Theresa May Considers Next Step To Break Brexit Deadlock
The prime minister is continuing to consider her next move to break the Brexit deadlock following the latest defeat of her withdrawal plan.
Senior government sources say the “ambition” is still to get Theresa May’s deal through the Commons.
But MPs will again vote on alternatives on Monday, with a customs union with the EU thought to be MPs’ most likely preferred option.
Some senior Brexiteers have warned Mrs May against pursuing such a move.
The prime minister has until 12 April to seek a longer extension to avoid the UK leaving without a deal.
Mrs May said the UK would need “an alternative way forward” after her plan was defeated by 58 votes on Friday, following earlier defeats by 230 and 149 votes.
The government has so far failed to win over 34 Conservative rebels, including both Remainers and Brexiteers who say Mrs May’s deal still leaves the UK too closely aligned to Europe.
Northern Ireland’s DUP – which the government relies on for support in votes in the House of Commons – also continues to oppose the deal.
But a No 10 source indicated the prime minister would continue to seek support for her Brexit deal in the Commons and insisted efforts were “going in the right direction”.
BBC political correspondent Alex Forsyth described the cabinet as “deeply divided” over what steps to take next.
Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker, who resigned as a Brexit minister over the PM’s handling of negotiations, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that Mrs May’s deal “cannot be allowed to go through at any cost”.
He also said the Conservative Party could split if the prime minister pursued a customs union with the EU as “it would amount to a reversal of the referendum result”.
This is one of the options which could be considered by MPs from all parties during a second round of “indicative votes” on Monday.
The customs union allows businesses to move goods around the EU without checks or charges. Continued membership would bar the UK from striking independent trade deals after Brexit.
None of MPs’ eight proposed Brexit options secured a majority in the first set of indicative votes on 27 March, but those which received the most votes were a customs union with the EU and a referendum on any deal.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party would propose a deal that involved a customs union with the EU – to protect the issue of avoiding a hard border in Northern Ireland.
Leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Sunday Telegraph that the party needs to be led by “someone who has always supported Brexit”.
He wrote: “Now is the opportunity for the Tories to move from the current government’s position of ameliorating a bad idea that, at its highest level, it never believed in, to one that embraces it.”
Meanwhile, a number of senior MPs tipped as future Tory leaders have articles and interviews in the Sunday papers setting out their party policy aims.
Dominic Raab, who quit the cabinet in protest at Mrs May’s handling of Brexit, has laid out how he would go about dealing with knife crime in the Sunday Telegraph.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, has called for the Tories to “modernise” in a wide-ranging interview in the Sunday Times.
She also picked out cutting stamp duty for young home buyers and taxes for businesses as key policies.
Former cabinet minister Justine Greening said she “might” run for the Tory leadership.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Remain campaigner said the party needed a leader for the “2020s, not the 1920s” that is able to “connect with people”.
What happens next?
- Monday, 1 April: MPs hold another set of votes on various Brexit options to see if they can agree on a way forward
- Wednesday, 3 April: Potentially another round of so-called “indicative votes”
- Wednesday, 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
- Friday, 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek/EU does not grant further delay
- 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections
If Mrs May wants to hold another vote on her Brexit deal in Parliament, it has to comply with Commons Speaker John Bercow’s ruling that it can only be brought back with “substantial” changes.
This is why the government separated the withdrawal agreement from the political declaration – on the future relationship with the EU – for Friday’s vote.
The withdrawal agreement is the part of the Brexit deal Mrs May struck with Brussels which sets out how much money the UK must pay to the EU as a settlement, details of the transition period, and the Irish backstop arrangements.
Following Friday’s vote, Mrs May said there would be “grave” implications of rejecting the deal and warned they were “reaching the limits of this process in this House”.
Her comments led some to speculate the PM could try to call a general election.
However, Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan told The Observer: “If we have a general election before Brexit is resolved, it will only make things worse.”
Under the terms of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, the prime minister needs a two-thirds majority in order to call an election.
