Brexit: May calls for cabinet showdown as MPs reject all
options
MPs’ failure to back alternative to PM’s Brexit deal prompts
renewed talk of snap general election
How did each MP vote in the indicative votes?
Heather Stewart, Jessica Elgot and Rowena Mason
Tue 2 Apr 2019 07.27 BST First published on Mon 1 Apr 2019
22.26 BST
Theresa May will summon her warring cabinet to Downing
Street for a five-hour showdown on Tuesday after parliament once again failed
to coalesce behind any alternative to her rejected Brexit deal.
Three options – a common market, a customs union and a
second referendum – were all narrowly rejected in the process of indicative
votes, prompting renewed talk of a swift general election.
After Conservative MPs failed to support any option in
sufficient numbers, there were immediate recriminations in the House of Commons
chamber.
The Tory MP Nick Boles declared that he had failed to
persuade his colleagues to compromise with his “common market 2.0” plan and
announced his departure from the party. Supporters of a second referendum from
across parliament were also accused of increasing the risk of a no-deal by
refusing to back soft Brexit options.
With just 10 days left until Britain is due to leave the EU
without a deal unless the government secures a fresh delay from Brussels, the
Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, said the cabinet would have to decide the way
forward.
“This house has continuously rejected leaving without a
deal, just as it has rejected not leaving at all. Therefore the only option is
to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal,” he said.
One Downing Street adviser said that a snap election fronted
by May was being “tested” and that it was viewed by some in the No 10 bunker as
“the least worst option”.
Cabinet ministers were instructed to abstain from Monday’s
voting process, which was devised by a cross-party alliance of MPs led by the
former Conservative minister Oliver Letwin.
The customs union motion tabled by the former Tory
chancellor Ken Clarke was rejected by a margin of just three votes, by 273 to
276, while a second Brexit referendum fell short of a majority by only 12
votes.
The Norway-style “common market 2.0” Brexit deal championed
by Boles was also rejected, by 261 votes to 282, despite Labour frontbench and
SNP support. Just 33 Conservative MPs backed it.
Boles said: “I have failed, chiefly because my party fails
to compromise” – and made the dramatic announcement to MPs that he would no longer
sit in the House of Commons as a Conservative before leaving the chamber.
Nick Boles MP
✔
@NickBoles
I am resigning the Conservative whip with immediate effect.
The Conservative Party has shown itself to be incapable of compromise so I will
sit as an Independent Progressive Conservative.
23.3K
11:27 PM - Apr 1, 2019
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8,888 people are talking about this
His emotional statement emphasised the toxic atmosphere in
the Tory party over Brexit. One outspoken leaver, Mark Francois, told the BBC’s
World Tonight he believed the chancellor had been privately encouraging MPs to
support a customs union, in what he called a “coup”.
“If you’re listening, Mr Hammond,” he added, “my fraternal
message to you is: ‘Up yours!’” Less outspoken Brexiters were also delighted by
Monday night’s deadlock, believing it will lead to a no-deal Brexit.
All three alternative Brexit options lost by a significantly
narrower margin than the prime minister’s deal, however, which was rejected for
a third time by 58 votes last Friday.
MPs also declined to back a separate attempt by the SNP MP
Joanna Cherry to allow parliament to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
After parliament had its say, cabinet ministers will have to
decide whether to tack towards a closer future relationship with the EU in an
attempt to build a majority; head for a no-deal Brexit on 12 April; or give
May’s deal a final shot this week, probably on Wednesday.
Several cabinet ministers, including Andrea Leadsom and Liam
Fox, are adamant that a no-deal exit would be preferable to a customs union –
and they claim the support of more than half of the parliamentary party, many
of whom signed a letter to May making the point.
The home secretary, Sajid Javid, a contender to succeed May
as Conservative leader, made his position clear on Monday, tweeting that a
customs union might appear to be “some kind of soft comfort blanket” but was
“in reality more of a straitjacket”.
However, another well-organised group of ministers,
including Amber Rudd and David Gauke, are determined to avoid no deal and
believe May should instead seek a cross-party consensus.
A cabinet source said: “I honestly just think the prime
minister needs to make a firm decision.”
Ministers have been told to expect three hours of political
cabinet – excluding civil servants – on Tuesday morning, and another two hours
of full cabinet in the afternoon.
May’s official spokesman underlined her continued objections
to Britain remaining part of a customs union on Monday. “She has said on a
number of occasions that she believes it is important for the UK to have its
own trade policy,” he said.
No 10 has not ruled out bringing the prime minister’s deal
back to the House of Commons for a fourth time if the Speaker will allow it.
May could table it together with an amendment submitted last
week by the Labour MPs Gareth Snell and Lisa Nandy allowing parliament a
greater say in the next stage of the Brexit negotiations. That could help the
government to circumvent the Speaker’s ruling that May cannot bring her deal
back unchanged.
May said last Friday that she would accept the Snell-Nandy
amendment, and Conservative whips hope it could attract the support of a string
of Labour MPs from pro-Brexit seats this week. But just five voted for her deal
last week after hearing that she would back it.
If she brings her deal back, the prime minister is likely to
seek to pit it against a backbench-led effort to push the government towards a
softer deal, sharpening the dilemma for Brexiters, who prefer a cleaner break
with the EU.
The schools minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said: “I would like the
option that parliament comes up with put up against the prime minister’s deal.
I am confident that the prime minister’s deal would win the day.”
She is also expected to point to the risks that failure to
agree a solution could result in a risky general election.
Many Conservative MPs, including Boris Johnson and Jacob
Rees-Mogg, changed sides to support her deal on Friday after May’s promise to
leave Downing Street if she won the vote. May has invited those MPs who
switched sides in favour of her deal to meet her, in the latest attempt to
shore up support.
EU27 leaders have granted Britain an extension to the
article 50 deadline to 12 April, but if May wants to avoid no deal she will
have to request a longer extension at an emergency EU summit next week.
Brussels sources say that would be granted only if the prime
minister points to a plausible alternative Brexit plan that could command the
support of a stable majority in the Commons.
While the backbench-led debate on Brexit options continued
on Monday, MPs were also holding a separate discussion triggered by a mass
petition calling for article 50 to be revoked, which has gained more than 6m
signatures. The petition is the most popular in parliament’s history.
The Independent Group MP Chuka Umunna said young people
would suffer the worst effects of no deal. “They are the ones who will never
forgive this generation of politicians if we allow this catastrophe to happen,”
he said.
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