Theresa May tonight promised her MPs she will quit Downing Street if they pass her Brexit deal so a new Prime Minister can take charge of UK-EU trade negotiations.
On a dramatic night in Westminster, Mrs May made her final gamble to try and get the Brexit deal across the line by promising to leave No 10 if Tory Brexiteer rebels finally back down.
She needs to win 75 extra votes to win a third vote on her deal. Brexiteer rebels have insisted she must be gone before UK-EU trade negotiations begin if they will ever consider backing the deal.
And a packed meeting of the 1922 Committee tonight Mrs May finally gave in and told her party: ‘I know some people are worried that if you vote for the Withdrawal Agreement, I will take that as a mandate to rush on into phase two without the debate we need to have. I won’t – I hear what you are saying.
‘But we need to get the deal through and deliver Brexit.’
She added: ‘I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party.
‘I ask everyone in this room to back the deal so we can complete our historic duty – to deliver on the decision of the British people and leave the European Union with a smooth and orderly exit.’
The Prime Minister set no date for her departure. The trade talks phase of Brexit is expected to begin in the autumn – suggesting the she plans to be gone before the Conservative Party conference in late September.
Mrs May admitted the departure was ‘earlier’ than she had planned but accepted it was necessary to ‘secure a smooth and orderly Brexit’.
The PM said she understood the anger of her MPs and her voice ‘cracked’ during her speech, MP Pauline Latham told reporters outside the meeting.
Moderate Simon Hart said the PM had made a ‘passionate’ speech as if she had ‘torn up the script’
He said: ‘She was clear that providing the Withdrawal Agreement is passed she would start a process of an orderly handover (of power).’
Mr Hart said the mood had been ‘somber’ as the PM announced she would leave.
Ministers were barred from entering committee room 14 before the PM’s arrival because the room was too full. Those inside greeted her with ‘muted’ banging of the desks as she entered.
In a fresh twist, John Bercow this afternoon threatened new Brexit chaos by throwing doubts over Mrs May’s efforts to get her deal through the Commons by Friday.
The Speaker warned the government today that her deal must have changed from the last time she brought it forward for a vote – and she cannot use a procedural device known as a ‘paving motion’ to get around him.
Bercow has already been accused of having Remainer sympathies and trying to thwart Britain leaving the EU.
The Prime Minister faced the Commons today as she hinted that she could try for a third vote on her deal either tomorrow or on Friday and didn’t knock back claims she could soon announce her departure – but John Bercow has warned she must convince him to force a third and final showdown on her Brexit deal
May’s government insists that a new Brexit date agreed with the EU and clarifications to the backstop announced at a summit in Brussels amount to a ‘significant change’.
The Speaker alone will decide if the change is sufficient and is expected to announce the night before if he will block a third vote.
It comes after Mrs May faced down MPs in the Commons today and hinted she could hold a third vote on her deal as early as tomorrow. The Government is preparing to ask Parliament to sit on Friday in case they call the vote then.
The Prime Minister has been told by top Brexiteers including Boris Johnson that for them to support her deal she will need to promise Tory MPs she will quit before the second stage of EU talks begin later this year.
And at PMQs she gave a spirited performance but refused to rule out stepping down when challenged – ahead of a meeting with her MPs at 5pm this afternoon.
If her deal gets the support of a majority of MPs before the end of this week Britain will leave the EU on May 22, if it does not the country faces weeks of chaos as rebel Remainers try to force a soft Brexit in votes starting tonight.
And in a sign the deal could be voted on again tomorrow or Friday, Mrs May told MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions today that they could deliver on Brexit ‘if this week this House supports the deal’.
Today senior Brexiteer Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom did little to quell the rumours of Mrs May’s demise after her Brexit deal passes and said: ‘I am fully supporting the Prime Minister to get us out of the EU. What happens after that is a matter for the Prime Minister. I’m not going to express a view.’
And as more rebel Brexiteer Tories indicated this morning that they will climb down and back May, Leave campaign architect Dominic Cummings attacked ‘narcissist delusional’ ERG members stopping the PM getting the votes she needs.
In an extraordinary blogpost he said during the 2016 referendum campaign ‘so many of you guys were too busy shooting or skiing or chasing girls to do any actual work’. He added: ‘You should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised’.
However the rebel climbdown could all come to nothing because the DUP, who May also needs to support her deal, show no signs of coming onboard.
Jacob Rees-Mogg today urged other hardline Eurosceptics to back Mrs May or face losing Brexit with 20 or more hardcore Brexiteers including Boris Johnson ready to swing behind her if she agrees to quit tonight.
Backbencher Robert Courts, a member of the ERG’s Star Chamber, is the latest to cave with sources claiming the trickle of U-turns could become ‘a flood’.
He said: ‘I will reluctantly back the PM’s deal. The hard reality is that this deal, for all its faults, is now the only available route out of the EU and to deliver on our promises. With renewed focus the ultimate prize is still achievable in future relationship talks’.
Mr Rees-Mogg admits that his change of heart will prompt accusations of treachery from some of his followers but told them: ‘Half a loaf is better than no bread’.
Chief whip Julian Smith reportedly believes that Mrs May announcing her departure will lead to 20 or more rebels could be ready to switch sides while former minister Iain Duncan Smith is said to be hoping to broker the resignation deal and said last night: ‘There is a pretty good chance the deal is going to get through’.
Mrs May failed to dampen speculation in the Commons when SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: ‘It is becoming increasingly clear that the cost the Prime Minister will pay to force her disastrous deal through is the price of her departure’.
Mrs May didn’t rule it out and said: ‘It is my sense of responsibility and duty that has meant I have kept working to ensure Brexit is delivered.’
What PM needs to edge to victory… by just 2 votes. There are 235 Tory loyalists, 10 switchers, 30 who with back the deal if May quits, 10 DUP supporters and 24 Labour
These are the seven options for Brexit MPs could vote on this week if Mrs May is forced towards a softer Brexit
Tonight MPs will try to grab the levers of power and push Britain towards a softer Brexit by voting on alternatives to Theresa May’s deal and today the rebellion’s architect Sir Oliver Letwin said the Commons will change the law to force the PM to implement their views.
