stinker” of a deal.
A dozen former Conservative ministers, including Mr Johnson, David Davis and Dominic Raab, will today write to all Tory MPS urging them to vote down the deal and prepare to leave without one, instead using World Trade Organisation terms.
In a copy of their plea seen by The Telegraph, the ex-ministers say a “no-deal” will “not lead to no Brexit or to an early general election”. They add: “A managed WTO Brexit
‘I ask MPS to consider the consequences of their actions’
will end business and political uncertainty more quickly than any other option. A managed WTO Brexit may give rise to some short-term inconvenience and disruption, but the much greater risks arise from being locked into a very bad deal.”
Mrs May is expected to publish letters from the EU today or tomorrow setting out assurances that Britain is unlikely to enter the feared Irish backstop that could keep the UK locked into a customs union after 2021.
It also emerged last night that, should Mrs May survive the vote but need more time to win over Parliament, Brussels is prepared to delay Brexit by giving a “technical extension” until July.