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May in fresh standoff with Tory rebels over Brexit demands | May in fresh standoff with Tory rebels over Brexit demands |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Dominic Grieve, the leader of a group of Conservative rebels on Brexit, is locked in negotiations with the government as Theresa May seeks a form of words on a meaningful vote that will satisfy both sides of her deeply divided party. | |
Grieve, the former attorney general, is determined to make it impossible for Britain to crash out of the EU without parliamentary approval. But the Brexit secretary, David Davis, and pro-leave Tory backbenchers are adamantly opposed to anything they believe would tie the government’s hands if talks with Brussels collapse. | |
The government is expected to table its compromise amendment on Thursday, and MPs will pore over the wording. Peers will then vote on it when the EU withdrawal bill returns to the House of Lords on Monday. | |
The discussions took place as MPs debated a second set of amendments to the government’s flagship Brexit bill, with backbenchers in both parties disagreeing vehemently with their leaderships. | |
Grieve was promised negotiations by the prime minister in a personal meeting along with a clutch of fellow rebels in the closing moments of a Commons debate on Tuesday, prompting them to hold their fire and vote with the government. | |
Some were alarmed on Wednesday when a Downing Street source appeared to suggest the government was not willing to discuss a central aspect of their demands, expressed in clause C of Grieve’s amendment. | |
Two of the putative rebels, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen, quickly said that did not match their recollection of what had been promised, with Soubry urging the government to “sort it please”. | Two of the putative rebels, Anna Soubry and Heidi Allen, quickly said that did not match their recollection of what had been promised, with Soubry urging the government to “sort it please”. |
For the avoidance of doubt the PM said yesterday that clause c of Dominic Grieves amendment would be discussed as part of the new amendment to be tabled in the Lords. If the PM goes back on that there will be no agreed amendment that I can support #sortitplease | For the avoidance of doubt the PM said yesterday that clause c of Dominic Grieves amendment would be discussed as part of the new amendment to be tabled in the Lords. If the PM goes back on that there will be no agreed amendment that I can support #sortitplease |
Later in the day, both sides said they were more hopeful of achieving a compromise, with Grieve describing the talks as “sensible”. | |
May is trying to walk a political tightrope between Grieve and his colleagues, who are anxious about the risk of a no-deal Brexit, and well-drilled agitators on the leave wing of her party, who are urging her not to make too many compromises. | |
Privately the Brexiters continue to insist the parliamentary arithmetic is less tight than the chief whip Julian Smith fears, and that the government can defeat the rebels without making major concessions. | |
At prime minister’s questions, May said the government intended to bring forward its own amendment, but stressed that she could not allow MPs to bind the government’s hands or to open it up to the risk that Brexit could be reversed. | |
“I am absolutely clear that I cannot countenance parliament being able to overturn the will of the British people. Parliament gave the decision to the British people, the British people voted to leave the European Union, and as prime minister I am determined to deliver that,” she said. | |
After PMQs, a No 10 source was asked whether her remarks meant that “as far as the government is concerned, clause C is not up for discussion as part of this amendment.” The source replied: “I think that’s a fair assessment.” | |
Grieve and his colleagues insist they have no intention of seeking to overturn the referendum result. | |
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the pro-Brexit chair of the backbench European Research Group, said: “It is absolutely essential that the separation of powers should be observed and that it should be made clear in any compromise amendment that the job of the government and the job of parliament are different.” | |
A statement from the Department for Exiting the European Union on Tuesday said Davis had set three tests for any new amendment: not undermining the negotiations; not changing the constitutional role of parliament and government in negotiating international treaties; and respecting the referendum result. | |
The high stakes for May were underlined by warnings from the rebels that the promise made by the prime minister was “a matter of trust”. | |
The former education secretary Nicky Morgan said that if a compromise amendment did not emerge, rebels could work with the Lords to ensure the changes took place. | |
“I think it would be fairly certain that one of the members of the House of Lords would find a way to put down Dominic’s original wording that couldn’t be voted on yesterday. So we are partway through discussions and there is more to come,” she said. | |
May was challenged by Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs over the government’s continued failure to make progress on deciding what post-Brexit customs arrangements it wants to negotiate for. | |
He sought to embarrass the prime minister by quoting several of the leaked comments made by the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, at a private dinner for Tory donors last week. | |
“When the prime minister met President Donald Trump last week, did she do as the foreign secretary suggested and ask him to take over the Brexit negotiations?” the Labour leader asked, prompting a long pause from May and cheers from his own MPs. | |
May conceded that the government’s promised Brexit white paper would now not be published until July, after she has gathered her ministers together at her country retreat of Chequers for a second awayday to thrash out their differences. | |
Government sources said the cabinet breakout groups that have been discussing the two rival options for future customs arrangements have met this week, with little sign of any resolution. | |
Brexiters including Johnson and Davis are keen on the idea of a “max-fac” approach, using technology to avoid a hard border in Ireland, while colleagues including the chancellor, Philip Hammond, and the business secretary, Greg Clark, prefer a customs partnership. | |
Johnson and Hammond sat alongside each other on the frontbench for PMQs, just behind the prime minister, and Corbyn reminded her that Johnson had referred to the Treasury as “the heart of remain”. | |
Brexit | Brexit |
Conservatives | Conservatives |
Theresa May | Theresa May |
Dominic Grieve | |
Foreign policy | |
news | news |
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