Lidington insists cabinet united despite some voting against Brexit delay

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/mar/15/david-lidington-insists-cabinet-united-despite-some-voting-against-brexit-delay

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David Lidington has insisted Theresa May’s cabinet will continue to work together “very constructively”, despite eight senior ministers, including the Brexit secretary, voting against an extension to article 50.

Steve Barclay voted against a motion tabled by the government, even though he had spoken in favour of it at the dispatch box just minutes earlier.

MPs back Brexit delay as votes lay bare cabinet divisions

Others who rejected the idea of an extension were Penny Mordaunt, Liam Fox and Chris Grayling.

Lidington, who is the Cabinet Office secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’ve been working very constructively with Steve Barclay since his appointment a couple of months ago despite the fact that he and I were vigorously on opposite sides of the debate during the referendum, and we are continuing to work very constructively together today and in the days to come.”

The motion called for a three-month delay to Brexit – or a potentially much longer one, if parliament does not back the prime minister’s deal next week. That will now become government policy.

Lidington said the delay could end up being more than a year, if no deal is agreed in the next few days. “Those are the indications which the Brussels institutions of the EU – the commission, the council secretariat and certain member state governments – have been giving to us.”

He added: “I hope that MPs of all parties will be over this weekend just reflecting on the way forward.”

Conservative MPs were given a free vote on the government’s motion on Thursday, reflecting deep divisions over the best way forward, with just a fortnight to go before the planned exit day.

The shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, compared Barclay’s actions to a chancellor voting against their own budget.

Lidington said: “It was a free vote in that division yesterday. Now, what happens this morning is that the entire cabinet has accepted the position that parliament voted for last night.”

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He said he believed Brexit-supporting ministers had used the free vote as “an opportunity to register how unhappy they were with being in the position where we don’t really have an option as a country except to seek an extension of our time in the European Union”.

May is now expected to bring her deal back on Tuesday for a third “meaningful vote” – and Downing Street is meanwhile engaged in intensive efforts to win over the Democratic Unionist party and members of the Conservative European Research Group.

Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, has drafted fresh legal advice on how the UK could exit the Irish backstop, if there had been “an unforeseen and fundamental change of circumstances” – though it appears not yet to have won over many Brexiters.

May will also come under pressure to offer up a timetable for her departure, as a way of convincing Eurosceptics in her party they could replace her, before the crucial next stage of Brexit negotiations.