WE'RE IN THE BREXS**T
Theresa May’s soft Brexit deal blasted by ALL sides with her Cabinet in disarray as she warns there’s No Deal if they torpedo her plans
BRITAIN was in the mire last night as Theresa May’s soft Brexit deal threatened to blow her government apart.
She hailed the agreement as “in the national interest” after finally winning the backing of her divided Cabinet following a tense five-hour meeting.
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It was thought that 11 ministers, including Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, objected to the plan before eventually going along with it.
But both Brexiteers and Remainers described it as the “worst of all worlds.”
Mrs May now faces a battle to get it through Parliament amid a mutiny from Tory backbenchers and Northern Ireland’s Unionist DUP MPs.
Mrs May also faces a No Confidence vote within days which could topple her government.
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The Cabinet rebels
- Dominic Raab — Brexit Secretary
- Penny Mordaunt — Development Secretary
- Sajid Javid — Home Secretary
- Jeremy Hunt — Foreign Secretary
- Gavin Williamson — Defence Secretary
- Andrea Leadsom — Leader of the Commons
- Liam Fox — Trade Secretary
- Chris Grayling — Transport Secretary
- Esther McVey — Pensions Secretary
Plus... David Mundell, Scottish Secretary, and Baroness Evans, Leader of the House of Lords.
And there was promise of more high drama to come as:
- Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Raab urged Mrs May to go to Brussels and get more before putting the deal to Parliament
- Downing Street braced itself for a Tory Brexiteer-led leadership coup
- Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey appeared on the brink of resigning after being reprimanded in Cabinet for “aggressively” attacking Mrs May’s stance
- Ministers fell into line after the PM warned “back the deal or have Jeremy Corbyn in No10”
- DUP leader Arlene Foster threatened to pull out of an agreement to prop up the Government
- The PM agreed to scrap parts of the controversial Chequers plan on frictionless trade to allow a possible Canada-style deal favoured by Boris Johnson
- The Withdrawal Agreement revealed EU law could be supreme over British laws in most areas for years with no time limit set, and
- Exit from the transition period can happen only if the EU agrees to it.
Speaking outside No10, a strained-looking Mrs May said the debate in Cabinet had been “long and impassioned.” She added: “The collective decision of Cabinet was that the Government should agree the draft Withdrawal Agreement and the outline political declaration.
“I know there will be difficult days ahead.
“This is a decision that will come under intense scrutiny and that is entirely as it should be.
“But the choice was this deal that enables us to take back control and build a brighter future, or going back to square one with division and uncertainty.’
“I firmly believe with my head and heart this decisive choice is in the best interests of the entire UK.”
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Business leaders reacted positively to the deal and urged MPs to get behind it.
And jubilant EU officials hailed it a success.
But Mrs May now has to sell the agreement to warring MPs before a vote in the Commons next month.
She needs 318 votes to get it through the Commons - but there are around 80 Tory rebels and another 230 Labour loyalists who will certainly vote against her.
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Penny Mordaunt vows to be a 'check' on Theresa May and stop her selling out the referendum result
One senior Brexiteer MP said: “We have a deal where we have to pay the EU billions, accept all EU laws, have no say in EU matters and can’t strike free trade deals.
“It is absolutely the worst of all worlds.”
Meanwhile, the PM has warned rebel Tory MPs they risk “no Brexit at all” if they torpedo her EU deal.
After a marathon five-hour session in No 10, Mrs May said her Cabinet had approved the controversial divorce package. But The Sun has learned that 11 Cabinet members spoke out to attack the deal during the meeting.
They included Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, Home Secretary Sajid Javid, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey.
A Cabinet source said all were eventually grudgingly won over by the argument that “it was this or Jeremy Corbyn”.
No Cabinet minister resigned rather than back it — although Ms McVey was said to have been “on the brink” by the end. And resignations are almost certain in the coming days.
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Brexit deal at boiling point as Theresa May tells EU ‘I won’t compromise’
After the Cabinet session, Mrs May addressed the nation from outside No 10.
She said: “I firmly believe, with my head and my heart, that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom.
“The choice was this deal, which enables us to take back control and to build a brighter future for our country, or going back to square one with more division, more uncertainty and a failure to deliver on the referendum.
“I firmly believe that the draft withdrawal agreement was the best that could be negotiated and it was for the Cabinet to decide whether to move on in the talks.
“The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop.
“But the collective decision of Cabinet was that the Government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration.
“This is a decisive step, which enables us to move on and finalise the deal in the days ahead.”
Esther McVey and other colleagues are said to be unhappy about the Brexit plans
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Conservative MP Justine Greening tells GMB she would like to be PM if Theresa May is pushed out of Number 10
Insiders said Pensions boss Ms McVey had been very “emotional” in the meeting and some colleagues had considered her behaviour “aggressive” toward the PM.
She demanded a formal vote was taken and recorded in official minutes and was “very unhappy” when Mrs May rebuffed her idea.
Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, another of the rebels, again pushed the PM to give all ministers a free vote in Parliament on the final deal next month.
But No 10 ruled that out as “very unlikely”.
What happens next after the Cabinet approves Brexit deal?
Talks in Brussels have finished and the Cabinet is on board - but Theresa May faces weeks or months of uncertainty as she seeks to win the support of MPs for her proposed Brexit deal.
TOMORROW: Theresa May makes statement in the House of Commons in her first attempt to win the backing of MPs as a whole
NEXT FEW DAYS: EU diplomats study the text of the deal and flag up any problems
LATE NOVEMBER OR EARLY DECEMBER: EU leaders attend an emergency summit in Brussels, probably on November 25, where all 27 heads of government will sign off on the treaty
BEFORE CHRISTMAS: Parliament votes on the withdrawal agreement - PM faces moment of truth as she attempts to head off Brexiteer rebellion
FEBRUARY 2019: The European Parliament holds its own vote on the deal
MARCH 29, 2019: The UK officially leaves the EU - but nothing will change if the withdrawal agreement has been confirmed, because it will include a 21-month transition period
EARLY 2019: Talks begin in earnest on the final trade deal which will govern the future relationship between Britain and the EU
DECEMBER 31, 2020: The transition period ends, and Britain leaves the European single market and customs union
Meanwhile, it emerged that Cabinet rebels Mr Raab and Mr Hunt had urged Mrs May to go to Brussels and get more before putting the deal to Parliament. But Tory grandee William Hague called for unity. And sources say Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said: “This life raft, constructed as it is of oil drums and a plastic sail, needs to make it out onto the open ocean.”
As rumours of a backbench bid to oust Mrs May swirled, senior Brexiteers tried to rein in angry Tories from trying to oust her, fearing they may not yet have the numbers.
But some leading Tories told The Sun they have lost control of some hotheads who are determined to bring her down.
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Labour's Diane Abbott warns that Leave would win again in the event of a second referendum
Mrs May could face a disastrous no-confidence vote in her leadership by default, without any co- ordinated plot. Earlier in the day, Jacob Rees-Mogg told the hardline European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs that the deal’s shape meant: “This is war.”
He signalled a challenge from hardliners may not be far away, saying: “There comes a point at which the policy and the individual become so intimately connected that it will become very hard to carry on supporting the person promoting this.” But he later told The Sun: “We haven’t quite come to that time yet.”
A senior Brexiteer Tory MP added: “People are so angry now that some colleagues have just thrown in letters anyway.” Earlier, Mrs May faced threats from her own MPs from the Commons floor.
Arch-Eurosceptic Tory MP Peter Bone mounted a full-frontal attack on Mrs May during Prime Minister’s Questions.
He warned: “If the media reports are in any way accurate, you will lose the support of many Conservative MPs and millions of voters across the country.”
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Jacob Rees-Mogg's confidence in Theresa May knocked by Brexit deal
The Cabinet meeting overran so long that No 10’s carefully choreographed PR plan to sell the deal fell apart. Brexit Secretary Mr Raab had to cancel a trip to Brussels to shake hands on the deal with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
No 10 was also forced to postpone a phone briefing for business leaders about it by a senior Cabinet minister.
And the PM was also forced to scrap a planned press conference to explain her deal after MPs demanded they hear it from her first in the Commons.
I could not look my constituents in the eye and say this would be a better deal than the one we have as a member of the EU
Dominic Grieve
She will instead run the gauntlet of angry Tory MPs with a statement to Parliament this morning.
The PM’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell immediately invited prominent Tory MPs into Downing Street in a bid to win them over and out of hardliners’ clutches as soon as possible.
Remainer Tory MPs also signalled they may vote down the deal.
Pro-Remain former transport minister Jo Johnson, who quit last week, branded the deal “a turkey”.
And ex Attorney-General Dominic Grieve said: “I could not look my constituents in the eye and say this would be a better deal than the one we have as a member of the EU.”
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Before Cabinet began, Brexiteers tried to pile pressure on members to block the deal. Ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis said: “If this deal is agreed it will be seen as a betrayal of the referendum result.
“It will be a sad day indeed if the Cabinet fail to recognise their responsibility and flinch from taking control of this process and demanding proper delivery on the referendum.”
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The ERG’s vice-chairman Mark Francois insisted there was “an irreducible core” of 40 ERG Tories who will definitely vote against Mrs May’s deal.
Both Remain and Brexiteer Tories blasted the deal as a sell-out, singling out a failure to win any end date on a commitment to stay in the customs union to keep the Irish border open.
Fresh analysis by the IMF that GDP would collapse by 6.7 per cent — or £6,000 for every household — boosted Mrs May’s plea to MPs to back her deal.
In an extraordinary piece of timing that the Treasury insisted was a coincidence, it was published just after the crunch Cabinet meeting began.
- NEW IMF analysis on Brexit says Britain will lose four years of economic growth, six percent of GDP by 2030, with no deal.
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