Chancellor Philip Hammond will today tell Theresa May’s split cabinet that unless her Brexit deal is softened they must admit Parliament has failed and agree to a second referendum.
The Prime Minister has called a five-hour ‘mother of all cabinet meetings’ starting this morning where ministers will be shown gloomy polling data and Mr Hammond will urge them to ‘compromise’ because ‘party and country cannot afford an election’.
It came as MPs voted down all alternative Brexit options in a second round of votes last night.
Mrs May faces a possible Cabinet walkout with 15 ministers including Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt, Liz Truss and Michael Gove now calling on her to push for No Deal if she cannot get her own deal through Parliament.
But ten other ministers including Mr Hammond, Amber Rudd and Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington are demanding she agrees to add a customs union to her EU divorce if MPs won’t back it.
With the Tories in danger of splitting apart the Chancellor will suggest they put their Brexit deal ‘back to the people in a referendum’, according to The Times, and last night his aide Huw Merriman told Newsnight: ‘We can either carry on going until we’re here for the next 10 years or we can face the realistic position and say we can’t deliver, Parliament has failed and therefore we’ll ask the people to push it over the line.’
Mr Hammond has been blasted by Brexiteers with ERG member Mark Francois accusing him of being ‘utterly in cahoots’ with remainer cabinet members ‘to stop us leaving the European Union’.
He said: ‘If you’re listening, Mr Hammond, my fraternal message to you is: “Up yours!”
MPs have again voted down all alternative Brexit options put to it in a second of votes aimed at finding a replacement for Theresa May’s (pictured returning to Parliament last night) Brexit deal – and Philip Hammond (pictured last night) will call on the cabinet to compromise and consider a second referendum on her deal
MPs rejected all four options for Brexit. Analysis by the Institute for Government shows almost no Tories backed Nick Boles plan – prompting his resignation – while Labour abstentions doomed a second referendum. Labour and SNP abstentions could have got a customs union over the line
A highly-placed source described today’s No 10 gathering as ‘the mother of all Cabinet meetings’, adding: ‘They have got some very, very big decisions to take.’
Former Tory leader William Hague last night warned the chances of a general election were ‘rising strongly’.
Lord Hague told ITV that either a No Deal exit or a lengthy delay were ‘likely to bring about the collapse of the cabinet, of the Conservative government, even of Conservative members voting against their government on a motion of no confidence, so you can quite easily, more easily than people think, get to a general election.’
But he said the Tories are now in a ‘much worse’ state than before Tony Blair’s 1997 Labour landslide and it risks becoming ‘a ruin’ if Mrs May demands a snap poll.
MPs deepened the political crisis last night by again rejecting every Brexit option.
With just 11 days until the UK is due to leave the EU, the Commons failed to find a majority for any of the alternatives to the Prime Minister’s withdrawal plan.
MPs rejected staying in the customs union or the single market, as well as holding a second referendum or cancelling Brexit altogether.
Theresa May will this morning gather her ministers for a crunch five-hour Cabinet meeting. Brexiteer ministers have threatened to quit if she moves toward a soft Brexit. Others say they will resign if she pursues No Deal.
Last night’s deadlock, which saw former Tory minister Nick Boles cross the floor of the House, could breathe life into Mrs May’s plan after three defeats. The prospect of a general election or a No Deal departure also rose.
The Commons rejected a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit, second referendum and cancelling Brexit – less than a week after eight plans were rejected in the first round. All the plans got fewer Aye votes than Mrs May’s deal received on its third drubbing on Friday.
The customs union plan proposed by Ken Clarke was closest to victory – losing by just three votes 276 to 273. A second referendum got the most votes overall for a second week, with 280 votes to 292 against. A Norway-style soft Brexit was defeated 282 to 261 – having won just 33 Tory votes.
