Business Secretary Greg Clark warns against last-minute Brexit deal

Business Secretary Greg Clark warned against doing a Brexit deal at the last minute
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Cabinet minister Greg Clark today warned against delaying a Brexit deal to the last minute — as it emerged that Theresa May is postponing the next big Commons vote.

The Business Secretary told a Commons committee that the Government needed to reach a deal “over the next few days, or small number of weeks” to protect vital trade. “For those that say we can play this to the wire, we can leave it to March 28, I say ‘No’, we’ve got to resolve it,” said Mr Clark.

However, the Prime Minister is now expected by senior Tories to postpone the next Commons showdown over Brexit to February 20 or 25 in an attempt to bounce MPs into 11th-hour compromises.

Her high-wire manoeuvre was revealed as Brexiteers threatened to inflict “a further crushing defeat” and accused her of reneging on a pledge to “replace” the Irish border backstop.

Mrs May was seeing five party leaders in Northern Ireland for talks this morning, ending in a sit-down with DUP leader Arlene Foster.

Theresa May was seeing five party leaders in Northern Ireland for talks this morning, ending in a sit-down with DUP leader Arlene Foster
PA

Hopes have grown in Whitehall that European Union leaders may agree to a time-limit or exit clause being added to the backstop. But ministers are doubtful they can get agreement for the Malthouse Compromise, the potential alternative to the backstop that Brexiteers have adopted.

A minister told the Standard: “The deadline is being pushed backwards and the next meaningful vote is very unlikely to be next week, but will likely be the week after or a week after that.”

Ministers believe the PM’s strategy is to secure a time-limit on the backstop and persuade Ms Foster to give the DUP’s backing, then attempt to peel off members of the European Research Group of purist Brexiteers, headed by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

MPs are due to vote again on cross-party amendments next week, but some who backed Yvette Cooper’s attempt to outlaw a no-deal exit say they will stand more chance at the end of February, when ministers may be ready to resign. “Everything is shifting back towards the end of the month,” said a former minister. “But colleagues will only delay if they believe May has a chance of getting her deal through.”

The ERG turned up the pressure on Mrs May this morning. Responding to reports that Mrs May was seeking a legally binding time limit to the backstop rather than negotiating a new one, Tory MP Simon Clarke warned: “This would be a serious error of judgment if true. The whole Brady amendment rested upon replacing the backstop with alternative arrangements.”

Nadine Dorries tweeted: “A legally binding limit won’t pass in Parliament. The Prime Minister would suffer a further crushing defeat. It’s open the Withdrawal Agreement, remove the backstop, or No Deal.”

But senior Brexiteer Sir Bernard Jenkin suggested that Mrs May could get away with “very substantially altering” the backstop. Sir Bernard said on Talk Radio: “I don’t suppose this is going to be settled by the time we have another meaningful vote next week, but so long as the PM can report substantive progress towards replacing the backstop or very substantially altering it, then I think we will be in the game.”

MPs backing the Malthouse Compromise, which would seek to replace the backstop with a technological solution and extend the transition period until December 2021, insisted that Mrs May’s comments had not killed off their proposals. One said: “She will often stick to the same line until something else is firmly on the table.”

Another said it was “extremely unlikely” that a codicil attached to the Withdrawal Agreement and with a time limit to the backstop or unilateral exit mechanism from it would command a majority in the Commons.

They are concerned about Mrs May proposing a “menu” of options to Brussels to resolve the backstop deadlock as they suspect the EU may opt for a minor change which would then be rejected by Parliament.

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