Five former Cabinet ministers and Jacob Rees-Mogg have written to Theresa May to warn her she is heading for a ‘no deal’ Brexit unless she changes course.
In an open letter published by HuffPost UK, ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, David Davis, Priti Patel, Owen Patterson and John Whittingdale join Rees-Mogg in demanding that the PM abandon her plans – or face heavy defeat in the Commons.
On the day the Government is set to publish its first economic assessment of the costs of various exit scenarios, the six Brexiteers call on May to refuse to pay the UK’s £39bn Brexit divorce bill until it gets legal guarantees on future trade.
They say that unless the current UK-EU “political declaration” agreed last weekend is turned into a legally binding document, a no-deal Brexit is “much more likely”.
“Our grave doubts about this proposal are shared across the House of Commons by members of all parties,” the letter states.
“By continuing to pursue it – when it is plain that it does not have enough votes to carry it through the House of Commons – you are making a ‘no deal’ scenario more likely.
“The ‘no deal’ situation will involve some element of risk, challenge and short-term disruption – just as the historic vote to leave in 2016 did.
“But we still believe, as you once did, that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’. It is better than a deal which would cost our country £39billion and hand the EU the keys to our destiny.”
Current estimates suggest May could crash to defeat in the crunch Commons vote on December 11, with more than 70 Tory MPs lining up to rebel against the Government whip.
With the Treasury expected to publish figures claiming May’s plans will leave the country better off than crashing out of the EU on World Trade Organisation tariffs, the five former ministers point out that the £39bn cost of payments to the 27-nation bloc will be “eye watering” for many Leave voters.
“The proposed deal would also cost British taxpayers at least £39billion – in excess of £1,400 per household – with mechanisms in the Agreement which could cause that to increase.
“This eye-watering sum is paid without any guarantee of a trade deal. It would be in our national interest as a bare minimum to insist on a legally binding trade deal before we part with taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”