Theresa May has signalled for the first time that Brexit may be delayed if MPs fail to back her own plans for the UK’s divorce from the EU.
In a bid to avoid a mass resignations from ministers worried about a no-deal exit, the prime minister announced today a Commons vote could be held to extend the March 29 deadline for leaving the EU.
Keen to head off a possible backlash from hardline Brexiteers, May will also allow a rival vote to let MPs back a no-deal Brexit.
Staunch eurosceptic MP Andrea Jenkyns warned that any delay would “certainly” damage trust in politicians, while DUP leader Arlene Foster said a hard deadline was needed to force the EU into concessions.
Speaking in the Commons today, May said a meaningful vote on her deal would be held by Tuesday March 12.
She said if her deal is rejected, MPs will then be given the chance to vote by March 13 for a no-deal Brexit.
The prime minister said if no-deal is rejected, then MPs will vote on March 14 on whether to ask for a “short” extension to Article 50.
She said that a delay to “the end of June” would “almost certainly have to be a one-off” because the UK is not taking part in European Parliament elections in May and could not practically continue as member of the EU without MEPs.
The PM added that as a result there would be “a much sharper cliff edge” to focus minds in Brussels and Westminster.
And she warned: “An extension cannot take no-deal off the table. The only way to do that is to revoke Article 50, which I shall not do, or agree a deal.”
Key questions remain as to the exact length of the delay, and whether the government will whip its MPs to vote for any extension.
Jeremy Corbyn said he had “lost count” of the prime minister’s explanations for her “grotesquely reckless” delays.
May has repeatedly insisted that the UK will leave the EU ‘on time’ next month, declaring she needed to deliver on the wishes of the 17 million people who voted to Leave.
But up to 30 ministers and ministerial aides had warned that if May failed to change tack they would be forced to rebel against the government and back Labour’s Yvette Cooper to force her hand.
The Cooper amendment, which sought to hand power from the PM to parliament, would allow for an extension of the two-year Article 50 process for quitting the 28-nation bloc.
In the light of the PM’s retreat, senior Tories Oliver Letwin and Nick Boles said the amendment was no longer needed. Cooper said she would table a version of her bill to transpose May’s promises into law.
HuffPost UK understands that today’s Cabinet meeting heard Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom and a clutch of ministers warn against a delay.
Leadsom and others also criticised Amber Rudd, Greg Clark and David Gauke for going public with a threat to resign unless they were allowed to back the Cooper move to oppose a no-deal exit.
Treasury chief secretary Liz Truss labelled them ‘Kamikaze Cabinet ministers’, while party chairman Brandon Lewis and chief whip Julian Smith both said it was unhelpful to put disunity on display. May said that it was important the Cabinet spoke with one voice.
Foster, whose DUP props up the Tories in power, made clear that delay could be a mistake. She told Bloomberg: ”’In negotiations you need that compression of time to come to a deal.”
The European Research Group (ERG) of backbench Brexiteers held back from heavy criticism, stressing its priority was changes to the Northern Ireland ‘backstop’ that could link the UK indefinitely to EU rules.
ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg said his “suspicion” was that the delay was *a plot to stop Brexit altogether”, but some of his colleagues felt that a no-deal Brexit was more likely in June as it would be harder for May to call for a further extension.
May’s move also failed to impress some pro-EU MPs. Sarah Wollaston, who quit the Conservative Party to join The Independent Group, said all that was on offer from the prime minister was “the possibility of a short gangplank added to the cliff edge”.