Tag: Graham Brady

Mrs May has promised MPs a vote on her deal on or before 12 March. Tory MP Bone denies Brexiteers are split Minister quits over Brexit delay vote Brexit: A really simple guide They say it is up to to Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, who is in talks with the EU, how he achieves an exit mechanism from the backstop. He also sought to allay the fears of Brexit-backing Tories that Mrs May's offer to MPs of a vote on delaying the UK's departure - if her deal does not get through Parliament - could scupper Brexit. The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March, with or without a deal. Mrs May believes the majority of the MPs who voted against her deal - including 118 Conservatives - would back it if she managed to secure changes that would prevent the UK being tied to EU customs rules indefinitely. She has promised MPs another vote on her deal by 12 March - and if that fails, she says MPs will get a vote on whether the UK should leave without a deal, and then, by 14 March, a vote on whether Brexit should be postponed for a short period. Some Tory MPs would prefer to see the UK leave without a deal, rather than the PM's deal, even with changes. 'Improved deal' Mrs May could find herself relying on the votes of Labour MPs from Leave-voting parts of the country, who are in favour of Brexit but want guarantees from the PM that workers' rights will not fall behind the EU after Britain's departure. She said as many as 30 Labour MPs felt the same way, with even more against another EU referendum. PM might think she has a chance Imagine Theresa May sitting with a calculator - trying to figure out if she has any prospect of winning the vote on a new deal she's promised in the next nine days.

Hard Brexiters have warned Theresa May that the only proposal they are likely to support to break the Brexit impasse is a version of the “Malthouse compromise”, which envisages removing the backstop from the draft European Union exit treaty. So start stockpiling now | Matthew d’Ancona Read more Steve Baker, the vice-chair of the European Research Group, said he and other Conservative Eurosceptics could not support the alternative they believed the prime minister favoured – an addendum to the existing EU withdrawal agreement. Baker is one of five backbench MPs who will meet Steve Barclay, the Brexit secretary, on Monday, in the first meeting of a new working group aimed at examining whether technological solutions could eliminate the backstop. “As far as I’m concerned, the Malthouse compromise is the only game in town if we’re going to reach an agreement in Brussels,” Baker said, indicating that only rewriting the draft withdrawal agreement to remove the backstop would satisfy Tory Brexiters. She is preparing to go to Brussels armed with specific proposals as to how to break the Brexit deadlock after the first deal May negotiated was defeated by 230 votes in January, the worst defeat suffered by a government in modern times. Asked about this, he said: “We need to leave the European Union in a smooth and orderly way. Play Video 1:06 The cabinet minister also dismissed weekend newspaper reports that Downing Street strategists were considering holding a snap general election on 6 June if May could not get a Brexit deal through parliament. “The last thing we want is a general election, the people will never forgive us for it,” Javid told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC. They have been given a very clear mandate, now it’s our job to get on with it.” There are signs that the Conservatives have started to gear up for a possible snap election, with the party’s chief executive, Sir Mick Davis, having placed the Tories on a “war footing” last week and increased fundraising activities under the cover of the local elections in May. When he responded that the party HQ was focused on the local elections, it was dismissed as a “non-denial” and other MPs joined in, calling on him to rule it out completely.

Theresa May would go back to Brussels with “enormous firepower” to renegotiate her Brexit deal if the Commons backed an amendment watering down the Irish backstop provision, a senior Conservative backbencher has said before a crucial series of votes. Blow for May as Ireland stresses it will not yield on Brexit backstop Read more Graham Brady said he was hopeful of ministerial support for his amendment, which says the backstop should be replaced by “alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border”, even though Ireland has repeatedly stressed such a change cannot happen. There is speculation that the government could formally back Brady’s amendment, which is intended to bring back onboard the many Conservative and DUP MPs who voted against May’s Brexit plan when it was overwhelmingly defeated in the Commons earlier this month. The vote against May’s deal “didn’t necessarily indicate that the agreement is dead”, Brady, who chairs the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers, told Today, just that MPs had “a very, very fundamental problem” with the backstop. Brady said his amendment was intended to break the impasse: “I’m hoping that the way in which the amendment is crafted can attract that very broad support. And if we can win the vote on my amendment, then I think it gives the prime minister enormous firepower when she goes back. Brady agreed that the change must be legally binding, adding: “I don’t think anybody’s going to accept something which is just warm words.” The Cooper and Boles plan seems set to get formal support from Labour, but the government is unlikely to allow ministers a free vote. This is probably the only opportunity parliament is going to have to intervene in this process, to take control.” He added: “29 March is an entirely arbitrary date, just two years on from when we sent the letter. And the truth is the prime minister has wasted time. She delayed the vote by a whole month over Christmas and New Year, as she thought she would lose it.

“It’s a victory, and not a close victory,” the justice secretary, David Gauke, said. “It’s a comfortable victory. We’ve had an election and a majority backing the prime minister. This has been hanging over her for months and months. There has been an attempt, and it’s failed.” Play Video 2:00 Immediately afterwards, and 10 yards down the corridor, Mark Francois, the deputy leader of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), was giving the 200 to 117 margin a very different perspective. Asked if the ERG had failed in its mission to oust May, Francois said: “I wouldn’t call 117 votes a busted flush. But if you’re a PM and a third of your MPs vote against you, that is very bad news.” Theresa May survives. Things are so bad we have to be grateful for that | Polly Toynbee Read more Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the ERG, said the result was terrible for Theresa May and called on her to resign. He told the BBC: “It’s a terrible result for the prime minister, it really is.” With the “payroll vote” of ministers, parliamentary aides and trade envoys all likely to have backed Mrs May, a majority of the remaining 160-170 backbenchers voted no confidence in her, he said. “Now it’s time for everyone in the party to unite behind the prime minister and allow her to get on with what is a hugely important job for this country,” said Damian Green, her former deputy and still a close ally.