The Brexit Story deal has been the talk of the UK and the world at large for the longest period one can remember with fresh revelations coming out everyday amidst threats from MPs to quit and join the ones that have since quit.
Secret plans have been drawn up by Downing Street to delay Brexit for up to two months, it emerged today.The bombshell plan comes hours after Theresa May sparked MPs’ fury by delaying their final Brexit vote until as late as March 12.
And facing no chance of a “deal in the desert” at an EU summit in Egypt today, the Prime Minister admitted it’s now only “within our grasp” to leave on March 29 – pointedly refusing to guarantee it.Her comments sparked furious claims she is “running down the clock” and an angry row among Tory Brexiteers over fears we will no longer leave on time.
Now a delay to Brexit is one of three options in a paper being considered by No10, according to the Daily Telegraph.The others are said to be a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal, as planned, or a “conditional vote” on legal advice by the Attorney General.
Remain-backing junior minister Tobias Ellwood today said he is “encouraging” a delay if there’s no deal.”If we cannot get this deal across the line, we are facing the prospect of having to extend,” he told the BBC.
He refused to rule out Theresa May announcing a delay herself in the House of Commons this week.
“That I don’t know – I’m encouraging that to happen”, he said. “The Prime Minister is listening and is recognising the fact that we have tried very, very hard in order to secure a deal.”
Mr Ellwood said the damage of no deal now “overshadows” any leverage it had in negotiations with the EU, and slammed the Tory ERG of Brexiteers for keeping it on the table.
“There’s been a bloc voice in our party that has hindered the prime minister getting this across the line,” he added.
Tory ministers are in open warfare over whether to delay Brexit.Over the weekend Cabinet ministers Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark publicly demanded a delay if there is no agreement.
That prompted fury from Cabinet Brexiteers, while grassroots Tories backed a motion saying a delay would “betray” voters and “damage democracy” at the National Conservative Convention.
If Mrs May does announce a delay, she could claim it is needed to head off a rebellion by MPs this week.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP, is putting forward a plan on Wednesday that would let MPs vote for a delay if there’s no agreement by March 13.That would be one day after they’re due to vote on Mrs May’s deal – meaning they’ll effectively have a straight choice between her deal or a delay.
Ms Cooper today suggested a delay under her plan could last “a couple of months” but said the government would get to decide how long the delay is.
“The bill doesn’t revoke Article 50, it doesn’t block Brexit, it doesn’t solve the big decisions that Parliament still has to take and that the Government still has to take,” she said.
Ms Cooper urged 25 Labour MPs who helped defeat her last bid to delay Brexit to switch sides, saying: “This has really now become a question of the national interest.”
Meanwhile another bid to delay Brexit to May 23 at the latest is being put forward by Tory moderate Simon Hart.
Unlike Ms Cooper’s plan, his would not be legally binding and could therefore allow the government to back it as a compromise.And separately, plans have emerged on the EU side to delay Brexit as late as 2021 if no agreement can be reached on the Irish backstop.
The backstop is a clause in Theresa May’s 585-page Brexit deal with the EU that would extend EU customs rules over the UK from 1 January 2021 if there’s no way of keeping the Irish border open.
Brexiteers say it would trap the UK under Brussels’ orbit – frustrating Brexit.Mrs May won MPs’ backing last month to renegotiate the backstop, but EU chiefs have so far refused to do that.
Instead, it appears they may offer a legal “codicil” – an extra bit of legal text on top of an unchanged 585-page Brexit deal.Snookered Mrs May had to be taught how to play pool by her chief of staff last night after Italian PM Giuseppe Conte challenged her to a game.
And she had a crucial breakfast with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the two leaders attended an EU-League of Arab States summit in Egypt. She also met European Council President Donald Tusk yesterday and was due to meet the Irish premier Leo Varadkar this morning.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said: “These delays people are suggesting, they don’t actually solve anything, they just prolong these issues.”
But he did not rule out an extension to the Brexit date, saying only: “I’m not banking on there being a delay.”