In order to avoid up to 20 resignations in her cabinet Mrs May there will be free votes for Tory MPs with the Cabinet abstaining.
Labour has revealed that it will whip its MPs to back a second referendum, customs union and ‘encourage’ them to back a common market 2.0 – but oppose other options including revoking Article 50.
This will upset the many Labour MPs and supporters have backed the stop Brexit petition now signed by 6million people.
Former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell said today: ‘Oliver Letwin has played a blinder. My friends and colleagues in the ERG can see the instruments of torture laid out in front of them. Oliver has shown them what will happen if they don’t come on side. Finally Mrs May has most of us on side on her deal, and with a following wind she will get her deal this week or early next week’.
Mrs May will address a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee tonight and is expected to be asked to announce her departure date by disgruntled MPs.
But she is yet to convince the DUP to back her deal – and without their 10 MPs her deal has little-or-no chance of passing because of the 25-plus Labour rebels she would need to bail her out.
Asked how talks are going with the DUP, Mrs Leadom said: ‘We are working very hard’.
Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski tweeted: ‘Have urged some friends in DUP to abstain over Withdrawal Agreement if they cannot support it. That way we could still just about get it across finishing line. We must prevent Remainer Parliament from destroying #Brexit.’
Mr Rees-Mogg’s intervention came as the number of Eurosceptics reluctantly backing Mrs May threatened to turn from a trickle into a flood.
Writing in the Daily Mail, he says fellow Leavers have to face the ‘awkward reality’ that Remainers will thwart the 2016 referendum result unless the EU withdrawal agreement is passed.
But he says the Prime Minister’s plan is now the only way to ensure Britain leaves the EU and wrote: ‘I apologise for changing my mind. By doing so I will be accused of infirmity of purpose by some and treachery by others. I have come to this view because the numbers in Parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse and an awkward reality needs to be faced.’
Who could replace Theresa May?
Here are the top runners and riders to replace the Prime Minister, their odds with Ladbrokes and how they voted in the 2016 referendum:
Michael Gove 4/1
Michael Gove’s odds have shortened in recent days
- Leading Vote Leave figure in 2016 who now backs PM’s Brexit deal
- Former journalist, 51, who stood for leadership in 2016
- Was sacked as education minister by Theresa May
- Later returned as Environment Minister
A Brexiteer with a machiavellian reputation after the 2016 leadership campaign in which he first supported Boris Johnson for the leadership and then stood against him, to their mutual disadvantage.
The former education secretary – sacked by Mrs May – was rehabilitated to become a right-on environment secretary – complete with reusable coffee cups and a strong line on food standards after Brexit.
Despite being a former lead figure in the Vote Leave campaign alongside Mr Johnson the former journalist and MP for Surrey Heath has swung behind Mrs May’s Brexit deal.
At the weekend he denied being involved in a coup seeking to make him a caretaker PM.
Seen as one of the Cabinet’s strongest political thinkers and having stood once it is unthinkable that he would not stand again.
Boris Johnson 4/1
Boris Johnson is very popular with the Tory grassroots
- Former foreign secretary and mayor of London
- Voted leave and has become an increasingly hardline Brexiteer
- As likely to make headlines over his private life
- Has recently lost a lot of weight and smartened up his appearance
The former foreign secretary who quit last July and has been tacitly campaigning for the leadership ever since returning to the backbenches with a regular stream of attacks on Mrs may and her Brexit strategy.
Never far from the limelight it is his private life that has seen him most in the news recently after splitting from his wife Marina and embarking on a relationship with a former Conservative communications staffer 20 years his junior.
A hawkish Brexiteer hugely popular with the party faithful, in recently weeks he has further boosted his frontrunner credentials with what might be deemed a ‘prime ministerial’ makeover.
He has lost weight and taming his unruly mop of blonde hair into something approaching the haircut of a serious senior statesman.
Jeremy Hunt 8/1
Jeremy Hunt backed Remain in 2016 but has undergone a conversion to the Brexit cause
- The Foreign Secretary voted Remain
- But has become an increasingly vocal Brexiteer
- Backs May’s deal
- Has approached ministers about running as a unity candidate
The Foreign Secretary who has undergone a Damascene conversion to the Brexit cause in with a series of hardline warnings to the EU.
The 52-year-old South West Surrey MP is the most senior Cabinet minister in contention.
He has reportedly been selling himself to colleagues as a unity candidate who can bring together the fractious Tory factions into something approaching a cohesive party.
A long-serving health secretary, he replaced Mr Johnson as the UK’s top diplomat and has won some plaudits over issues like the imprisonment of British mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran.
But critics point to tub-thumpingly comparing the EU to the USSR at the party conference last year – which was very badly received in Brussels – and a gaffe in which he referred to his Chinese wife as ‘Japanese’ as a reception in China.
Dominic Raab 10/1
The former Brexit Secretary is now a Theresa May critic
- Shortlived Brexit secretary last year, replacing David Davis in the hot seat
- But walked in November over terms agreed by PM
- Voted for Brexit in 2016
Mr Raab, 45, is another Vote Leave member who became Brexit secretary after David Davis quit alongside Mr Johnson last July over the Chequers plan.
But he lasted just a matter of months before he too jumped ship, saying he could not accept the terms of the deal done by the Prime Minister.
Like Mr Johnson and Mr Davis he has become an increasingly hardline Brexiteer, sharing a platform with the DUP’s Arlene Foster and suggesting we should not be afraid of a no-deal Brexit.
The Esher and Walton MP’s decision to quit in November, boosted his popularity with party members but he lacks the wider popular appeal of Mr Johnson.
And like Mr Johnson he might benefit from having quit the Cabinet at an earlier stage and dissociating himself with the dying days of the May administration.
Sajid Javid 12/1
Sajid Javid has kept a relatively low profile throughout the Brexit chaos
- The most senior cabinet contender
- Voted Remain but wants to see Brexit delivered
- Faced criticism as Home Secretary
- But has taken a hard line on Shamima Begum case
The Home Secretary, a Remainer who wants to see Brexit delivered, was the leading candidate from inside the Cabinet to replace Mrs May.
After replacing Amber Rudd last year he consciously put clear ground between himself and the Prime Minister on issues like caps on skilled migrants after Brexit.
But his credentials have taken a hit in recent weeks. He finds himself facing ongoing criticism of his handling of the knife crime crisis affecting UK cities, which sparked a cabinet row over funding for police.
He also lost face over his handling of the influx of migrants crossing the English Channel in January, being seen to move slowly in realising the scale of the problem.
But more recently the 49-year-old Bromsgove MP has made a serious of hardline decision designed to go down well with Tory voters.
Most notably they have included moving to deprive London teenager turned Jihadi bride Shamima Begum, 19, of her British citizenship.
Mark Francois, deputy chairman of the Tory European Research group, has said he expects the DUP will vote against Theresa May’s deal, in which case Jacob Rees-Mogg and most of the ERG would kill her deal.
‘My understanding is the DUP have made very clear they are not going to vote for the Prime Minister’s deal,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s the World at One.
‘Jacob Rees-Mogg, my boss as chairman of the ERG, has always said consistently he will not vote contrary to the DUP.
‘So, if the DUP hold good to their word, and they’re honourable people in my experience, they will vote against the deal. Therefore, so will Jacob and, I believe, so will the bulk of the ERG.
‘The Government want to bring MV3 (meaningful vote three) back tomorrow. They are desperately trying to peel people away in order to facilitate it. At the moment, it’s not working.’
Seven Conservative MPs who voted against her plan earlier this month yesterday said they were changing their minds.
And last night Boris Johnson gave the strongest hint yet that he could also fall into line, saying: ‘If we vote it down again there is an appreciable and growing sense we will not leave at all. That is the risk.’
Former Tory leader and Eurosceptic Iain Duncan Smith said last night there was now a good chance of Mrs May winning the ‘meaningful’ vote.
The official Leave campaign director has today threatened to set up a new group as he said some Conservative Brexiteers should be treated like a ‘metastasising tumour’.
Dominic Cummings criticised a ‘narcissist-delusional subset’ of the influential European Research Group (ERG) that he said needed to be ‘excised’.
With Brexit delayed, he issued a threat to MPs who promised ‘to respect the referendum result then abandoning’ the pledge that ‘actions have consequences’.
The Vote Leave director called on activists to start ‘rebuilding our network’ before suggesting a new campaign or party could be formed.
Mr Cummings’ blog post on Wednesday was in response to him being found to be in contempt of Parliament after he failed to appear before MPs investigating fake news.
He accused the subset of the ERG of ‘scrambling’ for top radio spots while ‘spouting gibberish’.
During the EU referendum, he claimed, ‘so many of you guys were too busy shooting or skiing or chasing girls to do any actual work’.
‘You should be treated like a metastasising tumour and excised from the UK body politic,’ he added.
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said the Government hopes to be able to bring Theresa May’s Brexit deal back to the Commons this week.
Mrs Leadsom told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think that there is a real possibility that it does. We are completely determined to make sure that we can get enough support to bring it back.’
She added: ‘The Prime Minister said she is working hard, as many colleagues are, to persuade colleagues to support it.’
Mrs Leadsom refused to be drawn on whether the Prime Minister should commit to standing down once the Withdrawal Agreement is passed in order to win over wavering MPs.
‘I am fully supporting the Prime Minister to get us out of the European Union,’ she said.
Asked if Mrs May should stand down after that, she said: ‘I think that is a matter for her. I am not expressing a view.’
The shift in momentum came as Remainers – led by Tories Sir Oliver Letwin and Nick Boles and Labour’s Yvette Cooper – prepared to seize control of the Brexit process today in a bid to push through a soft departure.
MPs tabled a blizzard of amendments for consideration in today’s ‘indicative votes’ in the Commons.
Options include revoking Article 50, which would effectively cancel Brexit, holding a second referendum and locking the UK into a single market and customs union. The latter would require Britain to accept free movement, EU laws and payments to Brussels.
Sir Oliver Letwin, the architect of the plan for the Commons to stage a series of indicative votes on the way forward on Brexit, tioday warned that if Theresa May tried to ignore the outcome, MPs could seek to force her to act.
‘If on Monday one or more propositions get a majority backing in the House of Commons, then we will have to work with the Government to implement them,’ he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
‘The way I would hope it would happen under those circumstances is that we would have sensible, workmanlike discussions across the House of Commons and the Government would move forward in an orderly fashion.
‘If the Government didn’t agree to that, then those who I am working with across the parties will move to legislate to mandate the Government – if we can obtain majorities in the House of Commons and House of Lords for that – to carry that forward.’
Former Tory chief whip Andrew Mitchell said Sir Oliver Letwin had played ‘an absolute blinder’ by making clear to Brexiteers the consequences of continuing to oppose the PM’s deal.
He said: ‘Well, I think Sir Oliver Letwin has laid out for all my friends and colleagues in the ERG the instruments of torture, of what awaits them if they do not support Mrs May’s deal the next time it comes to a vote.
‘Everyone else is onside in the parliamentary party. Reluctantly, I admit, but nevertheless, onside.’
The Conservative Party will split apart if hardline MPs believe they can back Theresa May’s Brexit deal now and unpick it later, Tory former attorney general Dominic Grieve has said.
Mr Grieve said the Tories could not survive the pressure of trying to re-order the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement once Britain had left the EU.
The ex-Cabinet minister said the idea that the UK could renegotiate the deal after it quit the bloc extended beyond some members of the European Research Group (ERG) of Eurosceptic Tories.
