Tory EU rebels to bring forward major Brexit showdown with Theresa May
TORY EU rebels are to bring forward their major Brexit showdown with Theresa May to next month by forcing a fresh vote to stay in the customs union.
Instead of acting when a deal with Brussels is done in the Autumn, they have decided the best time to try to enforce a soft Brexit is now.
A group of at least 15 pro-EU Conservative backbenchers have vowed to back a series of amendments to Brexit bills to keep the UK locked into a customs union and abandon any independent trade policy.
As well as voting for ex-minister Anna Soubry’s amendment to the Customs Bill, they are also ready to draw up fresh wording to strengthen an amendment made to the EU Withdrawal Bill by the Lords if the former is not called, The Sun has learned.
No10 has signalled it will put the landmark bill back in front of MPs in the week beginning June 11 in the hope of taking out 15 changes by peers.
Just ten Tories voting with Labour will be enough to defeat the Government’s wafer thin majority with the DUP’s support.
One leading rebel MP told The Sun: “Our moment of maximum leverage is now, not October, while we can still change government policy.
“The Cabinet cannot agree over a new customs system, and talks with the EU have totally broken down.
“It’s time Parliament took back control and get us out of this mess, and that’s what we will do.”
The Sun can also reveal that Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith is so worried by the prospect that he has ripped up any leave next week while the Commons is on half term recess.
Mr Smith has told the rebel MPs he is staying in Westminster to try to broker a solution with them.
The PM also held a meeting in No10 with Tory rebel leaders on Thursday, including Ms Soubry.
Senior No10 aides think her only hope of avoiding defeat is for the Cabinet to agree on pursuing a new customs partnership where the UK would collect the EU’s tariffs, which the rebels could be persuaded to back.
But Brexiteers adamantly oppose the option, arguing it leaves the UK half in the current customs union and still taking orders from Brussels.
Who will hold the Tory fort for Davidson?
SENIOR Westminster backers of Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, fear she will miss out on the next Tory leadership contest – and are now contemplating supporting a stopgap candidate to keep the seat warm for her.
Davidson is adamant she will fight the Scottish parliament elections in 2021, precluding any move to Westminster before then
But several Davidson admirers now think that Theresa May’s premier-ship won’t last until then.
So their minds are turning to who might be their stopgap candidate, someone prepared to hold the fort until Davidson can come to London.
The most talked-about name for this role is Michael Gove.
But other Tories are dismissive of this idea.
They think it isn’t practical as no one would agree to be PM for only two years.
Equally, the deal couldn’t be explicit as that would destroy Davidson’s campaign to be First Minister of Scotland.
Davidson, though, remains the only Tory with game-changing numbers.
So the chatter about how to get her into No10 before the next election will continue.
As The Sun revealed yesterday, the number of Tory EU rebels has grown since 11 voted with Labour in December to defeat the government by four, and enforce a meaningful vote on the final deal.
Rebel leaders are confident of at least 15 Tories defying Mrs May on some of the Lords amendments.
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Former Education Secretary Justine Greening is seen as likely to join their ranks, along with pro-EU waverer Vicky Ford and ex-culture minister Ed Vaizey.
Mr Vaizey dubbed himself “not a natural rebel” yesterday, but added: “More and more MPs are beginning to mutter under their breath that they might have to act on the customs union, and actually put their head above the parapet”.
THE SUN SAYS
DO the Tories have any inkling how close their Government is to collapse? It could happen in a fortnight.
Their persistent poll leads are a mirage, bolstered for the moment by Leavers convinced only Theresa May’s party will deliver Brexit in full.
If, in the second week of June, Tory backbench europhiles defeat the Government over the Customs Union and other issues fundamental to Brexit that support will vanish overnight. And for good.
The free-trading “global Britain” Mrs May has repeatedly made central to her vision of our future will be dead.
Her entire Department for International Trade will be redundant.
Incredibly, we would be inviting Brussels to run the trade policy of the world’s fifth biggest economy forever — even after we have supposedly “left” the EU.
And we would have NO say in it.
This is not the minor detail Remainers want you to believe. It is a giant, decisive leap towards the destruction of Brexit and 17million referendum votes.
It would be a mortal blow to the Prime Minister. How could she survive it?
Tory rebels must realise this. But even wrecking their PM, Government and party, jeopardising national stability and potentially handing power to Corbyn’s Marxist lunatics fails to deter them.
Mrs May must leave them in no doubt about the monstrous risk they are taking.
Then, for the first time, she must turn that aggression on Brussels.
The Sun is heartily sick of the EU’s destructive belligerence and playground bullying, sick of it “teaching Britain a lesson”, sick of our timid, cowed Government cravenly turning the other cheek.
We’ve had two years of it. The insulting snub over the Galileo security system our taxpayers funded is the last straw.
Toughen up now, Mrs May. Fight fire with fire. You have just two weeks to save Brexit and your Government with it.