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| Bespoke Brexit deal better than any other option, May tells MPs | Bespoke Brexit deal better than any other option, May tells MPs |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Theresa May has insisted the UK has clinched a bespoke Brexit deal that is better than any other model, but admitted that “difficult choices” had been made, which triggered the exit of cabinet ministers Dominic Raab and Esther McVey. | Theresa May has insisted the UK has clinched a bespoke Brexit deal that is better than any other model, but admitted that “difficult choices” had been made, which triggered the exit of cabinet ministers Dominic Raab and Esther McVey. |
| In a plea to MPs to back her, she said that delivering the deal was “in the national interest” and that any move by MPs to block the deal would take negotiators “back to square one, more uncertainty, more devision”. | In a plea to MPs to back her, she said that delivering the deal was “in the national interest” and that any move by MPs to block the deal would take negotiators “back to square one, more uncertainty, more devision”. |
| “The British people want us to get this done,” May said. “To get on with addressing the other issues they care about. The choice is clear, we can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all, or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated.” | “The British people want us to get this done,” May said. “To get on with addressing the other issues they care about. The choice is clear, we can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all, or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated.” |
| May told the Commons she respected the views of the two cabinet ministers who quit on Thursday morning and said they had differences of opinion. Two other key cabinet Brexiters, Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom, who had been said to have serious reservations, were sitting beside her on the government benches. | May told the Commons she respected the views of the two cabinet ministers who quit on Thursday morning and said they had differences of opinion. Two other key cabinet Brexiters, Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom, who had been said to have serious reservations, were sitting beside her on the government benches. |
| “Delivering Brexit involves difficult choices for all of us,” May said. “We do not agree on all of those choices but I respect their views.” | |
| May said her deal “delivers in ways that many said simply could not be done” and said it was preferable for any off-the-shelf model. | |
| She said: “We were told that we had a binary choice between the model of Norway or the model of Canada, that we could not have a bespoke deal. But the outline political declaration sets out an arrangement that is better for our country than both of these.” | She said: “We were told that we had a binary choice between the model of Norway or the model of Canada, that we could not have a bespoke deal. But the outline political declaration sets out an arrangement that is better for our country than both of these.” |
| In the speech, May defended her “insurance policy” of a backstop to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland. | In the speech, May defended her “insurance policy” of a backstop to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland. |
| “I do not pretend that this has been a comfortable process, or that either we or the EU are entirely happy with all of the arrangements that have been included within it. But of course this is the case,” she said. “This is an arrangement that we have both said we never want to have to use. | “I do not pretend that this has been a comfortable process, or that either we or the EU are entirely happy with all of the arrangements that have been included within it. But of course this is the case,” she said. “This is an arrangement that we have both said we never want to have to use. |
| “But while some people might pretend otherwise, there is no deal which delivers the Brexit deal the British people voted for which does not involve this insurance policy.” | “But while some people might pretend otherwise, there is no deal which delivers the Brexit deal the British people voted for which does not involve this insurance policy.” |
| In a pointed dig at the opponents on her own benches, who had floated alternative deals, May said none of those would avoid the need for a backstop. “Not Canada plus plus plus, not Norway for Now, not our own white paper,” she said. “The EU will not negotiate any future partnership without it.” | |
| She said the EU had made “a number of concessions towards our position” on the backstop to ensure that the Northern Ireland-only element was dropped and that there could be an option to extend the transition period as an alternative to the backstop. | |
| “There is also a mechanism by which the backstop can be terminated,” she said, though without mentioning that the UK had conceded that exit could not be the unilateral decision of the British government. | |
| In a veiled reference to the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, May said some had recommended “an entirely irresponsible course of action” that she should “simply rip-up the UK’s commitment to a backstop”. | |
