Deal still on block despite May offering up her head

On a historic day of great Brexit confusion and indecision there was one momentous result: Theresa May will resign.

Theresa May passes John Bercow as she enters the Commons. Picture: AFP

On a historic day of great Brexit confusion and indecision there was one momentous result: Prime Minister Theresa May will resign.

But as is all things Brexit it is not straightforward. She has promised to go when the withdrawal agreement is passed, trading her head for scores of Brexiteer votes.

But two difficulties are in front of her: the numbers still don’t add up to the deal passing, especially with the Democratic Unionist Party sticking to its principles and refusing to back it; and House of Commons Speaker John Bercow may not allow her to table it.

Mrs May wants to table the withdrawal agreement for the third time today in parliament before the EU-imposed deadline is passed. She may have even tried to sneak it in last night.

She has had a spark of momentum with even Brexiteer leaders Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith doing a quick about-face to back her resignation/the deal among vocal claims of treachery and opportunism.

“You can hang on and be pure but in the end the thing I fought for may never happen. I genuinely think that unless this thing gets through, the House of Commons is going to steal Brexit,’’ Mr Johnson said.

Amid another astonishing day in Westminster, the takeover of parliamentary order by the backbenchers was a damp squib. All eight alternative Brexit plans that they had put forward were voted down. “In a spectacular display of indecision, the House of Commons has voted against remaining in the EU and every version of leaving the EU,’’ Tory MP James Cleverly said.

Options such as preferential trade deals, a no deal, a Norway-like deal, a Common market 2.0, were deeply unpopular. Labour’s choice for a Customs union and single market was beaten by 70 votes. Only two appear in any shape viable if they are pursued by the Commons and that’s to have a Customs union with the EU, and for any deal to be put to the British people for a confirmatory vote. They didn’t pass, but they were more popular than Mrs May’s deal last time round and Tory backbencher Oliver Letwin has planned for another day of debate about the options on Monday.

While the indicative votes all failed the numbers illuminate how the parliament is wanting a much softer Brexit, which might frighten even more Leavers to swing in behind Mrs May. About two dozen Tories have refused to buckle and are poised to vote against the deal.

Coupled with this and without the DUP’s support she will have to rely on Labour MPs in strong leave voting seats for any chance of success, and if they sense the vote will be close they could be persuaded to finally cross the floor.

In the indicative voting 27 ­Labour MPs defied the whip and voted against a second referendum, indicating they could back Mrs May. However, Mr Bercow not only repeated his insistence that the motion for Mrs May’s deal would have to be significantly different, he rejected some of the clever procedural ways that could have circumvented his decision.

Mrs May did not spell out what would happen to her leadership if she could not get her deal through. However, one Tory MP, John Whittingdale, said that if the deal failed then: “It would not be a question if Mrs May stayed, but whether the government stays.’’

Mrs May told a meeting of Tory MPs just before the votes that she was going to resign “earlier than I intended’’ after hearing “very clearly the mood of the parliamentary party”. “I know there is a ­desire for a new approach — and new leadership — in the second phase of the Brexit negotiations — and I won’t stand in the way of that. But we need to get the deal through and deliver Brexit,’’ she said.

“I am prepared to leave this job earlier than I intended in order to do what is right for our country and our party.’’

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was now a real chance Brexit would be cancelled. She warned that if Brexit was enacted by a deal so bad Mrs May has to promise to resign for it to pass it would make an already bad project worse.