Theresa May set to SCRAP third vote on her deal after Boris rails against it – opening door for long Brexit delay
The Brexiteer said the 'diet of capitulation' was set to continue and Britain faces even greater humiliation to come
THERESA May's Brexit deal is in trouble today as Boris Johnson and dozens of Tories are STILL refusing to back it.
Hopes were fading today that the PM would be able to sway enough wavers over to hold a fresh EU vote this week.
But in a hope that all was not completely lost, Jacob Rees-Mogg said he could get behind a deal as it was better than a two year extension which would basically be remaining in the EU.
The leading Tory Brexiteers are showing signs of a major split with just 11 days before we are scheduled to quit the bloc. It comes as:
- Talks with the DUP are ongoing to win them over at the last minute with reports of offers of a Stormont lock, or a seat at the Brexit negotiating table
- The PM will fly to Brussels to ask them for a delay to Brexit later this week
- Former Chancellor Norman Lamont urged MPs to get behind the PM and vote for the deal
- Labour boss Jeremy Corbyn will meet with Remainer parties to try and get support for a soft Brexit instead
- The PM's Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins could go as the price of saving her deal
Mr Johnson said the country faces an even greater humiliation to come if we go with the PM's deal, and urged her to return to Brussels this week and beg them for more concessions.
He's insisting he won't fold and vote for it - even if it means a long delay to Britain's departure.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph he said: "If we agree this deal – and unless we have a radical change in our approach to the negotiations – we face an even greater humiliation in the second phase.
"We have not found a convincing unilateral way out of the backstop.
"Unless we discover some willingness to resist, the diet of capitulation seems set to continue for at least two years.
"Unless we have some change – and at present, in the immortal phrase, nothing has changed – it is hard to ask anyone who believes in Brexit to change their mind."
But Mr Rees-Mogg showed signs that he could vote for the deal, even though he's not made up his mind yet.
He told LBC this morning: "A bad deal is better than remaining in the EU, in the hierarchy of deals.
"If we can get to No Deal, that's a better option... but the PM has come to the conclusion that it's either her deal or some form or remaining... her extension is basically remaining."
Over the weekend Esther McVey said she would have to hold her nose and vote for the deal when it comes back, to stop a long Brexit extension.
Brexiteers Simon Clarke, Daniel Kawczynski and James Gray also came out to back the deal.
And in a significant boost Northern Ireland's former First Minister David Trimble dropped his opposition to the so-called Brexit backstop.
The Nobel peace prize winner said she had received "substantive" concessions from the EU.
And ex-Vote Leave chief Matthew Elliott came out for the deal too, warning MPs: "It's May's deal or nothing."
Senior No10 figures have suggested that diplomat Mr Robbins will go before the next stage of talks to try and sway over more MPs, the
A bad deal is better than remaining in the EU
Jacob Rees-Mogg
Chancellor Philip Hammond said yesterday that the Government won't bring the Brexit deal back to the Commons for a third time unless they are sure they can get it through.
But as it stands so many Tories and the DUP are still standing firm against it.
If she doesn't get a deal passed by Wednesday she's set to ask the EU for a long extension when she goes to Brussels for a summit later this week.
Today David Davis, who backed the PM last week, said he could U-turn and distance himself again if Northern Ireland isn't happy.
He told The Times:"If they have not answered the Northern Ireland question properly I might not vote for it this time.
"I took them on trust last week. If they do not solve the Northern Ireland issue then they have got no chance anyway.
"If the DUP don’t back it then some of us who did could change our votes."
We will never surrender: leaving on March 29 is the only way to get a good deal, say Brexiteers
TWENTY Brexiteer Tories have insisted they won't back Theresa May's Brexit deal - no matter what happens.
Lucy Allan, Adam Afriyie, Crispin Blunt and several others said "No Deal will prove to be the precursor to a very good deal indeed".
They wrote in the Telegraph: "It is not our fault that we are confronted by two unacceptable choices - but it will be our fault if we cast a positive vote in favour of either for fear of the other."
Meanwhile, ex-Tory Chancellor and lifelong Eurosceptic Norman Lamont even threw his weight behind the deal last night.
he said: "Under her deal we will definitely leave.
"We will be removed forever from the threat of political union, and we will not be subsumed as a province for a new country called Europe.
"This opportunity will never happen again and history will not understand if it is Conservative MPs who prevent us reclaiming our self-government."
And 20 Tories wrote in The Telegraph to warn they are still voting against the deal no matter what.
"We believe that, if Britain leaves the European Union as planned on March 29, 'no deal' will prove to be the precursor to a very good deal indeed," the group says.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours