May’s deal on rocks as ERG reject backstop plan

When Sir Graham Brady tabled his Brexit amendment asserting that Theresa May’s deal would be palatable if the backstop is replaced with an alternative arrangement, the hope was that enough Conservative MPs would align behind it to show Brussels that – so long as they were prepared to compromise – a deal could pass the Commons. That plan has hit a fairly large stumbling block this evening. Members of the European Research Group – made up of backbench Tory Eurosceptics – gathered in Portcullis House to come up with a formal position ahead of tomorrow night’s vote.

The consensus was that they would not back the Brady amendment – nor any other, including the Murrison amendment which attempts to put a time limit on the backstop. As one MP put it when they exited the room early; ‘We’ve decided that no deal is better than a bad deal’. Speaking