Mr Grieve said: ‘I am mindful that some of my colleagues, not all of them in the ERG, I can think of at least one Cabinet minister who has hinted that the solution to the problem is to see this deal through so that we leave the EU … and then try to pick it apart.
‘Do they really, seriously think that my party, who’s already under a lot of strain and stress, is going to survive such a process?
‘Of course it isn’t.
‘If genuinely they think that the solution is to sign-up, leave and then try to take the whole thing to pieces, I think we can guarantee, firstly, we are going to have a very long period of immense and sterile debate.
‘And certainly I think when it comes to that I can confidently predict my party would split.’
Mr Grieve also said it was ‘odd’ that members of the ERG would support Mrs May’s deal on condition she gave a departure date for quitting Downing Street.
Speaking at a People’s Vote campaign event calling for a new Brexit referendum, he said: ‘It seems to me a very odd thing to say that just because she would go, they would be prepared to support it.’
During PMQs today, SNP MP Stewart Hosie asked the Prime Minister when she would resign.
He said: ‘Brexit is already costing the UK around £1 billion a week in lost growth.
‘We know 80% plus of the UK public is unhappy with the way in which this has been handled – this is not the fault of Guy Verhofstadt, Michel Barnier, Donald Tusk, or any MP in this House voting according to their conscience.
‘That fault lies with the Prime Minister who is the architect of the withdrawal deal, so can she finally concede to the House she is liable, responsible, culpable for the chaos which is the Brexit debacle and when she will be resigning?’
Mrs May insisted her deal ‘delivers on the result of the referendum’.
Brexiteer Tory MP Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) said his constituents would never trust the Prime Minister again if the UK failed to leave the EU on Friday March 29, with or without a deal.
‘At the last minute she begs our EU masters for an extension to Article 50, delaying our departure,’ he said.
‘They are good people, but they are not stupid and they will never trust the Prime Minister again.’
Mrs May said MPs could still guarantee delivering on Brexit ‘if this week he and others in this House support the deal’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Mrs May: ‘This country is on hold while the Government is in complete paralysis.
‘The vital issues facing our country from the devastation of public services to homelessness to knife crime have been neglected.
‘The Prime Minister is failing to deliver Brexit because she can’t build a consensus, is unable to compromise and unable to reunite the country. Instead she is stoking further divisions, she’s unable to resolve the central issues facing Britain today and she is frankly unable to govern.
‘The Prime Minister faces a very clear choice, the one endorsed by the country and many of her own party – either listen and change course, or go. Which is it to be?’
Mrs May defended the Government’s record on public spending before adding: ‘The biggest threat to our standing in the world, to our defence and to our economy is sitting on the Labour frontbench.’
Andrea Leadsom today refused to be drawn on whether the Prime Minister should commit to standing down once the Withdrawal Agreement is passed in order to win over wavering MPs as ministers including Michael Gove (right today) continue to fight for her deal
Theresa May faces a series of votes on alternatives to the PM’s Brexit deal – and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay were called for No 10 talks this morning
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said: ‘I really hope that today we will at least get to see the two or three really clear options where there is support in Parliament.
‘Then on Monday, we will have a crack of the whip and I think we can get something over the line.
‘But if we can’t of course, Theresa May will come back and try her deal. It looks like she will try that tomorrow. Who knows whether that would work.
‘But we have to, under all circumstances, ensure that we don’t leave the EU without a deal.’
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is said to have told the PM that if Parliament does mandate her to pursue a new Brexit route next week if her deal falls then she will break the law if she ignores it.
As No 10 weighed up whether to put the withdrawal agreement to a vote for a third and final time tomorrow:
- Ministers claimed Mrs May could set out a timetable for her departure when she addresses Tory MPs tonight in a bid to persuade them to back her plans;
- Attempts to win over the DUP were rocked when the party’s Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson warned he would rather delay for a year than accept the withdrawal agreement;
- Mrs May was warned that a string of pro-Remain ministers could quit today unless they are given a free vote on soft Brexit options;
- Nick Boles said Remainers would force the Prime Minister to pursue a soft Brexit if she refused to downgrade her red lines;
- Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom told MPs that Parliament might have to sit through the Easter break;
- The Prime Minister was facing the threat of a rebellion by her own whips over the vote to formally delay Brexit beyond March 29.
As chairman of the 80-strong ERG group of Tory MPs, Mr Rees-Mogg has led opposition to the Prime Minister’s strategy. He was also a leading figure in the bid to topple her last year, which resulted in a confidence vote that she won.
Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner has warned that Labour could have difficulty supporting a plan for a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal.
MPs will consider the motion, tabled in the name of former foreign secretary Dame Margaret Beckett, requiring a public vote before ratification of any deal, in a series of indicative votes on Wednesday.
However Mr Gardiner said that if Labour voted for it, it could suggest that they were a ‘Remain party’ – which was not the case.
He said that under the terms of the motion, any referendum could be a choice between Theresa May’s deal or staying in the EU.
‘It would be saying we could accept what we have always said is a very bad deal. Therefore it looks as if the attempt to have a public vote on it is simply a way of trying to remain because nobody likes this deal,’ he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
‘To put that up as the only alternative in a public vote and say we will let it go through looks as though you believe that at the end of it Remain would be the result.
‘It is not where our policy has been. Our policy is clearly that we would support a public vote to stop no-deal or to stop a bad deal, but not that we would allow a bad deal as long as the public had the opportunity to reject Brexit altogether.
‘That implies that you are a Remain party. The Labour Party is not a Remain party now. We have accepted the result of the referendum.’
Today he cautions colleagues against believing that removing Mrs May would solve the Brexit crisis.
‘A number of Tory MPs think a new leader could swiftly renegotiate but that is almost certainly not true now that Parliament has taken control of the House of Commons timetable,’ he writes.
‘It would be even harder for a Eurosceptic to manage the current Commons than it is for Mrs May.’
But hours later Labour undermined him and said MPs are to be whipped to support a motion tabled in the name of Dame Margaret Beckett, demanding a second referendum on any Brexit deal passed by this Parliament before its ratification.
A party spokesman said: ‘In line with our policy, we’re supporting motions to keep options on the table to prevent a bad Tory deal or No Deal.’
His intervention came as the number of Eurosceptics reluctantly backing Mrs May threatened to turn from a trickle into a flood
Before Labour announced it would be supporting the Margaret Beckett amendment, Labour MP Owen Smith said: ‘What’s going on today is a process that I feel will result in a lowest common denominator, compromise Brexit being heralded by some as being the way forward.
‘I don’t think it will be the way forward. I think crucially what we need to do today is to separate our process from outcomes.
‘I am wholly in favour of there being a public vote, a confirmatory vote, on any of the options that are adopted today, whichever one emerges and whichever deal is passed by the Commons eventually.
‘There must be a public vote on it. And if it is a compromise, second-rate Brexit that nobody is content with, then that makes even greater the rationale for having a confirmatory people’s vote on it.’
Mr Rees-Mogg, whose backing is subject to support from the DUP, says the agreement negotiated by the Prime Minister ‘is a bad one’ – and he would rather leave under No Deal, but this was effectively ruled out.
Six other Eurosceptic Tories who have voted against Mrs May’s plan said yesterday they would now back it.
They were former Tory vice-chairmen Rehman Chishti and Ben Bradley and MPs Michael Fabricant, Gordon Henderson, Eddie Hughes and Henry Smith. They join a trickle of Brexiteers who have changed their minds in recent days, including former Cabinet minister Esther McVey, James Gray and Daniel Kawczynski.
Privately, ERG sources acknowledge the group is likely to split, with a hard core of ‘refuseniks’ unwilling to back any deal.
This group includes former Cabinet ministers John Redwood and Owen Paterson, Mr Rees-Mogg’s deputy Steve Baker, and Tory grandee Sir Bill Cash. A senior government source last night confirmed that the PM wants to try another vote this week – possibly tomorrow or even Friday – but said she would do so only if she was confident of winning.
‘Realistically if we don’t get the deal through this week then we are looking at a long delay and participation in the European Parliament elections,’ the source said. ‘Things are moving, but the numbers are not there yet.’
Hardline Brexiteers – including Sir Bill – yesterday accused Theresa May of exceeding her lawful powers by delaying Brexit beyond this Friday.
They said there were ‘serious legal objections’ to the agreement made at last week’s EU summit to extend the UK’s membership.
Theresa May could be prepared to make clear that she will quit No10 within weeks if Tory MPs agree to back her Brexit deal, ministers believe.
Senior Eurosceptic Conservatives are demanding that she names a date for her departure when she appears before the 1922 Committee of backbenchers at 5pm today.
Last night one close ally of the PM told the Mail that they believed she could now agree to leave Downing Street ‘if it were in the national interest and she finally got this thing through’.
However, the ally warned it would be her ‘last move’ and she would only agree to go if it was clear the deal would pass.
Ten Brexiteers, including European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg, have now said they could back the deal if it comes back to the Commons regardless of Mrs May’s intentions.
They fear that moves by former Tory minister Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Hilary Benn – who have organised a series of indicative votes in the Commons today – will result in a much softer Brexit, a long delay to leaving the EU or no Brexit at all.
But a larger group are holding out until an announcement from the PM of a firm date when she will go.
Behind the scenes, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith was yesterday said to be ‘actively encouraging’ Brexiteer MPs to back the deal on the basis of a discreet promise by Mrs May to go if it passes.
He is thought to have proposed the idea at last weekend’s Chequers summit and told the PM he could deliver 90 per cent of the ERG’s hardline Leavers if she agreed to quit. Mrs May did not rule out the idea but responded sceptically: ‘I’m not sure you can get me the numbers.’
Other senior Eurosceptics want the PM to go public with her promise tonight. It comes amid signs Mrs May could call a third Brexit vote as early as tomorrow if she believes she can get enough support for the Withdrawal Agreement.
Tory Nigel Evans, executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, told the BBC last night: ‘The Prime Minister will be addressing the 1922 tomorrow at 5pm. I am encouraging her in that speech to give the timetable for her departure.
‘A number of Brexiteers are reluctant to support her deal because they think if it gets over the line, she will then say ‘Look what I’ve achieved – I’m staying’. A number of them want to make absolutely certain she’s nowhere near the negotiating table when we start talking about the future trade relationship with the EU.
‘If the Prime Minister announces a timetable of departure, I think that’s going to swing a lot of people behind her deal – we could get it over the line.’
But Brexit Party MEP and former Ukip leader Nigel Farage told the European Parliament it was ‘inevitable’ that the UK was heading for a delay to its departure from the EU.
‘You should ask yourselves: ‘Do you really want that?” he told MEPs. ‘Do you really want Brexit to utterly dominate the next couple of years of your business to the exclusion of your many other ambitions?
‘Do you really want the UK to contest the European elections, to send back a very large number of Leave MEPs, just at a time when you are fighting populism – as you see it – across the continent?’
And, to cries of ‘No’ from some MEPs and ‘Yes’ from others, he asked: ‘Do you really want me back in this place?’
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier replied: ‘Mr Farage, no-one in Brussels is trying to steal Brexit from you, no-one is trying to undo the vote of the British people.
‘It is not Brussels that decided that the UK would leave the EU. You were the ones who made that choice and you are the ones who have to take your responsibility and face up to the consequences of that decision. No-one else.’
Dover Tory MP Charlie Elphicke told Kent Online: ‘If the deal does get endorsed, it should be on condition Theresa May agrees to stand down.
What I am clear on is that if we are going to support it, there needs to be a change of negotiating team. I think we need to have a change of leadership and a new face and a new team to take us forward to the future relationship.’
Prime Minister Theresa May and Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay leave Downing Street yesterday
Former education minister Tim Loughton said it was ‘inevitable’ Mrs May would go but she could leave with her ‘head held high’ if she got her deal through.
Cabinet ministers were in talks with the Democratic Unionist Party in Whitehall last night in a last-ditch attempt to win its support – which is seen as necessary before Eurosceptics will fall in line.
A total of 75 Tories – including half a dozen arch-Remainers – voted against the deal when it was defeated two weeks ago by a majority of 149.
At yesterday’s Cabinet meeting ministers, including Commons leader Andrea Leadsom and Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss, pledged their determination and ‘resolve to get this done’.
A source said: ‘They are pulling out all the stops to try and get colleagues over the line.’
But one Cabinet minister estimated the odds of Mrs May getting the deal through at just 30 per cent. Her allies downplayed expectations, saying ‘everything has to fall in place at once’ and it wouldn’t be clear until lunchtime today what would happen.
Even if she wins over the DUP and most of her backbenchers, Mrs May will still need Labour MPs to back the deal. A group of up to 25 hardline ERG members are seen as ‘irreconcilable’ – including Sir Bill Cash, Sir John Redwood and former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson.
Some of these argue that they can still secure a No Deal Brexit regardless of a bid by Sir Oliver to try to find a softer deal the Commons can agree to.
Other Eurosceptic MPs said they were determined to oppose the deal. Dr Julian Lewis, chairman of the Defence Committee, told the Mail: ‘The choice revealing itself is one between a clean Brexit or tearing up the result of the referendum.
‘It is vital that those of us who believe in Brexit neither ‘flag nor fail’ in Churchill’s immortal phrase, at this decisive stage.’
The Easter recess of parliament may be cancelled as MPs try to get a grip of Brexit, Mrs Leadsom said yesterday.
She stressed Britons would expect MPs to be ‘working flat-out’. She told the Commons: ‘I have announced the dates for Easter recess. But, as is always the case, recess dates are announced subject to the progress of business.
‘We will need time in the House either to find a way forward or to pass the Withdrawal Agreement bill, and I think the country will rightly expect Parliament to be working flat-out in either scenario.’ The recess is due to run from April 4 to 23.
Labour MPs WILL be ordered to back a second referendum TONIGHT: MPs table SIXTEEN Brexit alternatives that they will try and force upon May – but Corbyn faces party fury for refusing to consider revoking Article 50
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his house this morning
Labour MPs will be ordered to vote for a second referendum on Brexit tonight – as MPs try to select an alternative to May’s deal that they will try and force upon her next week.
A series of ‘indicative votes’ will be held in the Commons tonight with up to sixteen options on the table.
The alternatives will also likely include cancelling Brexit, a No Deal Brexit on April 12 and a softer exit than proposed by Theresa May.
The results are due around 9pm and the most favoured options are expected to go through to a second round vote next week.
MPs will then try to pass new laws forcing Theresa May to adopt their favoured option, before Britain will leave the EU on April 12 assuming Theresa May’s Brexit deal does not pass this week.
Labour is understood to be whipping its MPs to vote in favour of a second referendum on May’s deal. A Labour spokeswoman confirmed MPs would be told to keep options on the table tonight, which MailOnline understands includes a public vote.
Remainer Labour MP Jess Phillips confirmed that party MPs were facing a three-line whip in support of an amendment laid by Dame Margaret Beckett backing a new public vote and expected almost a dozen shadow frontbenchers to consider quitting because of that.
She told the BBC: ‘I think a lot of people think that wouldn’t be good … I would say probably it is up to 10 shadow ministers who I think will be facing the question of whether they have to resign today.’
More than a million anti-Brexit campaigners took part in the People’s Vote March in London – but Jeremy Corbyn did not go
At around 3pm, Speaker John Bercow will select from the 16 draft proposals which ones will actually be voted on. He is expected to choose six to 10 ideas for a debate that will run until 7pm.
MPs will be asked to vote ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to each option on a piece of paper that they will then put in a ballot box.They can support as many as they like.
After 7.30pm, Commons clerks will scramble to count the votes all at once – a process expected to take at least an hour and potentially longer.
Once that process is complete the total number of votes for each option will be read out. There may not be a majority for any one option, and the most popular options will go forward to a second round vote.
Mrs May has said she will not necessarily be bound by the results – particularly if they are ‘undeliverable’ by the EU.
But before the vote, and internal party row broke out in the Labour party when, shadow trade minister Barry Gardiner said that Mr Corbyn will order MPs to vote against the ‘extreme option’ of stopping Brexit and leaving with No Deal tonight because ‘Labour is not a Remain party’.
An online petition demanding Article 50 be revoked has now been signed by almost six million people.
But in an interview with the BBC Mr Gardiner also revealed that Labour could have difficulty supporting a plan for a second referendum on any Brexit deal, in case it led to stopping Britain leaving the EU.
He said: ‘Our policy is clearly that we would support a public vote to stop No Deal or to stop a bad deal, but not that we would allow a bad deal as long as the public had the opportunity to reject Brexit altogether.
‘That implies that you are a Remain party. The Labour Party is not a Remain party now. We have accepted the result of the referendum’.
Are they having a laugh? EU could delay Brexit until APRIL FOOLS’ DAY 2020 as Tusk begs fellow leaders for a long delay so the UK can ‘rethink its strategy’
The EU will push for Britain’s first day as a non-EU member to be April Fools’ Day 2020 if Theresa May’s deal is killed off this week, it was revealed today.
Brussels has pencilled in a year-extension to Article 50 with Brexit Day being March 31 next year.
It came as Donald Tusk today urged the European Parliament to keep faith with those British voters still hoping for a longer delay or even the reversal of the Brexit decision.
He said: ‘We should be open to a long extension if the UK wishes to rethink its Brexit strategy’.
The President of the European Council also mentioned an online petition to revoke Brexit and claimed one million people marched through London on Saturday demanding a second referendum, despite experts claiming only 400,000 were at the march
He said: ‘You cannot betray the six million people who signed the petition to revoke Article 50, the one million people who marched for a people’s vote or the increasing majority of people who want to remain in the European Union’.
