Boris Johnson rips to shreds Theresa May’s last-ditch Brexit plan to win over MPs
The Prime Minister said she would let MPs decide between the hated Brexit backstop and extending the transition period as part of a last-ditch plan to win over rebels - but Brexiteers have slammed the plans as 'not possible'
BORIS Johnson and other Brexiteers have blasted Theresa May's promise to give MPs a vote on the UK's future if there's no deal with the EU.
The ex-Foreign Secretary slammed the PM's revelation that she could give MPs a choice on what to do in a bid to win over her fuming backbenchers.
Boris hit back, saying her plans were "simply not possible".
He tweeted: "Under her deal the EU has the legal right to stop us extending the transition and make us enter the backstop - whatever the PM or Parliament says."
Earlier today Mrs May revealed her last-ditch plans to try and win around Tory rebels into supporting her deal next week, as she faces almost certain defeat.
She told Radio 4 that MPs would have a decision by the end of 2020 over whether they wanted to avoid the hated Northern Ireland backstop.
Mrs May said that would be "a choice between going into the backstop and extending the transition period."
She said she was "talking to people" about the "role of Parliament" in deciding what happens next - and there would be "pros and cons of both sides of that".
"The backstop is not automatic," she stressed.
The news comes as:
- EU leaders suggested the leave date could be pushed back beyond March if she loses
- Top Tory MP Johnny Mercer became the 104th MP to trash Mrs May's deal and say he would vote against it
- A string of Cabinet ministers have gone into No10 for secret meetings
- Tories warned the PM will be forced to resign if she loses the key vote
- No10 said again that the Brexit deal can't be tweaked ahead of next week's vote
But a whole host of other Brexiteers have came out to slam Mrs May' latest plan.
Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Sun: "The Withdrawal Agreement makes it senior law - which cannot be overridden by an Act of Parliament ket alone a motion."
And on the idea that there has to be a form of backstop for the EU to agree to it, he added: "The argument there has to be a backstop to have an agreement is untested and lies at the heart of the Government's problem."
Tory MP Anne Marie Trevelyan said today the idea was just "hot air".
She told ITV: "It doesn't solve the problem... It's written in a treaty which the EU have signed into, they have to agree to change it for it to be real thing."
Lib Dem MP quits anti-Brexit party to vote FOR Brexit
A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MP has resigned the party whip so he can vote FOR Theresa May's Brexit deal.
Stephen Lloyd, the MP for Eastbourne, revealed today he wanted to vote for the PM's Brexit deal next week so he can honour the promise he made to voters in his area.
"I made it completely clear I would accept the result of the referendum and I would support the deal I brought back from Brussels," he told ITV today.
"It's become clearer and clearer for me to do so that I keep my word... and say, fine, I resign the whip."
The Liberal Democrats is an anti-Brexit party which is fighting for a second referendum to overturn the first result.
But Mr Lloyd said he would continue to be a member of the party and has "nothing but respect and affection" for the party's leader Sir Vince Cable.
His area voted by 57 per cent to Leave the EU in 2016.
Damning legal advice yesterday revealed the backstop plan for Northern Ireland would tie us down to the EU forever - which is one of the main reasons MPs hate her deal so much.
Mrs May acknowledged today that "people have a concern of the backstop, that we could be in it definitely" but argued that the other option of staying in a transition would mean paying more money to the EU and accepting unlimited EU immigration for longer too.
She said that killing off her proposals could end up in the UK leaving the bloc with No Deal - or would risk no Brexit.
The PM also confirmed that she IS still planning on pushing ahead with a crunch vote on Tuesday, even though she's likely to be crushed by her own MPs.
Last night it was revealed that Cabinet ministers have been begging her to scrap the vote altogether.
But she told the BBC: "We are in the middle of five days of debate in Parliament which will lead up to a vote on this issue."
Half of voters think Theresa May should quit - but we WON'T get a better deal
HALF of voters think Theresa May should quit after she lost three Commons votes this week, a new poll has shown
According to a Survation study for the Daily Mail, 50 per cent of all voters said the PM should resign.
But 40 per cent of them said the EU WON'T offer Britain a better deal if she goes, and MPs must vote for the deal on the table.
Almost half of them said it was too late to stop Brexit, but a third said it wasn't.
But ideally, the public would want MPs to vote against Mrs May's deal - by 46 per cent to 31 per cent.
The poll puts some pressure on MPs to back Mrs May's deal, suggesting they think it's the only realistic option.
Mrs May also said this morning that any agreement must include the backstop in some way.
She said: "There is no deal without a backstop."
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Earlier this week there was fury as Tory rebels backed Labour in a coup to inflict a landmark defeat on the Government.
Ministers were voted to be in contempt of Parliament for the first time ever - and were forced to release a stream of legal documents which proved her deal risks splitting Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK “indefinitely”.
And a separate vote proposed by rebel Tory Dominic Grieve gave MPs the power for what happens in the event that Parliament rejects her deal next week.
The DUP - Mrs May's Northern Irish allies - have warned they won't carry on backing the Government if she wins the vote.
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