MPs return from the Christmas holidays tomorrow and from Theresa May’s appearance on the Andrew Marr Show today it seems nothing has changed.
The prime minister wants MPs to vote for her Brexit deal. And a majority of MPs still do not appear to want to.
May confirmed she is definitely “going to hold the vote” around 15 January as planned. We have, of course, heard that before.
She also ruled out holding a snap election. We have, of course, heard that before.
Labour’s ongoing struggle with the pressure to back a second referendum was the other main topic of the Sunday shows today.
And away from Brexit, the government also began the roll out of its new 10-year plan for the NHS.
The prime minister may have promised to hold the vote, but she repeatedly refused to rule out holding multiple votes on the deal if MPs do not back it the first time round.
“If the deal is not voted on, this vote that is coming up, then actually we are going to be in uncharted territory,” she told Marr.
“I don’t think anybody can say exactly what will happen in terms of the reaction we will see in Parliament.”
But it does not appear as if the Christmas break has convinced Tory MPs opposed to the deal to change their mind.
As HuffPost UK reported last week, an increasing number of Tory MPs and voters are coming round to the idea of backing a no-deal Brexit.
This was echoed today by veteran eurosceptic backbencher Peter Bone. Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, he warned No.10 not to expect any change in attitude from MPs - at least in the direction it wants.
“Well if there’s been any change, it’s hardened the attitude of MPs towards what’s called a no deal because the more and more information about the no deal, it’s clear that it’s absolutely okay to do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner suggested Labour could offer a referendum on a renegotiated Brexit deal.
He said Labour’s plan remained to push for a general election if May’s deal was rejected, and “we would set out what we would seek to negotiate in Europe to try and deliver”.
“The reason Theresa May has had such a botched set of negotiations is because of her red lines,” he told Sky News.
“If we as a new, incoming Labour government were to go to Europe without those red lines we know that we could get a different, better deal and that’s what we want to try and achieve.
“At that stage it makes sense to go to the country and to say ‘here we are, this is what we have managed to negotiate, this is the deal that we have managed to conclude because we don’t have the same red lines as Theresa May, we think it’s a better way forward’.”
But Emily Thornberry used her appearance on BBC 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics to attack the People’s Vote campaign for thinkings its job was to “slap the Labour Party around”.
“What concerns me about the People’s Vote movement is, as I’ve just said, is that instead of spending their time trying to change people’s minds, they spend their time smacking the Labour Party around the head, some of them,” she said.
The government agenda has been, perhaps understandably, all consumed by Brexit.
But May did use her Marr appearance to try and shift the focus slightly onto domestic policy.
The PM admitted the NHS has been missing its three major targets, but said the government’s new 10-year plan would help close the gap.
“We’re slipping against the targets because despite the fact we’re actually doing more, the demand is outstripping that,” she said.
The PM, who has promised an extra £20.5 billion a year for the NHS by 2023-24, said the plan would ensure that “every pound is spent in a way that will most benefit patients” to “relieve pressure” on the system.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was wheeled out on Sky News to also push the plan ahead of its formal launch.
The plan will also involve using technology to allow for more precise targeting of public health messages, Hancock told Ridge On Sunday.
He said: “We can target messages at people to try to make sure that they maintain healthier lifestyles. What I don’t like in this area is punishing the masses for problems that only a minority have.”
Hancock also said the repeatedly-delayed Green Paper on social care will be published “in the coming weeks” and “goes alongside this long-term plan for the NHS”.