The Prime Minister must pass her deal by the end of the week for Britain to leave the EU on May 22.
If it doesn’t the country will leave on April 12, but rebel MPs are trying to force through a longer delay and softer Brexit in votes that begin tomorrow.
European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (R) talks with European Council President Donald Tusk today as it emerged they will offer Britain the chance to leave on April Fool’s Day next year
Nigel Farage high fives European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of a debate on the outcome of the latest European Summit on Brexit today
Almost 6million people have signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked and Donald Tusk has said the EU will not ‘abandon’ them
Guy Verhofstadt compares Nigel Farage to cowardly Blackadder Field Marshall
An EU leader today compared Nigel Farage to Blackadder’s lily-livered First World War Field Marshall.
Guy Verhostadt poked fun at the former Ukip leader’s 200-mile March to Leave walk
Mr Verhofstadt said when he saw Mr Farage (picrured today) in the European Parliament today: ‘This is a surprise to me because I thought that he was marching somewhere in Britain.
‘But he is here. A 200-mile march. How many miles have you done, two miles?
‘You remind me more and more of Field Marshall Haig in Blackadder, who was also sitting in the World War One in his office in London. And you are in Strasbourg while your own people are marching through the rain and in the cold’.
Mr Farage hit back: ‘As a former Belgian prime minister I thought you would know that it was Field Marshall Haig in 1914 that saved the Belgian town of Ypres from German domination, who then went on to lead Britain in 1918 in its greatest ever military defeat of Germany on the Western Front.
He added ‘Far from mocking Haig in Belgium, he should be a great hero to you’.
The EU is ready for the extension and will force Britain to accept that this will be April 1 next year, according to the Guardian.
Today European Council President Donald Tusk urged British MPs to remain open to a long postponement of Brexit while Britain rethinks its position, urging them not to ‘betray’ the UK’s pro-Europe voters.
He said: ‘I said that we should be open to a long extension if the UK wishes to rethink its Brexit strategy, which would of course mean the UK’s participation in the European Parliament elections’
‘And then there were voices saying that this would be harmful or inconvenient to some of you. Let me be clear, such thinking is unacceptable’.
He added: ‘You cannot betray the six million people who signed the petition to revoke Article 50, the one million people who marched for a people’s vote or the increasing majority of people who want to remain in the European Union’.
Top Euro MPs launched a scathing personal attack on Theresa May yesterday – with one saying she had no ‘basic human skills’.
Senior figures on the EU Parliament’s influential Brexit Steering Group (BSG) lashed out amid meltdown in Westminster.
But they also gloated that Britain could be heading for a softer Brexit after MPs voted in favour of snatching control from the prime minister.
One leading Euro-MP on the steering group, which last night held talks with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Strasbourg, said the situation in Westminster was proof Mrs May was ‘totally devoid of the basic human skills’ needed for public office.
Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts claimed it also meant she was unable to build ‘bonds of trust’ with MPs, her cabinet and other EU leaders.
Meanwhile Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the (BSG), declared himself ‘very pleased’ at developments which could lead to a closer UK-EU future relationship.
They were speaking at the EU Parliament, sitting in Strasbourg this week, after MPs in Westminster voted in favour of holding ‘indicative votes’ today on options – including reversing Brexit – which Mrs May would then be told to deliver.
An MEP claimed that during her appearance in Brussels on Thursday, Mrs May even managed to upset the Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel, who he described as ‘Mr Nice Guy by definition’. May and Bettel are pictured at the summit
A general view of Anti-Brexit campaigners as they take part in the People’s Vote March in London and wave pro-EU banners
The move was orchestrated by Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Yvette Cooper.
Mr Verhofstadt yesterday hailed the ‘real Brexit revolt’ which could see MPs vote in favour of a much softer version of Brexit than set out in Mrs May’s deal.
He also praised marchers in London at the weekend who demanded a second referendum and those who have signed a petition calling for Brexit to be reversed.
Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts (file), a member of the European Parliament’s Brexit steering committee, said the Prime Minister had been unable to establish ‘bonds of trust’ with other European leaders
Mr Verhofstadt said: ‘We see for the moment a real Brexit revolt by the people in Britain, the march of this weekend with one million people in London, the petition which has reached more or less 5.7 million signatures.’
Referring to the political declaration part of the Brexit deal, which outlines the future relationship, he added: ‘And I’m very pleased that yesterday evening an amendment, the so-called Letwin amendment, has been adopted because that means that it’s possible now to work in Britain towards a cross-party proposal, a cross-party alliance that could upgrade fundamentally the Political Declaration.’
During the so-called ‘indicative votes’ MPs could vote in favour of the political declaration being changed to create a softer Brexit, either via a permanent customs union or even continued membership of the single market – referred to as ‘Norway-plus’.
Mr Lamberts, who also sits on the BSG, launched the most scathing attack on the prime minister.
He claimed Mrs May’s ‘inability to factor in what other people think’ had fuelled the chaos.
He said: ‘The strategy of running down the clock and scaring people into voting for the Withdrawal Agreement has failed.
‘I hope that indeed in the first stage the parliament will be able to find a majority for an option.
‘Is it Norway plus? Is it a second referendum? I don’t know…after that I hope the government will do what it can to make that option happen.’ He added: ‘One lesson we have learned from Theresa May ‘s attitude is her inability to factor in what others think, her inability to forge bonds of trust in her cabinet…and between her cabinet and the House of Commons obviously, but also within the European Council.’ Mr Lamberts also said that Mrs May had infuriated Luxembourg’s prime minister, Xavier Bettel, at a summit last week at which she asked for a delay to Brexit.
He claimed Luxembourg’s premier is known as ‘Mr Nice Guy by definition’ and that it proved Mrs May ‘must be totally devoid of the basic human skills you need to be a political leader’.
