UK ministers resign over widely-derided Brexit Plan
Theresa May faces a possible vote of no confidence in the coming days after suffering the loss of eight key people.
British Prime Minister Theresa May faces a possible vote of no confidence that could lead to her own dismissal in the coming days after she suffered the loss of eight key people — two from her inner Cabinet, including the Brexit secretary Dominic Raab — and humiliation in the parliament.
Such was the political drama less than 24 hours since a split Cabinet agreed to support the European Union draft withdrawal plan negotiated alongside Downing Street mandarins, ministerial positions were left vacated.
Those who resigned in protest over the draft deal were Mr Raab, work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, Junior Brexit minister Suella Braverman and the Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Varam and Conservative Party Vice Chairman Rehman Chishti.
Today, I have resigned as Brexit Secretary. I cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU. Here is my letter to the PM explaining my reasons, and my enduring respect for her. pic.twitter.com/tf5CUZnnUz
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) November 15, 2018
Permanent private secretaries Ranil Jayawardena, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan also resigned, as did Nikki Da Costa, the director of legislative affairs in Downing Street.
Earlier this morning I informed the Prime Minister I was resigning from her Cabinet pic.twitter.com/ZeBkL5n2xH
— Esther McVey (@EstherMcVey1) November 15, 2018
After a bruising and hostile day, Mrs May warned of a “deep and grave uncertainty’’ if the Brexit Withdrawal plan is scuppered.
Michael Gove, who infamously skewered the leadership chance of Boris Johnson back in 2016 was offered the role of Brexit secretary after Mr Raab’s departure, but he reportedly told Mrs May he would only take it if he could renegotiate the deal with Brussels.
A master of the numbers, Mr Gove is also mindful that Mrs May has to survive a vote of no confidence, due to be triggered soon when 48 letters have been tabled to the Conservative party chairman, Graham Brady.
Mr Gove was even weighing up whether to resign and then stand against Mrs May which could be triggered within the next day or so.
There appears to be a swollen mutiny against Mrs May — who is blamed for abusing her trust, going against her own red lines and delivering a Brexit plan that may keep the UK stuck without any power in the EU customs union, and allowing the European Court of Justice to take control of some UK rules.
In three hours of answering questions from Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat MP’s in Westminster Mrs May was left in no doubt that her plan is highly likely to fail during next month’s Meaningful Vote. But she has determinedly vowed to plough on, believing with her head and heart that the draft deal is the best possible outcome.
“Am I going to see this through? Yes,” Mrs May said at a press conference. “If we do not move forward with that agreement, nobody can know for sure the consequences that will follow. It would be to take a path of deep and grave uncertainty, when the British people just want us to get on with it.”
Mrs May said she was sorry at the resignations and understood their unhappiness, but believed her deal was the right one. “I believe with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people,” she said.
“I am going to my job of getting the best deal for Britain and I’m going to my job of getting a deal that is in the national interest.
Mrs May, a keen cricket fan, was asked if her team would be able to get the runs its needs.
“You might recall one of my cricket heroes was always Geoffrey Boycott,” she replied. “He stuck to it and he got the runs in the end.
“This agreement protects security, the integrity of the UK and a peaceful settlement and no hard (Irish) border. Yes it is difficult and uncomfortable, but decisions and to be made and this deal delivers what the people voted for.’’
Yet the only way the plan could be passed in the parliament is with support from Labour rebels, but Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn senses the chaos will result in a general election and is likely to instruct all Labour members to fall in line.
Only a few MPs supported Mrs May’s position, with politicians on both sides of the house deriding it for its capitulation to the EU, the expense of the £39 billion divorce bill and the inability of the UK to extricate itself without EU permission if the unpopular Irish backstop position is activated.
Then when senior Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg publicly released his letter of no confidence in Mrs May, a further 17 MPs did the same.
Mr Rees-Mogg, who heads the 60 MP strong Brexit group, European Research Group, said he wouldn’t stand as a leadership contender, but offered the names of a handful of Brexiteers who could take on the job.
“One of the problems was having a Remainer (as Prime Minister,’’ he told reporters.
“When compromises were
made they were made in a Remainer direction rather than a Leave direction.’’
He said Mrs May’s words did not match her actions.
Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader, said Mrs May “clearly doesn’t listen’’. He said “we stand up for the UK and the whole UK and it’s integrity or we vote for a vassal state with the breakup of the UK?’’
The DUP support of the Conservative party to provide confidence and supply is now in doubt.
Meanwhile in Brussels, the European Commission president Donald Tusk said the EU was best prepared for “a no-Brexit scenario”.
A YouGov poll taken immediately after the release of the draft plan — and possibly before the most insidious aspects of the deal were understood — showed that there is little public support for Mrs May’s deal. Only 19 per cent supported the plan, while 42 per cent opposed it and 39 per cent didn’t know.
Those who opposed the deal were roughly split between Leavers (42 per cent) and Remainers (47 per cent).
The British public are furious at Mrs May, labelling her “toxic’’ plan as traitorous for accelerating the removal of UK sovereignty after being explicitly told to do the opposite in the referendum.
Those that resigned in protest of the draft deal were the Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, work and pensions secretary Esther McVey, Junior Brexit minister Suella Braverman and the Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Varam and Conservative Party Vice Chairman Rehman Chishti.
Permanent private secretaries Ranil Jayawardena, and Anne-Marie Trevelyan also resigned, as did Nikki Da Costa, the director of legislative affairs in Downing Street.
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