BREXIT EXIT
David Davis resignation letter in full – what did he say about Brexit?
DAVID Davis sensationally resigned as Brexit Secretary in protest at the Prime Minister's soft EU proposals.
He threatened to upend Theresa May's government with the shock departure following a Cabinet retreat at her Chequers country pile - here's what he said.
1
What did David Davis write in his resignation letter?
David Davis wrote a withering resignation letter delivered to Number 10 on July 8, 2018.
It came just days after Mrs May's plans for leaving the EU were hammered out at a Cabinet meeting in Chequers.
He warned the proposals would leave the UK in "a weak negotiating position" with Brussels.
Ex-SAS reservist Mr Davis said there had been a "significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line".
He added that he had previously decided to toe the line and remain in the Cabinet "because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market".
But in a damning verdict on the PM's recent approach, he wrote: "I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely."
What is the resignation letter in full?
Mr Davis' letter was tweeted out by Sun man Harry Cole on the night of the bombshell resignation.
It can be read in full below...
Dear Prime Minister
As you know there have been a significant number of occasions in the last year or so on which I have disagreed with the Number 10 policy line, ranging from accepting the Commission's sequencing of negotiations through to the language on Northern Ireland in the December Joint Report.
At each stage I have accepted collective responsibility because it is part of my task to find workable compromises, and because I considered it was still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum, and on our manifesto commitment to leave the Customs Union and the Single Market.
I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely.
Whether it is the progressive dilution of what I thought was a firm Chequers agreement in February on right to diverge, or the unnecessary delays of the start of the White Paper, or the presentation of a backstop proposal that omitted the strict conditions that I requested and believed that we had agreed, the general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one.
The Cabinet decision on Friday crystallised this problem.
In my view the inevitable consequence of the proposed policies will be to make the supposed control by Parliament illusory rather than real.
As I said at Cabinet, the "common rule book" policy hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense.
I am also unpersuaded that our negotiating approach will not just lead to further demands for concessions.
Of course this is a complex area of judgement and it is possible that you are right and I am wrong.
However, even in that event it seems to me that the national interest requires a Secretary of State in my Department that is an enthusiastic believer in your approach, and not merely a reluctant conscript.
While I have been grateful to you for the opportunity to serve, it is with great regret that I tender my resignation from the Cabinet with immediate effect.
Yours ever
David Davis
LATEST BREXIT NEWS
Who will replace David Davis as Brexit Secretary?
Just a day after David Davis' resignation, Dominic Raab has been named as the new Brexit Secretary.
The ex-Justice minister and Brexiteer steps up to fill the vacant role after Davis dramatically quit.
Dominic Raab was appointed Minister of State for Housing at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on January 9, 2018.
He was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice from June 12, 2017, to January 9, 2018.
He was elected Conservative MP for Esher and Walton in May 2010.
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