Theresa May told 'rule out no-deal Brexit in two weeks or face rebellion'

Brexit pressures: Theresa May
REUTERS
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Theresa May was handed a public ultimatum today by one of her ministers to let MPs rule out a no-deal Brexit within two weeks — or face a rebellion.

Business minister Richard Harrington indicated he was ready to break a three-line whip if the Prime Minister failed to give such an “irrevocable undertaking” today in the House of Commons.

Speaking on BBC radio ahead of tonight’s critical votes on Brexit, the minister indicated he was ready to lose his job, and said: “If she is prepared to give that irrevocable undertaking — which means at the despatch box or a similar instrument — many of us feel ‘Well, OK, for the sake of everything, we will give her two weeks’. But that is it.”

Downing Street gave no indication of whether or not Mr Harrington would be disciplined for his candid remarks, leaving an impression that Mrs May was being buffeted by factions in her divided party.

In other key developments:

  • International Trade Secretary Liam Fox claimed that Mrs May is ready to demand that the European Union reopens the withdrawal agreement to change the Irish border backstop, designed to prevent a hard border in Ireland. His words went further than No 10 has been willing to go.
  • Ireland pre-empted Mrs May’s efforts to get a mandate in the Commons for a renegotiation by calling for “realism” and saying: “There can be no change to the backstop.”
  • An eleventh hour Plan C unveiled by a surprising alliance between Brexiteers headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg and leading former Remain campaigner Nicky Morgan drew mockery in Brussels and was branded a “fantasy” at Westminster. But the DUP said they may back it.
  •  Mrs May’s Northern Irish DUP allies called for her to give a clearer commitment to neutralise the backstop in the Commons today as the price of their support. They oppose the backstop that would keep Northern Ireland aligned to some EU single market rules so the border with Ireland could stay open. 
  • Fears of no-deal chaos grew amid reports of 1,000 defence workers being redeployed to deal with potential turmoil and that travel insurance would be rendered invalid for thousands of families.

Pressure on Mrs May intensified ahead of tonight’s votes on Brexit where the Government faced a serious risk of being defeated by cross-party groups dedicated to preventing Britain crashing out of the EU on March 29.

Mr Harrington told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that crashing out of the EU would be an “absolute catastrophe” for jobs and the economy and was a “sword” aimed at businesses.

“Many of us have been to see the Prime Minister and have told her the absolute catastrophe and disaster for jobs and the economy that no deal would be,” he said.

Richard Harrington
Daily Mail

“What she has asked us is that we give her another two weeks. The question is in two weeks’ time will there be an irrevocable undertaking that her deal will be brought back, amendable by exactly the kind of amendments there are today, to rule out no Brexit, or, if a deal is not brought back, there is the same platform?”

Asked if he would resign, he added: “If I had to, if I had to break a Government whip, then presumably the Government would say ‘Well, we don’t want you to be business minister.’”

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Mrs May had hoped that Conservatives would rally behind an amendment put down by Sir Graham Brady, which backs her deal providing the backstop is removed or neutralised.

However, hardline Brexiteers said they would oppose it, with former Cabinet minister John Redwood calling it “vague”.

Mr Fox used a round of interviews to bolster support for Mrs May’s plan by signalling she would seek to reopen the wording of the agreement — which the EU regards as set in stone — if given a “strong mandate” by MPs. “I think we should send the Prime Minister back to Brussels with a strong mandate to be able to say, ‘If you compromise with us on this one issue, on the backstop, we would be able to a get an agreement’ — an agreement that is almost there,” he told Today.

But Ireland’s European affairs minister Helen McEntee called for “realism” from the UK, insisting: “There can be no change to the backstop. It was negotiated over 18 months with the UK and by the UK. A bit of realism is needed at this stage.”

Ex-minister Nick Boles, who is leading moves to stop no deal, said a hard Brexit was now a “dead horse”. He said: “The only deal that could provide a sustainable majority is a soft Brexit compromise that draws on broad cross-party support.”

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