Brexit crisis threatens to destroy British Government — but there’s good news for Aussies

Many thought Theresa May would have fallen from the UK’s top job by now, but she has defied rebels within her own party. But a new threat is looming.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May must feel caged in as her Brexit plan and her leadership comes under fire. Picture: Associated Press

Just when Theresa May thought it was safe to get on with governing the United Kingdom - and then came a new threat to her job.

The British prime minister has been fending off resignations of senior and junior members of her government, calls from her own people to resign, and waiting for the moment enough of her Conservative MPs call for her to face a confidence vote.

That was expected by today, but it has so far not eventuated, although that could change at any moment.

She now faces another problem and this one is so great it could blast her and the entire government from office.

Mrs May doesn’t have a majority in the British House of Commons and needs Northern Ireland’s DUP to keep her in power. And its 10 MPs are unhappy with her proposed Brexit deal and they are starting to flex their muscles.

The DUP abstained in a series of amendments to a crucial budget bill as payback over what they say are her broken promises on Brexit.

Under the terms of their supply and confidence deal the DUP is supposed to back the government on Budget matters and on confidence votes.

But DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson said Mrs May’s Brexit agreement with Brussels breached a “fundamental” assurance that Northern Ireland would not be separated from the rest of the UK, the BBC reported.

So they fired a warning shot.

“We had to do something to show our displeasure,” he told BBC2’s Newsnight. The DUP also unexpectedly backed a Labour amendment which failed when Labour didn’t have enough MPs in the chamber to allow it to pass.

Despite that, Labour have seized on the drama and accused the government of no longer being “functioning”.

Jon Trickett, Labour’s shadow minister for the cabinet office, said: “We no longer have a functioning government. With Brexit only a few months away something has got to give.”

So far the DUP have said their move doesn’t mean the end of the arrangement with the Conservatives, but an editorial in London’s Evening Standard tonight said the end could be closer than we think.

“This morning the idea that the DUP might bring down the Government that oversaw the weakening , in their eyes, of the Union, no longer seems implausible as it once did.”

Mrs May has problems everywhere she looks.

GOOD NEWS FOR AUSSIES

Mrs May has a crisis on her hands as she tries to manage her country’s exit from the European Union, but the chaos does have an upside for Australians.

The prime minister named-checked Australia in a speech overnight as she attempted to sell the benefits of her Brexit plan.

A crucial plank of the exit strategy is ending the rule that allows Europeans free movement in the UK. Scrapping that benefit means Australians are likely to get a better go when seeking jobs in London.

“Once we’ve left the EU we will be fully in control of who comes here,” Mrs May told the Confederation of British Industry business group in London overnight.

“It will no longer be the case that EU nationals, regardless of the skills or experience they have to offer, can jump the queue ahead of engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi.

“Instead of system based on where a person is from, we will have that is built around the talents and skills a person has to offer.”

Brexit could have a pay off for Australians.

While she said migrants had made an important contribution to the British society and economy, she said “getting back full control of our borders” was “of great importance to the British people”.

“Not only will this deliver on the verdict of the referendum, it should lead to greater opportunity for young people in this country to access training and skilled employment,” she said.

“And we want an immigration system for the future that everyone can have confidence in.

“Yes, a system that works for business, one that allows us to attract the brightest and the best from around the world, more streamlined application and entry processes, and we’re already taking action in that regard, introducing the use of E-gates for visitors from the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.”

BRITS GET TASTE OF AUSSIE MEDICINE

It’s something Australians need no introduction to after our Canberra leaders perfected the art of political instability over the last decade.

Now it’s Britain’s turn for turmoil, with Theresa May’s minority Conservative government becoming more divided and bitter by the hour.

The trigger for the chaos has been Mrs May’s draft agreement with the European Union that sets out the terms and conditions of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the trading and political bloc — it has been widely criticised and there are calls from all sides for the Prime Minister to stand down.

She has refused to go, which means the only way to remove her is if 15 per cent of MPs, currently 48, send a letter of no-confidence. Mrs May would then face a confidence vote that she would need to win by a simple majority. Win and she cannot be challenged for another year — saving her from a fate suffered by Malcolm Turnbull in late August — but political commentators agree she would need to win with fewer than 100 MPs voting against her to be able to carry on without her authority being shredded.

If she loses, she would not be able to stand in the leadership election which is voted by MPs who whittle down the candidates until there are only two remaining. Then members of the wider party would choose between the final two, with the winner becoming Conservative Party leader and prime minister.

That process usually takes months, but would likely be sped up given the circumstances.

Will Theresa May continue as Prime Minister?

While Australia is now known as the coup capital of the world, the UK has its own turbulent past — and in a strange piece of timing this week marks the 28th anniversary of when the country’s last female leader, Margaret Thatcher, was removed by her MPs.

Mrs Thatcher quit in November 1990 after she won an initial leadership ballot — but with a strong vote recorded against her — and her Cabinet convinced her it was time to go.

A former senior Conservative MP who was in parliament at that time tonight warned against repeating history.

Andrew Mitchell said “hunting down” Mrs May would do “untold damage” to the party.

“If these letters succeed in triggering a challenge then the party will turn on itself and that is not a good place for the Conservatives, let alone the country,” he told The Times.

British media are reporting tonight only 25 of the required 48 letters have been submitted but senior Brexiteers — who are pushing for a harder departure from the EU — maintain they have commitments from more than 50 MPs to send letters by the end of Monday (local time).

But in a sign of the confusion gripping Westminster it is far from certain if that will happen, and if MPs have lied to colleagues about sending the letters that could destroy Mrs May’s premiership.

The sun sets behind the Houses of Parliament in London as debate rages about whether Mrs May and her Brexit strategy can be saved.

Sir Graham Brady is the MP who will oversee any leadership election. Asked if people had lied he said: “Yes. This isn’t a new phenomenon.

“I have been doing this job for eight years and some years ago I certainly had the experience of seeing somebody claiming publicly to have written me a letter when they hadn’t and then again seeing them in public on the media saying they had withdrawn the letter that they hadn’t written in the first place.”

Mrs May’s much talked about resilience has been on full display over the past week.

Mrs May has refused to renegotiate her deal which means she risks losing more Cabinet ministers, possibly today.

She was defiant in a Sky News interview.

“A change of leadership at this point at this point is not going to make negotiations any easier and it’s not going to change the parliamentary arithmetic. What it will do is mean that it is a risk that we delay the negotiations and that is a risk that Brexit gets delayed or frustrated.”

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