Tory Brexiteers think ‘no deal would be okay’ as PM fails to change minds

Theresa May has been told “nothing has changed” despite the prime minister beginning a fresh New Year bid to deliver her Brexit deal.

With the House of Commons due to vote on her EU exit agreement in the next 10 days, Mrs May warned MPs the country would be in “uncharted territory” if they voted down her deal.

The parliamentary showdown is expected on 14 or 15 January, with the prime minister preparing to set out “assurances and measures” over the next few days as she tries to convince sceptical MPs.

These include specific measures relating to Northern Ireland, plans for a greater role for parliament in Brexit decision-making, and further assurances from the EU amid concerns about the so-called backstop arrangement for the Irish border.

However, Tory MPs opposed to Mrs May’s deal told Sky News on Sunday they had heard nothing to prompt them to change their minds.

One Brexiteer suggested MPs attitudes had recently “hardened” towards a belief leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement would be “absolutely okay”.

And the DUP, who prop up the minority Conservative government at Westminster, signalled their opposition to the deal had not weakened.

Having pulled a pre-Christmas vote on her deal due to the prospect of a significant defeat, Mrs May insisted the vote will now “definitely” go ahead in mid-January.

“If the deal is not voted on at this vote that is coming up, then actually we are going to be in uncharted territory,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

“I don’t think anybody can say exactly what will happen in terms of the reaction we will see in parliament.”

Mrs May sidestepped questions about whether she could keep putting her deal back to MPs if it is rejected a first time round.

She also attacked those campaigning for a second EU referendum for “disrespecting” Leave voters, while she accused Labour – who will vote against her deal – of “playing politics” in order to create the “greatest chaos”.

In a message also issued to her own party’s Brexiteer MPs, Mrs May said: “We have got people who are promoting a second referendum in order to stop Brexit, and we have got people who want to see their perfect Brexit.

“I would say don’t let the search for the perfect become the enemy of the good because the danger there is that we end up with no Brexit at all.”

The prime minister repeated her mantra that “no deal was better than a bad deal”, but stressed her agreement meant “what we have on the table is a good deal”.

“I am continuing to listen to colleagues and will continue to talk to colleagues about this and we are continuing to talk with the EU about the further assurances that can give MPs the confidence of knowing that they can support this deal,” she said.

Having survived a confidence vote among her MPs, Mrs May would not answer whether she would remain as Tory leader for months or years.

But, she said: “I was clear before Christmas with my colleagues on two things: one, I’m not going to call a snap election and secondly that I’m not going to be leading the party into the 2022 general election.”

ANALYSIS: No change as PM offers same arguments

Commenting on Mrs May’s TV interview, Sky News’ political editor Faisal Islam said: “There’s basically been no change over Christmas other than the hope her MPs will have seen her light in the Christmas skies and have been persuaded by local voters to come into line.

“She repeated the same essential arguments that were not persuasive to parliament last month.

“It’s difficult to find many MPs who say that Christmas has changed much.

“Also, the scale and depth of any reassurances that may come from Brussels look likely to fall short of anything requiring a further summit or that would subsequently change the attorney general’s legal advice on the backstop.”

He also predicted “at some point” in 2019, the UK “will be going back to some sort of national poll of some description”.

“The reason I say that, is, you have this fundamental impasse, which is that there is a majority in parliament that just does not want to see a no-deal Brexit – but it’s no doubt that it’s the default option.”

Despite the prime minister’s fresh plea to MPs, there were signs she is still on course for a damaging reverse.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds suggested Mrs May had yet to win his party’s backing for her agreement.

He said: “A number of commitments and promises were made when the meaningful vote was pulled.

“We have engaged with the government in an attempt to move forward towards a deal which can command support in the House of Commons.

“So far, the fundamental problems which make this a bad deal appear not to have changed.”

He added the backstop “remains the poison” in Mrs May’s deal as he urged her government to show it’s “made of the right stuff” in coming days.

Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was at the forefront of efforts to oust Mrs May last month, told the Sunday Express that MPs critical of Mrs May’s deal “have not gone soft over Christmas”.

He still expects more than 100 Tory MPs to vote against Mrs May’s agreement.

Fellow Brexiteer Peter Bone, commenting on whether MPs may have changed their minds over their Christmas break, told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “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.”

And North East Derbyshire MP Lee Rowley claimed the prime minister’s latest plea had not convinced him to reverse his opposition to her deal.

“I understand the prime minister has got a very difficult job, I know that this is a difficult time, I know a lot of people just want to move on from Brexit as do many of us, but the reality is that the deal doesn’t work,” he told Sky News.

“It doesn’t work for many of us in parliament but more importantly doesn’t seem to work for many people out there and I haven’t heard anything today or over Christmas that changes my view that I should vote against it when it does eventually come into parliament in the next few days.”

Senior Labour MP Yvette Cooper also claimed it “seems like nothing has changed since before Christmas”, while the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said there was “nothing new” from the prime minister following her TV interview.

Meanwhile, Labour’s own divisions over Brexit risked deepening after shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry suggested the People’s Vote campaign for a second EU referendum is a means by which to “slap the Labour Party around”.

“I’ve said this to them myself, that it is a perfectly legitimate campaign for them to be involved in,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“What I would like them to particularly be focussing on is taking the arguments as to why we should remain in the EU to those people who voted to Leave and to try and change some hearts and minds, rather than using it, as some people I think do, as an opportunity to attack the Labour Party and the leadership of the Labour Party.”

Many prominent Labour MPs, including Streatham MP Chuka Umunna, are supporters of the People’s Vote campaign.

Mr Umunna admitted to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge he would not be “disingenuous and pretend” there is yet a majority of MPs in support of a second EU referendum.

But, he added “what happens now and how people feel now will be very different” once the Commons vote on Mrs May’s deal has been held.

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner suggested Labour could offer a second Brexit referendum, once a “new incoming Labour government” had negotiated their own deal with Brussels.

“At that stage it makes sense to go to the country and 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’,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge.

“And it seems to me, at a personal level, what I would then say is that is the time when we would then say to people ‘now take a decision on what we have managed to conclude’.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Tory Brexiteers think ‘no deal would be okay’ as PM fails to change minds