The DUP has confirmed that it will be voting against Theresa May’s Brexit deal this evening. A party spokesman said that ‘sufficient progress has not been achieved at this time’ and that ‘it is clear that the risks remain that the UK would be unable to lawfully exit the backstop were it to be activated’. Along with the European Research Group’s recommendation to vote down the deal, this means that the Prime Minister’s strategy of trying to win over the DUP and the Brexiteers in her own party has failed. It means that she is facing a landslide defeat tonight.
The Commons benches behind the Prime Minister as she is giving her speech at the start of the debate are eerily empty, almost as if a good number of Conservative MPs can’t face being there to watch government disintegrating. Some are urging her to delay the vote by 24 hours to give MPs time to debate the deal properly – and, of course, to find some kind of compromise.
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