The Mail yesterday saw leaked extracts of a bombshell letter from Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill warning ministers how disastrous No Deal could be. It warned the Cabinet that No Deal would make Britain ‘less safe’, lead to a recession, a hike in food prices and even risk the break-up of the kingdom.
After last night’s dramatic votes, Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay called on MPs to back the Prime Minister’s plan, holding out the prospect that Britain could still avoid taking part in European elections in May.
He told MPs: ‘The result of the House’s decision not to approve the withdrawal agreement is that the default legal position is that the UK will leave the EU in just 11 days’ time.
‘This House has rejected leaving without a deal just as it has rejected not leaving at all. Therefore the only option is to find a way through that allows us to leave with a deal.’
Immediately afterward, Mr Boles, who had put forward plans for a soft Brexit compromise, dramatically quit the Tories in the Commons chamber.
Appearing almost to be in tears, he said: ‘I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and political cohesion. I accept I have failed, I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce that I can no longer sit for this party.’
All four options put to MPs were last night rejected.
The Common Market 2.0 proposal, put forward by Mr Boles, was defeated by 21 votes. It proposed remaining in the single market and a customs union, which would have meant continued freedom of movement and payments to the EU.
A plan to stay in the custom union put forward by Tory former Cabinet minister Ken Clarke was narrowly defeated by three votes.
Labour backbenchers Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson’s demand for a referendum on any deal passed by Parliament lost by 12 votes. SNP MP Joanna Cherry’s call for Brexit to be cancelled if the UK appeared to be on course to crash out of the EU without a deal missed out by 101 votes. Mrs May’s plan had won the support of 286 MPs on Friday, losing by 58 votes.
Tory MP Nick Boles sensationally resigned from his party and crossed the floor after the votes were announced – blaming the Conservatives refusal to compromise for the failure to find a way forward
Theresa May looks on while Jeremy Corbyn speaks from the opposition benches following the indicative votes last night
Semi-naked climate change protesters interrupted the Commons debate on Brexit alternatives as they stripped off in the public gallery
MPs voted on pale blue ballot papers containing four different motions for alternative Brexit plans. Craig Mackinlay revealed he voted for none of them
Speaker John Bercow announced the customs union plan proposed by Ken Clarke was closest to victory – losing by just three votes 276 to 273. A second referendum got the most votes overall for a second week, with 280 votes to 292 against.
Jeremy Corbyn instructed his MPs to back Common Market 2.0. However, at the last election, the Labour manifesto promised ‘freedom of movement will end when we leave the European Union’.
Labour also backed the customs union and second referendum options.
Conservative MPs were given a free vote, but Cabinet ministers were told to abstain. Commons Speaker John Bercow faced a backlash after he picked four options that either watered down or cancelled Brexit.
Tory former minister Greg Hands questioned why options defeated in the first round of indicative votes last week could be brought back to the House repeatedly.
Mr Bercow defended his selection as the ‘right and prudent course’.
MPs will take control of the Commons order paper again tomorrow, so they could attempt for a third time to find a majority for an alternative to Mrs May’s deal.
Mr Corbyn said that MPs should be able to consider the options again so the House ‘can succeed where the Prime Minister has failed’.
Thirty-seven Tory MPs backed staying in a customs union including eight ministers: Robert Buckland, Sir Alan Duncan, Tobias Ellwood, Mark Field, Stephen Hammond, Margot James and Anne Milton.
Guy Verhofstadt, who is the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said: ‘A hard Brexit becomes nearly inevitable. On Wednesday, the UK has a last chance to break the deadlock or face the abyss.’
Mrs May has summoned her ministers to an epic Cabinet today – fuelling speculation she is getting ready for the ‘nuclear’ option of an election despite her deep unpopularity in her own party.
Instead of the usual 90-minute discussion, Tory ministers will spend three hours locked in talks without officials from 9am – meaning they can discuss party politics and how to tackle the Brexit endgame in light of the results.
There will then be a normal two-hour Cabinet where the Government can take decisions on the fate of the nation.
A Tory MP sensationally quit the party after last night’s votes, blaming its hard line on Brexit.
His voice cracking with emotion, Nick Boles said he could no longer remain a Conservative because of the party’s refusal to give any ground.
Announcing his shock resignation, Mr Boles said: ‘I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and our political cohesion.
‘I accept I have failed. I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce I can no longer sit for this party.’
Tory MP Huw Merriman could be heard saying: ‘Oh Nick, don’t go, come on.’
Most Tory MPs had a free vote on the alternatives to Mrs May’s deal, with 25 or more junior ministers predicted to be ready to back a softer Brexit.
Just 37 Tory MPs split from the party line to back a customs union and 33 of them backed Mr Boles. There were 15 Tory votes for a second referendum.
Cabinet ministers were told to abstain amid deep splits that may see mass resignations whichever way Mrs May chooses to respond to the chaos.
After the votes, Mr Barclay said: ‘This house has continuously rejected leaving without a deal just as it has rejected not leaving at all.
‘Therefore the only option is to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal.
‘The Government continues to believe that the best course of action is to do so as soon as possible.
‘If the House is able to pass a deal this week it may still be possible to avoid holding European Elections.
‘Mr Speaker, Cabinet will meet in the morning to consider the results and how we should proceed.’
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock, tweeted: ‘Now, please, can we all just vote for the deal and deliver Brexit’ after MPs rejected all four Brexit alternatives tabled for the second round of the indicative vote process.’
Former Middle East minister Alistair Burt – who quit to push for a soft Brexit – said he believed the Prime Minister would not allow a no deal to take place.
He said: ‘The Prime Minister has made it very clear on a number of occasions she is very concerned about a no deal.
‘She’s said that for no deal to happen we would have to have express consent in the House of Commons.
‘I hope we don’t have a general election because I don’t see what a general election would do to resolve the situation, it leaves the decisions that still have to be made until after the election.’
But former Brexit minister and European Research Group deputy chairman Steve Baker said Theresa May must go back to Brussels and renegotiate the deal – something the EU has repeatedly refused to do.
He told BBC’s Newsnight: ‘When the Cabinet meet they have got some very hard choices to make.
‘They face the choice between no deal and no Brexit unless they can go to this forthcoming European Council and table the legal text with the kind of changes which I and others have been setting out.’
She also warned the PM against lurching towards a customs union deal because ‘it’s not clear that going softer is the way to command support’ – but ruled out quitting.
Labour is to support the Common Market 2.0 option for Brexit (participation in the single market and a ‘comprehensive customs arrangement’ with the EU including a ‘UK say’ on future EU trade deals) in Monday’s indicative votes in the House of Commons, as well as other options which the party backed last week: a customs union and a second referendum on any deal.
The Common Market 2.0 plan would not end freedom of movement from the EU.
Mrs May’s deal has now fallen three times in the Commons, with dozens of Tory MPs among those who voted against it on each occasion.
Today Conservative backbencher Richard Drax apologised for backing her EU divorce on Friday.
The South Dorset MP said he should have trusted his instincts ‘and those of the British people’ when he voted on the withdrawal agreement on Friday.
Addressing the House of Commons, Mr Drax said: ‘I made the wrong call on Friday’.
He added: ‘If the Prime Minister cannot commit to taking us out of the EU on April 12, she must resign immediately.
‘This is no longer about leave or remain. That was decided in 2016. This is about the future of our great country.’
DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson also claimed his party will reject her deal even if it was brought back to the Commons ‘a thousand times’.
He said: ‘As far as the Withdrawal Agreement is concerned and the motion before us is concerned, our position has not changed.
‘We have sought to, over the last number of weeks, work with the Government to try and find a way of either getting legal assurances or legislative changes which would enable us to move this process on – we want to see a deal because we want out of the European Union, and we want to have a clear path as to how we do that.