Brexit news latest: Backbenchers warn Theresa May 40 MPs will rebel if she chucks Chequers for a Canada-style deal

Theresa May has been warned by backbenchers that 40 MPs will rebel if she chucks Chequers for a Canada-style deal
REUTERS
Joe Murphy @JoeMurphyLondon27 September 2018
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Senior Conservatives today warned of a “substantial” Commons revolt if Cabinet ministers force the Prime Minister into a Brexit plan based on a Canada-style trade agreement.

Leading backbenchers believe around 40 Tory MPs would refuse to back an arrangement they said would torpedo exports and create a crisis over the Irish border.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said: “There are a substantial number of Conservative MPs who see a Canada-style deal as unacceptable. It leaves us without frictionless trade with our closest partners and with the Irish border unsolved. It threatens the break up of our country and serious economic damage.”

A member of the shadow cabinet has suggested that Labour may be prepared to “bend its red lines” if necessary to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

Barry Gardiner, shadow international trade secretary, told ITV’s Peston show compromise was in the national interest to prevent Britain going “off the edge of that cliff”. Senior Labour sources downplayed the remarks.

With Theresa May’s Brexit proposals being opposed by Brussels, several senior Cabinet ministers, including Sajid Javid, said they would prefer a free trade agreement like the one struck after a seven-year negotiation between the EU and Canada.

Former education secretary Nicky Morgan backed Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, who estimated that the number of Tory rebels might exceed 40. “The Canada free trade option does nothing to solve the Irish border issue and will cause significant harm to our economy,” said Ms Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee. “On that basis I think Amber is right.”

A Canada-style deal is also opposed by business groups because it would mean higher trade barriers than currently exist in the EU’s own bloc.

CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn recently said that “it would be the first free trade deal in history that actually increased barriers to trade”.

Under world trade laws, Britain and Ireland would be obliged to restore border checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which critics say would endanger the peace process and could strain relations.

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