Theresa May is finalising her Plan B for Brexit tonight as her Trade Secretary warned Remain MPs they cannot ‘hijack’ Parliament to ‘steal’ the 2016 referendum result.
The Prime Minister has spoken to her Cabinet by conference call as she prepares for a crucial day tomorrow when she must set out her next steps.
Because her Brexit deal was crushed by 230 votes on Tuesday Mrs May must now table a new motion in Parliament – and MPs can attempt to re-write the plans.
It means tomorrow’s move by the PM will set the stage for a new showdown in the Commons on January 29 when MPs will vote on a series of Brexit plans.
One possible that emerged today was a bilateral treaty with Ireland about keeping open the Irish border – intended to replace the backstop plan in the current divorce deal loathed by Brexiteers. Dublin has already said no.
Ahead of Mrs May’s statement to MPs tomorrow, it emerged several groups of Remain rebels want to use the votes to suspend the normal rules of Parliament and force through new laws to prevent a no deal Brexit.
The procedural manoeuvres prompted Liam Fox to warn the rebels against any attempt to ‘hijack the Brexit process’.
It was even claimed today the Prime Minister could offer to resign as soon as May to win over Brexiteers to her deal under ideas from her top aide Gavin Barwell.
Mrs May has not signed up to the timetable but amid revolt over her deal before Christmas did accept she would quit ahead of the 2022 election.
Trade Secretary Liam Fox (pictured today on the Marr show) warned Remain MPs they could no ‘steal Brexit from the people’ today amid plots for Parliament to seize control of negotiations
Theresa May (pictured with husband Philip attending church today) could offer to resign as soon as May to get Brexit deal through Parliament under plans being promoted by her chief of staff, it was claimed today
Dr Fox told the BBC’s Andrew Marr: ‘You’ve got a leave population and a remain Parliament, Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process because Parliament said to the people of this country we make a contract with you, you will make the decision and we will honour it.
‘What we are now getting is some of those who always absolutely opposed the result of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and in fact steal the result from the people.’
Dr Fox added: ‘It can’t have it back they (Parliament) said we cannot or will not make a decision on this, you the British people will make the decision.’
The Cabinet minister said the political consequences of going back on the referendum result would be ‘astronomical’.
Dr Fox hinted the Government could back the idea of a side deal with Ireland to resolve the backstop question that has deadlocked negotiations and is hated by Brexiteers.
He told Marr he was in favour of ‘a different mechanism’ to resolve the Irish border question and said he wanted to ‘explore ways’ to achieve that with the Irish government and EU.
Ireland has already rejected the idea, Sky News reported today.
Dr Fox admitted not all of the EU’s existing trade deals would be ready for exit day.
He said: ‘They’re not ready and signed but they’re well in train, actually there are 37 agreements, only 34 of which are in operation, and if you add Australia and New Zealand mutual recognition, you would get back to 36.
‘We signed the first of those on Friday, we sign another one next week and we hope to sign the Switzerland deal, which is the most important of all of those particular agreements, within the next few weeks.
‘These total agreements represent about 11.6% of our total trade, the bottom 21 of them represent about point eight of 1%, so there are a relatively small number.
‘The top five of those represent about three quarters of that total and we’re confident that we will be able to get those agreements over the line.’
A source told the Sunday Times, the idea of the Prime Minister offering to quit in May or June was being discussed by her team.
It would allow for an orderly Brexit and give time for a Tory leadership contest – but end hopes of Mrs May shaping a post-Brexit legacy.
The source said: ‘The response came back that while the chief herself had not thought about it, the team around her had.’
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab also warned against extending Article 50 today.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, said: ‘If there’s an attempt to reverse the referendum, stop Brexit altogether I think that would cut across not only the democratic mandate, the biggest in history we had.
‘I think also if you look at current public opinion and how it’s shifted by two to one as I said people want us to respect the referendum.’
Warning ‘we can’t let the EU bully us or call the shots’, Mr Raab went on to say that to break the deadlock with Brussels the negotiating team should be changed.
The idea has been proposed by Gavin Barwell (left with Michael Gove in Downing Street on Thursday), Mrs May’s top aide, and been discussed with at least two Cabinet ministers
He said: ‘For all the great work the civil servants have done, I think to close this deal it needs to be politically led and driven so taken into control of the politicians.’
On the attempts to get the EU to drop backstop demand – which Brexiteers say Mrs May has failed to do personally – Mr Raab added: ‘I raised it in July with Michel Barnier who accepted then that the backstop would have to be short.
‘Unfortunately I think after that we didn’t follow up and I argued very strongly that we should do.’
Earlier, Dr Fox wrote in the Sunday Telegraph today that those on the opposite side of the debate must not cancel Brexit.
He adopted Mrs May’s warning that last week’s devastating defeat of the deal must move on and the Rebels must ‘tell us what they do want’.
Dr Fox said: ‘Failure to deliver Brexit would produce a yawning gap between Parliament and people, a schism in our political system with unknowable consequences.
‘The reaction of the Question Time audience could become a political tsunami. It is time for MPs to deliver on the promises they made.
‘It is a matter of honour and a matter of duty.’
Amid the warnings, a senior Cabinet minister told the Sunday Express Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, justice secretary David Gauke and Business Secretary Greg Clark back a second referendum
The minister said: ‘They would do anything to stop Brexit.’
The minister added: ‘The fear is that Labour will pivot to supporting a second referendum.
The minister also accused Brexiteers of ‘overplaying their hand’ and warned that the likelihood is that Parliament and the Government will ‘go for something softer’.
The minister went on: ‘I think if there is a majority view in the Cabinet it is that we commit to a customs union of some sort and I suspect that is where we will end up.
‘The Cabinet in some ways reflects the party over not being clear which way to go except we don’t have any [Brexiteer] hardliners any more. Penny [Mordaunt] and Andrea [Leadsom] are much more pragmatic Brexiteers.
‘We have legislation which will have to go through and that can be amended to stop no deal and to have a second referendum.’
Labour MP Rupa Huq, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, said: ‘The Prime Minister can make the ultimate sacrifice if she wants but it won’t make her bad Brexit deal any better.
‘At the moment she is in office and not in power. But I do have to say the idea that her Chief of Staff is running round telling the cabinet, half of whom are openly plotting to take her job, that she has go is just awful. It looks like the ultimate betrayal.
‘This plotting shows why we need to go back to the people.’
Downing Street hit out at moves by rebel MPs to rewrite the Commons rule book in an attempt to derail Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
The two groups of MPs are said to be planning to table amendments to enable backbench MPs to take control of the business of the House to frustrate Theresa May’s Brexit plans.
Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab (pictured today on Sky News) warned against extending Article 50 process amid the current deadlock
One group led by Tory former minister Nick Boles and the senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper is attempting to block a no-deal Brexit – something Mrs May strongly opposes.
However The Sunday Times reported that a second group led by the former attorney general Dominic Grieve wants to go further and suspend the Article 50 withdrawal process.
Downing Street described the moves as ‘extremely concerning’ and said they underlined the need for MPs who supported Brexit to vote for it in the House.
‘The British public voted to leave the European Union and it is vital that elected politicians deliver upon that verdict,’ a No 10 spokeswoman said.
‘Any attempt to remove the Government’s power to meet the legal conditions of an orderly exit at this moment of historic significance is extremely concerning.
‘This news should serve as a reminder to those MPs who want to deliver Brexit that they need to vote for it – otherwise there is a danger that Parliament could stop Brexit.’