Tag: David Mundell

Cabinet ministers fell over themselves to brief their Brexit positions after the marathon seven-hour meeting broke up. However, there were soon conflicting reports about how much Brexiter ministers were really adopting hardline positions in the meeting, or just claiming to have done so afterwards, perhaps with leadership ambitions in mind. Some cabinet sources said at least 14 cabinet ministers were fighting for no deal in preference to a long delay. But others pointed out the real choice was between a short delay and a no-deal Brexit, of which only four members of the cabinet were in favour. This is how the arguments broke down: Any extension to find a deal There were at least 11 ministers present who agreed with the overall plan to ask for a longer extension and reach out to try to find a compromise with Labour or parliament more widely. These were Theresa May, David Lidington, Michael Gove, Philip Hammond, David Gauke, Amber Rudd, Matt Hancock, Greg Clark, Damian Hinds, Claire Perry and Geoffrey Cox. The views of David Mundell, Karen Bradley, Julian Smith and Caroline Nokes appear likely to fall into this camp but were not immediately clear. Theresa May warned Brexit pact with Corbyn could tear Tories apart Read more Keep second referendum on the table Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is known to have made the argument that a second referendum may be necessary but this did not garner much support from his colleagues. Oppose a long delay to Brexit but accept a short one Some cabinet sources said there were 10 ministers who were OK with a short delay until 22 May for a final push to get May’s deal or a modified deal through but they certainly did not want a long delay. One cabinet source told the Guardian that, surprisingly, only James Brokenshire and Jeremy Wright spoke out strongly against a long delay.

May: MPs 'need to face up to the consequences of their decisions' MPs will vote on Thursday on delaying Brexit after they rejected the idea of leaving the EU without a deal. As it happened: MPs vote on no-deal Brexit MPs narrowly rule out no deal Brexitcast: Something has changed In a series of votes on no-deal Brexit, the Commons first voted by a margin of four to reject no deal outright. That vote was on a motion which said the UK should not leave the EU without a deal specifically on 29 March, but with the option of a no-deal Brexit at any other time. Government ministers defied those orders and there were claims Theresa May had lost control of her party. But for Number 10 there's an opportunity too, because MPs will soon be presented with a new choice - back the PM's deal, which has already been defeated twice, or accept the chance of a delay to Brexit. MPs just voted clearly to say we should never leave EU without a deal 2. Votes on delay tmrw — Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) March 13, 2019 Report On Thursday, MPs will be asked if they want to delay Brexit until 30 June - to allow the necessary legislation to get through Parliament. But that is only if MPs back Mrs May's deal by 20 March, the government says. If they fail to back her deal by then, then the delay could be longer, Mrs May warned MPs, and it could clash with the European Parliament elections in May. Vote results MPs also voted by 374 to 164 to reject a plan to delay the UK's departure from the EU until 22 May 2019, so that there can be what its supporters call a "managed no-deal" Brexit.