Tag: Martin Kettle

A junior minister has resigned over the government’s planned Brexit deal, marking the start of a potentially treacherous day for Theresa May in which she must present the plan to parliament amid talk of more exits and a possible challenge to her leadership. “Worse, we will not be free to leave the customs arrangement unilaterally if we wish to do so.” Vara concluded: “We are a proud nation, and it is a sad day when we are reduced to obeying rules made by other countries who have shown that they do not have our best interests at heart. We can and must do better than this.” The resignation came as the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was sent out to argue that while the deal led to dissent in the cabinet meeting, it had now been agreed to, and was the only plan on offer. On BBC1’s Breakfast, Hancock urged critics to back the deal, saying they must “look at what the alternatives are”. He said: “This is a good deal, in the best interests of the country. One is leaving with no deal, which is not good at all, and the other is having another referendum and potentially no Brexit, and I think that would be hugely divisive, without being decisive.” Hancock declined to confirm reports that a significant minority of the 29 ministers at the five-hour discussion expressed doubts about May’s plan, after cabinet sources said several people, notably the work and pensions secretary, Esther McVey, spoke strongly against it. He added: “The reason we did that is because, although in any negotiated settlement there are compromises, and there are things that aren’t perfect for each individual, you’ve got to look at the deal in the round, the hundreds of pages of it, and this deal delivers on the result of the referendum.” Insisting that there was a good chance the deal could pass through parliament, something critics say is unlikely, Hancock said it counted as a good plan. For a couple of years of negotiation that is a good outcome.” But Starmer was scathing. We’ve now seen it, we’ve read and analysed 500 or so pages. That must be the first time in history that we have a proposed trade agreement to make trade harder, not easier.”