Theresa May threatens to call a snap election if MPs veto her EU deal as she lays down her 12 Brexit commandments in landmark speech
THERESA May has threatened Remain-backing MPs with a snap election if they veto her EU deal as she lays down her 12 Brexit commandments.
And the PM gave Brussels both barrels too as she warned Britain is ready to go it alone if it fails to get a good agreement.
She issued the threat as she laid out her 12-point plan for our EU departure, which includes leaving the single market to control immigration.
But Mrs May warned EU leaders trying to punish us would be “a calamitous act of self-harm”, and she will instead walk away from divorce talks.
It also emerged the PM is holding open the prospect of a snap general election in 2019 if MPs vote down her Brexit deal.
During her landmark Lancaster House speech, Mrs May finally bowed to MPs’ demands by pledging to give them a say on the final Brexit terms in a vote in both Houses of Parliament.
But when quizzed on whether she would allow the result to bind her and keep Britain in the EU, she would say only: “I am sure the British parliament will want to deliver on the views of the British people in respect to the democratic decision taken.”
Ministers confirmed the Prime Minister wants to be able to call a fresh nationwide poll in 2019 to win a popular mandate for her Brexit deal, if it proves necessary.
One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “The PM knows she always has the voters up her sleeve, and she wants to keep them there.
“If Parliament tries to block the deal she has brokered and recommended, she will then go to the country.”
A source close to the PM also confirmed that a potential Brexit-deal general election would be “a political choice that would be made at the time”.
This came after she stunned an audience of EU ambassadors at Lancaster House in central London with the walk-away threat, which fired the starting gun to two tough years of negotiations after she triggers Article 50 within the next six weeks.
Mrs May insisted: “No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain”.
Putting a major carrot and stick package on the table, Mrs May proposed “a new strategic partnership” with the 27 remaining states.
It would see Britain:
- LEAVE the single market, as the EU insists staying in means not being able to enforce immigration controls.
- STRIKE a “bold and ambitious” Free Trade Agreement to replace it.
- BE an “associate member” of the customs union to keep goods flowing freely but allowing us to strike deals with others globally.
- AGREE a transition phase after the deal is struck by April 2019 to avoid “a destructive cliff-edge”.
- END the annual “vast sums” of cash sent to the EU’s budget.
On top of keeping its access to Britain’s huge market and key financial services industry, the PM also offered up enshrining the UK’s world-beating security and intelligence prowess as part of a deal in exchange.
But Mrs May was at pains to spell out why the EU would be losers if the deal fell short.
In an icy warning that she is ready to walk, she said: “Britain wants to remain a good friend and neighbour to Europe. Yet I know there are some voices calling for a punitive deal that punishes Britain and discourages other countries from taking the same path.
“That would be an act of calamitous self-harm for the countries of Europe. And it would not be the act of a friend. Britain would not — indeed we could not — accept such an approach.”
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The PM also said no deal would mean the UK would then set competitive tax rates, starting a tax war to win business away from the EU.
And in a third blast, Mrs May warned the EU must change if it wants to survive, attacking it for failing to give David Cameron a good enough deal to sell to British voters.
Mrs May declared: “There is a lesson in Brexit not just for Britain but, if it wants to succeed, for the EU.”
No10 insisted Mrs May believes Article 50’s two-year time frame will be long enough to agree divorce terms and a new trade agreement.
Aides insisted it was wrong to compare her bid to other trade talks as Britain and the EU are already starting from “a very advanced point”.
The speech went a lot further than many expected and won Mrs May praise from pro and anti-EU MPs and delighted Brexit campaigners.
Business gave it a tentative thumbs up, but also pleaded with Mrs May to strike a deal that keeps our trade with the EU tariff and customs free.
CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn said: “The pressure is now on. Businesses want to make a success of Brexit but will be concerned about falling back on damaging World Trade Organisation rules.”
And delighted Nigel Farage said: “I can hardly believe the PM is now using the phrases and words that I’ve been mocked for using for years.”
But Lib Dem leader Tim Farron accused the PM of carrying out “a theft of democracy” and repeated his call for a second referendum.
Labour set out a series of tests for Mrs May to win its support, including tariff-free single market access.
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said: “If the Prime Minister achieves all she has set out to, she will fall short of the Hard Brexit which many businesses and trade unions had feared.”
Mr Starmer was then contradicted by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who accused the PM of “cutting ourselves off from one of the largest markets on the entire planet”.
Brexit Secretary David Davis braced MPs for two tough years of talks, telling the Commons: “No doubt there will be bumps on the road.”
He also said Mrs May’s walk away warning was “not a threat”, but “a consequence of what will happen if you go down that route”.
Mrs May last night rang German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, European Council president Donald Tusk and EU Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker.
A No10 spokesman said the leaders welcomed the clarity in the UK’s position and looked forward to negotiating in a “spirit of goodwill”.
But Merkel and Hollande both had decidedly chillier comments as they welcomed the PM’s commitment to the continuing strength of the EU.