| “Doing so would have made it impossible to deliver a withdrawal agreement,” May said. “It would have meant reneging on a promise made to the people of Northern Ireland during the referendum campaign and afterwards that under no circumstances would Brexit lead to a return to the borders of the past.” | |
| May said the deal in front of MPs would ensure the UK leaves “in a smooth and orderly way”, to peals of laughter from MPs in the House of Commons. She said many had told her there was “no blueprint for Brexit” and others had questioned whether separation was even possible. | |
| She said Brexit had forced the UK to “confront some very difficult issues” but said that “a good Brexit, in the national interest”, was possible. “We have persevered and made a decisive breakthrough,” she said. | She said Brexit had forced the UK to “confront some very difficult issues” but said that “a good Brexit, in the national interest”, was possible. “We have persevered and made a decisive breakthrough,” she said. |
| Responding to May, Jeremy Corbyn said the deal was “a huge and damaging failure”. | Responding to May, Jeremy Corbyn said the deal was “a huge and damaging failure”. |
| The Labour leader said: “After two years of bungled negotiations the government has produced a botched deal that breaches the prime minister’s own red lines and does not meet our six tests. | The Labour leader said: “After two years of bungled negotiations the government has produced a botched deal that breaches the prime minister’s own red lines and does not meet our six tests. |
| “The government is in chaos. Their deal risks leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say.” | “The government is in chaos. Their deal risks leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say.” |
| He cited the departure of Raab as Brexit secretary over a deal he had negotiated. Corbyn said: “What faith does that give anyone else, in this place or in the country?” | He cited the departure of Raab as Brexit secretary over a deal he had negotiated. Corbyn said: “What faith does that give anyone else, in this place or in the country?” |
| He called for the government’s legal advice on the risks of a no-deal Brexit to be published, saying: “We cannot put to parliament this half-baked deal that both the Brexit secretary and his predecessor had rejected. No deal is not a serious option and the government has not prepared for it.” | He called for the government’s legal advice on the risks of a no-deal Brexit to be published, saying: “We cannot put to parliament this half-baked deal that both the Brexit secretary and his predecessor had rejected. No deal is not a serious option and the government has not prepared for it.” |
| Corbyn specifically criticised the restrictions on state aid, which had been “hard-wired” into the arbitration mechanism on the backstop, but said no similar guarantees had been made on workers’ rights. | |
| “By 2021 under the prime minister’s plan we will either be in a backstop or still in transition where we will continue to contribute to the EU budget and follow the rules overseen by the ECJ,” he said. “It is utterly far-fetched for the prime minister to say this plan means we take control over our laws, money and borders.” | |
| “This is not the deal the country was promised and parliament cannot and I believe will not accept a false choice between this bad deal and no deal.” | |
| MPs responding to May in the Commons expressed some deep reservations. The first backbench MP to speak was veteran europhile Ken Clarke, who said it was “a Brexiteer illusion that the country can leave the EU treaties while selecting to retain all the benefits that we enjoy under the treaties and repudiate most if not all of the obligations”. | |
| Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said he had serious misgivings about the backstop, saying the UK maintained the “sovereign right to leave bodies like Nato and the UN” but would not have that right to leave the backstop arrangement. | |
| May accepted that coming out of the backstop would require mutual consent. “I won’t make any bones about that,” she said. “Across the house there are concerns in relations to the backstop and I share some of their concerns, these have not been easy decisions to take. It has been necessary and would be necessary in any deal we were striking.” | |
| Among one of the most troubling interventions for May was the scathing verdict of the DUP’s Nigel Dodds, whose party she relies upon for a parliamentary majority. | |
| Dodds said he could “take the prime minister through the list of promises and pledges she made to this house and to us privately about the future of Northern Ireland”. | |
| He added: “But I fear it would be a waste of time since she clearly doesn’t listen.” | |
| Praising the ministers who had resigned, Dodds said: “The choice is now clear: we stand up for the whole of the United Kingdom, the integrity of the United Kingdom, or we vote for a vassal state with the break-up of the United Kingdom.” | |
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| Dominic Raab | Dominic Raab |
| Esther McVey | Esther McVey |
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| European Union | European Union |
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