MPs will not get to vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal until after the new year, Downing Street confirmed yesterday.
Parliament was supposed to have its meaningful vote on Tuesday, but with the Prime Minister facing certain defeat, the Government shelved it, promising to go to Europe to seek assurances on the controversial Irish backstop.
That delay infuriated Brexiteer MPs, resulting in Tory backbenchers forcing a vote of no confidence.
May won, but only by 200 to 117, a much smaller margin than expected Many of those who supported the Prime Minister did so because she promised she would not lead the Government into the next election.
She refused to give further details of her departure yesterday, telling journalists: “People try to talk about dates. What I’m clear about is the next General Election is in 2022 and I think it’s right that another party leader takes us into that General Election.”
READ MORE: Supreme Court rules Holyrood was entitled to pass Continuity Bill
May had little time to celebrate her victory, heading straight to Brussels to plead for those assurances with leaders at an EU summit.
While there is a willingness in Brussels to give the Prime Minister some words to take home with her, either before or after Christmas, they may not be enough to please any of the 117 MPs who voted against her.
A leaked draft summit text, claims the “backstop would apply only temporarily unless and until superseded by a subsequent agreement”.
It also vows that “if the backstop were nevertheless to be triggered ... it would only be in place for a short period and only as long as strictly necessary”.
Tory Brexiteers, however, want the Withdrawal Agreement changed.
The EU27 have firmly rejected that. German chancellor Angela Merkel, who met May in Berlin on Tuesday, said: “I do not see that this Withdrawal Agreement can be changed.
“We can discuss whether there should be additional assurances, but here the 27 member states will act very much in common and make their interests very clear.”
French president Emmanuel Macron said: “We cannot re-open a legal agreement, we can’t renegotiate something which has been negotiated over several months. We can have a political discussion in this context.”
Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, said the Prime Minister had to honour her commitments on the backstop. “As the European Union, we are very keen to offer explanations, assurances, clarifications, anything that may assist MPs to understand the agreement and hopefully to support it but the backstop is not on the table,” he said.
In particular, he insisted there could be no “unilateral exit clause”.
Dominic Raab, a former Brexit secretary said it was difficult to see how May could remain in No 10 if that was all she came back with: “We will have to back her as best we can.
“But the problem is that both in relation to Brexit and the wider sustainability of the Government, given the likelihood of any changes to the deal, given the likely scale of opposition, it looks very difficult to see how this prime minister can lead us forward.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel