With another set of indicative votes taking place in parliament later today, talk is already turning to what happens if the House of Commons backs a Brexit deal where Britain stays in the EU’s customs union. And, if that took place, how this would be received by the Brexiteers within the Tory party, who see a customs union as anathema to their Brexit vision.
Right on schedule, ERG member Steve Baker was on Politics Live this afternoon, and was asked how he would react if May listened to parliament and tacked a customs union on to the Withdrawal Agreement. After stressing that such a decision would ‘shatter’ the Conservative Party and break the pledges made in the 2017 manifesto, he was pressed by Jo Coburn if that meant he would vote with Corbyn on a no-confidence motion which would bring down the government.
In response, he stressed that ‘At this point I can foresee no circumstances, while as a Conservative MP, I vote against the government in a confidence motion.’
But then went on to add:
‘But we are approaching the point where the stakes are now so very high and so transcend party politics and what this country is about, and the fundamental British value that political power rests on consent, that I think these things are coming on to the table.’
Theresa May’s week couldn’t be getting off to a better start…
Watch here:
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