MPs condemn ‘blindfold Brexit’ as May admits key questions left unanswered
MPs of all parties accused Theresa May of delivering a “blindfold Brexit” after she admitted her deal left the public in the dark on a range of vital questions about Britain’s future.
Decisions about future trade, the Irish border backstop, fisheries and whether the UK will remain tied to
EU rules until after the next general election have all been shelved, a 26-page “political declaration” struck with the EU revealed.
The admission came as the deal still looked doomed to defeat in a landmark vote next month – as both proand anti-EU Tories attacked it during feisty Commons exchanges in which few supporters spoke up.
Significantly, two leading Brexiteers praised by Ms May for working with her on the document – Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson – said they could not back it unless the backstop was stripped out.
More than 80 Tories have criticised the package, pointing to a heavy defeat and a constitutional crisis, unless most can be talked around in the next few weeks of frantic arm-twisting.
MPs protested that key decisions had been kicked down the road in crucial areas, including:
* Future trade – where Ms May admitted the UK would “choose” later from “a spectrum”, balancing access to the EU against imposing greater controls.
The document made no reference to “frictionless trade”, which the prime minister had promised. She said it was her “intention to work towards frictionless trade”.
* The backstop – MPs will vote, in June 2020, whether to trigger the safeguard to prevent the return of checks at the Irish border, by the UK staying in the EU’s customs territory.
* Ending the transition – which is due to run until December 2020, but could be extended until the end of 2022, past the June 2022 election, if MPs choose that option over triggering the backstop.
Downing Street insisted it had “won” the right to end the transition at any point over the two-year period, but admitted the UK could yet be locked in until the end of it.
* Fisheries – future talks will decide whether EU boats still have access to UK waters in return for the UK enjoying tariff-free access to EU markets.
Ross Thomson, a Scottish Tory MP, protested the deal meant “sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal” – a fear heightened by Sabine Weyand, EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s deputy, saying it “covers both access to waters and market access”.
The flimsy document fell far short of the extensive draft trade deal originally promised by the government before exit day next March – and has no legal force.
Jeremy Corbyn confirmed Labour would vote against the deal, saying: “This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared – a leap into the dark. It falls far short of our – Labour’s – six tests.”
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, tweeted: “Lots of unicorns taking the place of facts about the future relationship ... it adds up to a blindfold Brexit.”
Anna Soubry, a Tory supporter of a Final Say referendum, branded the deal a “syrup of warm sweet words” which delivered “no certainty, only aspiration”.
And Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said: “The political declaration is not legally binding, so is now being padded out with meaningless twaddle to sell a bungled, blindfold Brexit that endangers jobs, our environment and the UK’s standing in the world to Jacob Rees-Mogg and the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party].”
Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, stopped short of confirming it would vote against the deal, but warned: “We need to see an end to the backstop.”
Brexiteer Tories lined up to echo the threat. Dominic Raab, who quit as Brexit secretary last week in protest, told her: “The backstop ties the UK to the customs union and single market rules with no voice
and an EU veto over our exit.”
Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, focused his criticism on the withdrawal agreement, on which the future partnership “will be based”, saying it “makes a complete nonsense of Brexit”.
The prime minister’s spokesman confirmed the negotiations were finished as far as the UK was concerned – ruling out changes to the backstop, or additions to calm the anger of Brexiteers.
And he confirmed the Chequers plan, which proposed adopting the EU’s “common rule book” for food and goods in the long term, had been abandoned.
Asked if “Chequers had been chucked”, the spokesman said: “What the document provides for us to pursue whichever option we so choose ... there is a spectrum.”
Asked if No 10 had a “plan B” if the deal was rejected, he insisted she was focused on “persuading all colleagues on the Conservative benches of the merits of the deal”.
In her statement, Ms May urged MPs to recognise that “the British people want Brexit to be settled”, insisting: “The deal that will enable us to do this is now within our grasp.
“In these crucial 72 hours ahead, I will do everything possible to deliver it for the British people.”
Front page picture, clockwise from top left: Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, Dominic Grieve, Justine Greening and Iain Duncan Smith were among the Leavers and Remainers united in condemnation of Theresa May’s Brexit deal