No-deal Brexit is back on the table
I’LL FIGHT ON, MAY PLEDGES AMID RISING OPPOSITION
Insisted she would ‘see this through’ ‘It is impossible to divide the UK’
THERESA May has vowed to fight on and deliver Brexit after she was hit by four ministerial resignations yesterday and a wave of demands for her removal as prime minister.
Dominic Raab and Esther McVey dramatically walked out of Mrs May’s Cabinet, while leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg declared he had no confidence in her leadership amid a furious backlash against her plans for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.
During three hours of questioning in the House of Commons, Mrs May faced Tory backbench accusations that the Brexit deal agreed by Cabinet on Wednesday was ‘dead on arrival’ and would never survive the parliamentary vote expected next month.
Only a handful of her own MPs spoke up in favour of the plan, denounced by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a ‘half-baked deal’. But in a defiant press conference in 10 Downing Street, she insisted she would ‘see this through’.
Mrs May compared herself to her stubborn but effective cricketing hero as she told reporters: ‘What do you know about Geoffrey Boycott? Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got the runs in the end.’ Her appearance came after the pound plunged amid widespread doubts over whether Mrs May could deliver her deal or would even be able to cling on to power.
Mr Raab – the man chosen in July to represent Mrs May in negotiations with Brussels – quit as Brexit secretary, warning the deal represented a ‘very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom’ because of provisions for Northern Ireland.
And Ms McVey resigned as work and pensions secretary, telling the prime minister she could not defend the agreement approved by cabinet in a stormy five-hour meeting.
Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, dramatically announced that he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mrs May’s leadership, declaring that her deal ‘has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the prime minister’.
But by last night, just 16 rebel MPs had publicly announced that they were following his lead – several of whom sent letters weeks or months ago to the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee – amid signs the rebellion could fall flat. Some 48 letters are required to trigger a no confidence vote.
Tory MPs discussing whether to put letters in on a private European Research Group WhatsApp group were deeply divided.
And several leading pro-Brexit backbenchers went public to oppose the drastic move.
Moderate loyalists accused Mr Rees-Mogg of being ‘self-indulgent’ and warned he risked wrecking the government and splitting the party.
Yesterday morning, Mr ReesMogg confronted Mrs May in the Commons, accusing her of breaking promises on protecting the union, and leaving the European Court of Justice and the Customs Union, and asking her why he shouldn’t put a no confidence letter in.
But at a press conference in Downing Street Mrs May said: ‘I believe with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.’
Two more junior ministers – Suella Braverman at the Brexit Department and Shailesh Vara at Northern Ireland – also quit.
And Mrs May also lost two parliamentary private secretaries and a vice-chairman of the party. There were rumours at Westminster that Leave-supporting Michael Gove had been lined up to replace Mr Raab – but he would only agree to the job if he could renegotiate the deal.
Asked about the speculation, Mrs May said Mr Gove was ‘doing an excellent job’ as environment secretary.
The developments threaten to derail the prime minister’s Brexit strategy ahead of a crucial EU summit, which European Council president Donald Tusk confirmed would take place on November 25 ‘if nothing extraordinary happens’.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, a confident Mr Rees-Mogg said he expected sufficient letters to be submitted to force Mrs May to fight for her position, but declined to say how soon.
If Mrs May was ousted as leader, a contest to choose a successor could be completed ‘not in months, but weeks’, he said.
He accused her of breaching long-held principles of the party by allowing different rules for Northern Ireland, and he claimed it would be harder to leave the Northern Ireland backstop – which would keep the UK inside a customs union – than it would be to leave the EU itself.
During a press conference outside the Palace of Westminster, Mr Rees-Mogg denied he was orchestrating a coup and, pointing to his plain suit, rejected claims he was a ‘pinstriped assassin’.
He also denied he had any personal leadership ambitions, but named four strong Brexit advocates, Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab, David Davis and Penny Mordaunt, as potential contenders, and insisted the next leader must be a Brexiteer.
Dismissing fears of chaos and economic collapse in the event of no deal as ‘Project Fear’, he said the UK would thrive trading on World Trade Organisation rules. He added: ‘The law to leave has already been passed. The Withdrawal Act is through but what we need is a leader who will say to the EU it is impossible to divide up the United Kingdom.’
‘It is impossible to agree to a perpetual customs union. It is impossible to pay £39 billion of taxpayers’ money for a few promises.’