Theresa May defeated on Brexit again as ERG Tories abstain
PM defeated by 303 votes to 258, plunging hopes of uniting
her party around renegotiated deal into chaos
Rowena Mason, Jessica Elgot and Daniel Boffey
Thu 14 Feb 2019 20.46 GMT First published on Thu 14 Feb 2019
17.46 GMT
Theresa May has suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands
of hardline Eurosceptics, plunging her hopes of uniting the Conservatives
around a renegotiated Brexit deal into chaos.
The prime minister failed to win support for her EU strategy
after the European Research Group (ERG), led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, abstained on a
government motion because it appeared to rule out a no-deal Brexit.
The defeat marks the end of a temporary truce over Brexit
among Conservative MPs, who had voted last month in favour of May’s strategy if
she could obtain some concessions from Brussels on the issue of the Northern
Ireland backstop.
The prime minister was not present for the House of Commons
defeat, by 303 votes to 258, in which she again lost control of her party in
the crucial final weeks before Britain is due to leave the EU on 29 March.
It is likely to cause fresh doubt in Brussels that May has
the power to win parliament’s support for an amended EU withdrawal agreement.
The Eurosceptic refusal to cooperate with No 10 underlined the difficulty the
prime minister is likely to face in securing concessions from the EU that will
satisfy them.
In Brussels, diplomats said the result confirmed that the
prime minister was incapable of commanding the support of her party on key
votes, and that she needed to work cross-party. “No one can take any good from
this,” said one diplomat.
The vote is not binding but it appeared to be a show of
strength by around 60 MPs in the ERG, which included Boris Johnson, the former
foreign secretary; Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary; and Steve Baker,
the former Brexit minister. A small number of pro-EU MPs also refused to back
the motion.
Senior figures in the ERG used the result to increase
pressure on the government to adopt the so-called Malthouse compromise – a
proposal to use unspecified technology to avoid customs checks at the Irish
border – which the EU appears likely to reject. Many in the ERG would be
equally happy to see a no-deal Brexit.
No 10 played down the significance of the vote and insisted
that May understood the concerns of the ERG. However, that appeared only to
infuriate many remain-supporting Tories who are determined to block a no-deal
Brexit.
The government offered a separate concession to
remain-supporting Tory MP Anna Soubry that it would publish some papers
relating to the impact of a no-deal Brexit. However, one ERG source said the
group was unconcerned about this because the public paid no attention to
“project fear” at the referendum.
Nick Boles, a former government minister, said the vote
should be a wake-up call to May that she cannot rely on the ERG’s support.
“Maybe, just maybe, the penny will now drop with prime
minister and her chief whip that the hardliners in the ERG want a no-deal
Brexit and will stop at nothing to get it,” he said. “Responsible MPs of all
parties must come together on 27 and 28 March and stop them.”
In an escalation of tensions, Richard Harrington, one of
May’s business ministers, even suggested MPs in the ERG should join Ukip.
“The prime minister has done a pretty good job of standing
up to them up till now, but they were drinking champagne to celebrate her
losing her deal and I regard that as being treachery,” he told the House
magazine.
“I read that Nigel Farage is setting up a new party called
‘Brexit’ and if I were them I’d be looking at that, because that seems to
reflect their views more than the Conservative party does. They should read
carefully what that party’s got to offer, because in my view they’re not
Conservatives.
“There are people who are very solid and stringent in their
views and if I were they I would be looking at a party that seems designed for
them – Nigel Farage’s party.”
He also dismissed the Malthouse compromise as “fanciful
nonsense”.
May had previously said that she had “a substantial and
sustainable majority” among MPs for her approach, after parliament voted in
January for her to seek “alternative arrangements” to the Northern Ireland
backstop from the EU and separately against a no-deal Brexit.
The government motion simply restated parliament’s position,
but the hardline Eurosceptics balked at the idea of endorsing a strategy that
takes a no-deal Brexit off the table. MPs will next get a chance to debate and
vote on May’s EU strategy on 27 February.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, demanded that May come to
the House of Commons to explain her Brexit plan in the absence of parliamentary
support for her approach.
“Tonight’s vote shows there is no majority for the prime
minister’s course of action in dealing with Brexit,” he said. “Yet again her
government has been defeated. The government cannot keen on ignoring parliament
or ploughing on towards 29 March without a coherent plan.”
No 10, however, simply issued a statement saying that May
understood the concerns of her Conservative colleagues. Downing Street had
always insisted that it never intended to remove the option of pursing a no
deal Brexit.
“While we didn’t secure the support of the Commons this
evening, the prime minister continues to believe, and the debate itself
indicated, that far from objecting to securing changes to the backstop that
will allow us to leave with a deal, there was a concern from some Conservative
colleagues about taking no deal off the table at this stage,” the statement said.
“The motion on 29 January remains the only one the House of
Commons has passed expressing what it does want, and that is legally binding
changes to address concerns about the backstop. The government will continue to
pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on 29 March.”
May also attempted to shift some blame on to Labour, saying
its failure to support her motion made the prospect of leaving the EU without a
deal more likely.
Labour sources said panicking Conservative whips had
discussed the possibility with them of accepting a Labour motion and voting
with the opposition in order to avoid an embarrassing defeat. Ultimately,
however, they decided to accept a humiliating loss rather than appear to join
forces with the opposition.
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