British cabinet close to collapse over Brexit

Theresa May was to be warned late last night that her government faces total collapse unless she passes her Brexit deal.

***Getty Bestpix*** CREWE, ENGLAND - MARCH 30: Brittania, the 'Brexit Steam Train' pulls into Crewe station on it's way to Sunderland on March 30, 2019 in Crewe, England. Jeremy Hosking, founder of the campaign group, Brexit Express, took his own steam train, the Britannia, to Sunderland from Swansea to mark the original date of Britain leaving the EU. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Theresa May was to be warned late last night that her government faces total collapse unless she passes her Brexit deal — as the Prime Minister’s aides were at loggerhe­ads over whether to accept­ a soft Brexit or call a general election this week.

In an emergency conference call yesterday, Brexiteer cabinet ministers agreed they would resign­ if Mrs May accepted a Custom­s union or got Tory MPs to vote for Britain to take part in European­ elections in May.

They will deliver their threat when the Prime Minister consults her cabinet. More than half her Commons party, 170 MPs and ministers, have signed a letter telling Mrs May to pursue a no-deal departure from the EU rather than accept a soft Brexit. It also demands that she resign by May 22.

But Mrs May will face resig­nations from at least six cabinet ministers on the party’s remain wing if she backs no deal. In a leaked email, Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes, who attends cabinet, told a constituent Mr May’s “deal is dead” and said she would prefer “no Brexit rather than crashing out”.

MPs will seek to hijack the House of Commons agenda today to try to agree on permanent membership of the Customs union, a Norway-style deal inside the single market, or a second EU referendum. If Mrs May does not accept the outcome, they have threatened to pass legislation to force her to do so.

But two leading constitutional experts have warned that the governme­nt has the right to ask the Queen to block a soft Brexit deal by refusing to give royal assent­ to any bill forced on the government by backbenchers.

A paper that was passed to Downing Street warns that attempt­s by backbenchers to seize power from the government will “provoke damaging institutional conflict” and “may prompt the government to respond with counter-measures”.

Senior government sources said such a nuclear option would be difficult, as the Queen is supposed­ to be above politics. But Mrs May’s advisers acknowledged that she is facing an almost impossi­ble situation this week.

The Prime Minister’s team want to put her Brexit deal before MPs for a fourth time tomorrow, bolstered by their success in narrowin­g her margin of defeat to 58 votes on Friday from 230 votes in January. If it fails again, her spin doctor, Robbie Gibb, and political aide Stephen Parkinson are pushing for a general election — a stance that has provoked heated exchanges with Chief Whip Julian Smith, who wants to prioritise her deal.

One Brexiteer cabinet minister described a general election as “an act of ultimate self-harm” and said a Customs union was “not Brexit” and would lead to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister. “Neither option is something that I could accept. The PM now needs to take sides.”

Mrs May’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, and deputy, David Lidingto­n, are pressing for a soft Brexit deal and a growing number of Conservative MPs are set to back a new referendum. At least six have indicated they are prepared to back the so-called Kyle-Wilson amendment, by which any final Brexit deal approved by MPs should be approved by voters too. Labour MPs backing a soft Brexit compromise are expected to travel to Brussels soon to thrash out the details with European Commission officials, negotiating behind ministers’ backs.

MPs reacted with fury to the prospect of an election, saying they would vote for one only if the Prime Minister stood aside and let someone else lead the party into the campaign. Two-thirds of the Commons would have to back the plan to trigger an election.

Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan called for a government of national unity, bringing together Tory and Labour moderates to pass a soft Brexit.

Mrs May now has less than two weeks to convince the 27 other EU countries that she can break the deadlock. Otherwise she will have to ask the bloc for a long extension or take Britain out of the EU on April 12 with no deal to soften the economic shock.

A leading Labour MP said a soft Brexit was also a headache for Mr Corbyn. John Mann warned the Labour leader that the working class would turn its back on the party after ignoring their support for Brexit. Mr Mann claims that Labour is “on the verge of saying to the working class that your opinion does not matter” or saying that their “vote does not matter”, after the party whipped against Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement.

The Labour MP, who supported that agreement, said: “The consequence of Labour choosing to ignore the votes of our working-class bedrock of support is that the working class will turn its back on Labour.”

The Sunday Times