JACOB REES-MOGG: I apologise for changing my mind. But this is why I’m ready to back Mrs May
I apologise for changing my mind. Theresa May’s deal is a bad one, it does not deliver on the promises made in the Tory Party manifesto and its negotiation was a failure of statesmanship.
A £39 billion bill for nothing, a minimum of 21 months of vassalage, the continued involvement of the European Court and, worst of all, a backstop with no end date.
Yet, I am now willing to support it if the Democratic Unionist Party does, and by doing so will be accused of infirmity of purpose by some and treachery by others.
I have come to this view because the numbers in Parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse and an awkward reality needs to be faced.
Mrs May ought to have concluded a better agreement but behind the backs of two secretaries of state, David Davis and Dominic Raab, she did not.
The agreement on the table is as it is, and the proposal to replace the backstop with something else, particularly the Malthouse Compromise (a managed No Deal exit — if a deal cannot be agreed) has floundered.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is ready to back Theresa May’s deal ‘because the numbers in Parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse’
Delay
The EU, in the knowledge that it was dealing with a weak counterparty, has refused to reopen the text and the Government has not been willing to threaten No Deal in any effective way. The late start to No Deal planning and the reluctance to use it in negotiations has been a significant reason for the poor outcome.
Until last week, nonetheless, No Deal remained the default legal option but the Government and the Prime Minister have now ruled this out and with the support of Parliament can now do so.
No Deal is an outcome I would prefer to Mrs May’s deal. It would be a fully-leaded Brexit and mere motions in the Commons could not have stopped it.
Indeed, despite a clear majority of MPs opposing such a departure, it would have happened on Friday had Mrs May not used her executive authority as Prime Minister to postpone the day of Brexit.
Once No Deal had been ruled out, it was necessary to examine what would happen in the event of the current agreement not passing. This would lead to a long delay as there is no opportunity of renegotiating anything before the European elections at the end of May. Two years or more is proposed but considering the opposition to Brexit it could be revoked or put to a skewed second referendum.
A long delay would make remaining in the EU the most likely outcome.
If the moral authority of 17.4 million voters and a General Election in 2017 when both main parties committed to respecting the result could not deliver our departure in three years, how strong a mandate would it be after five? Even if the fear of remaining were exaggerated, it would inevitably lead to an even softer Brexit.
It is a sad fact that there is a gulf between Parliament and the people. Fifty-two per cent voted Leave but two-thirds of MPs want to remain. The Lords is even worse with a tiny minority of pro-Leave peers.
After giving people the right to decide, too many politicians felt that the voters gave the wrong answer and must be saved from themselves. Two years further from the referendum would allow for the demands to be watered down again, leaving the UK shackled by a Customs Union or as a Norway-style rule-taker.
If this were all, it could be sensible to take the risk and see if something better turned up. A number of Tory MPs think a new leader could swiftly renegotiate but that is almost certainly not true now that Parliament has taken control of the Brexit timetable.
No Deal is an outcome I would prefer to Mrs May’s deal. It would be a fully-leaded Brexit and mere motions in the Commons could not have stopped it.
It would be even harder for a Eurosceptic to manage the current Commons than it is for Mrs May. Even if this could happen, politicians must look at the current constitutional clash and fear for our polity.
The constitution is under attack in three ways. The first is between the Government and the Commons.
This has been encouraged by the Speaker whose noble efforts to allow the Commons to hold the Government to account have gone too far and now seek to take the role of the Government to the legislature.
Recklessness
This is dangerous because the Commons’ job is to provide confidence in a Prime Minister who can take decisions for which she or he is accountable.
These decisions ought to be in accordance with manifesto commitments and if there is no confidence in the duly elected Prime Minister, then control ought to return to voters, not to a cabal of MPs who will have random majorities on various issues but no clear leader or mandate.
Separation of powers between Downing Street and the Commons is a crucial part of how we are ruled and a protection against arbitrary government.
Upsetting this balance is unwise to the point of recklessness and the Sir Oliver Letwin takeover proves the point.
Unfortunately, the second breakdown is just as serious. The Government only functions if ministers support a single position or resign, and this has been the reality since the 1830s. There can only be one Government position, otherwise how can it be held to account? How can electors know how power is being exercised if different ministers say the first thing that pops into their heads?
Recently, three Cabinet Ministers failed to back Government policy on the vote to leave the EU without a deal and in a rather jejune fashion ostentatiously abstained.
As they did not resign, this undermines one of the cornerstones of the constitution, making it harder for the Government to function.
Faltering
Any government must be able to get its business done. If it cannot, it is unable to govern. The principle of the separation of powers and of collective responsibility lie at the heart of this.
A number of Tory MPs think a new leader could swiftly renegotiate but that is almost certainly not true now that Parliament has taken control of the Brexit timetable
The great Duke of Wellington was famous for insisting that the Queen’s Government must go on and that all responsible politicians have a duty towards such an end, even if it countermands their own piety.
The worst breakdown, though, is between the elected and the electors.
The condescension of politicians who feel that Leave voters were all stupid and ought never to have been allowed to decide something so complicated is tragic.
Ultimately, voters know best and must be trusted. Imperfect as it is, Mrs May’s deal gets closer to that than anything else available.
The Withdrawal Agreement has one great virtue. Legally, we would have left and to re-join would mean agreeing to adopt the Euro single currency, Schengen (the abolition of national borders) and no rebate. Such a course would be expensive and hugely unpopular.
The backstop, too, could tie us into rules that we did not like. But outside the EU, it would be a political not a legal matter.
International law is not as clear-cut as EU or domestic law and there is no court to rule between states and international bodies.
Ultimately, Brexit could be delivered upon but it would take longer.
It would need a Commons that wants to use our freedoms and that is willing to insist that the word ‘temporary’, as applied to the backstop, is genuine.
It needs political leadership and a desire to stop the weak-minded managing of decline and a belief in the UK.
Theresa May’s deal is a more faltering step than I want, or feel, could be taken —but at least it is a step forward.