Brexit

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: Jacob Rees-Mogg’s withering verdict on May’s Brexit deal

Only a handful of MPs have spoken up in support of Theresa May’s Brexit deal in the Commons. But the criticism from a certain Tory backbencher will worry her more than most. Jacob Rees-Mogg took to his feet in the Commons to ask why he shouldn’t now hand in a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister. Here’s what he said: ‘My right honourable friend – and she is unquestionably honourable – said we would leave the customs union. Annex two says otherwise. My right honourable friend said that she would maintain the integrity of the United Kingdom. A whole protocol says otherwise. My right honourable friend said that

Theresa May

Full text: Theresa May’s Brexit Commons statement

With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to update the House on our negotiations to leave the European Union. First, I want to pay tribute to my Rt Hon Friends the Members for Esher and Walton and Tatton. Delivering Brexit involves difficult choices for all of us. We do not agree on all of those choices but I respect their views and thank them sincerely for all that they have done. Mr Speaker, yesterday we agreed the provisional terms of our exit from the European Union, set out in the Draft Withdrawal Agreement. We also agreed the broad terms of our future relationship, in an Outline Political Declaration. President Juncker has now written to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Esther McVey’s resignation adds to Theresa May’s woes

Esther McVey has quit the government. The Work and Pensions Secretary has long known to be unhappy with Theresa May’s Brexit policy and at yesterday’s Cabinet pushed repeatedly for a vote, so she could register her objection to the withdrawal agreement. Having been denied that vote, she realised that the only way a Cabinet Minister can really show that they oppose a policy is by resigning—and has done so this morning. McVey’s resignation is less of a blow to May than Raab’s; most Tory MPs were expecting her to go at some point. But it adds to the sense of crisis surrounding the government this morning. In total, four ministers

Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab: Why I had to resign as Brexit Secretary

Dear Prime Minister, It’s been an honour to serve in your government as Justice Minister, Housing Minister and Brexit Secretary. I regret to say that following the Cabinet meeting yesterday on the Brexit deal, I must resign. I understand why you have chosen to pursue the deal with the EU on the terms proposed, and I respect the different views held in good faith by all of our colleagues. For my part, I cannot support the proposed deal for two reasons. First, I believe that the regulatory regime proposed for Northern Ireland presents a very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom. Second, I cannot support an indefinite

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Theresa May and the 48 letters: could it be today?

If Tory MPs are right when they tell me that by lunchtime today there will be 48 letters of no-confidence in Theresa May lodged by them with Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 backbench committee, what does that actually mean? Well it is all about how they hate the Brexit plan she unveiled yesterday – or so I am told by rebel Brexiter MPs. It is their “proof”, if such were needed, that May could not get her Brexit plan approved by Parliament in a “meaningful vote”. The logic is that if they are prepared to vote against her leadership of the party, they are obviously prepared to vote

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

May’s deal proves one thing: the establishment always wins

Peasants’ Revolts tend not to work out too well in this country, for the peasants. I suppose that is why we have so comparatively few of them. There is a flurry for a while and then normal service is resumed. It is often said that Wesleyan Methodism helped to quell any uppity tendencies among the working classes during the Industrial Revolution, but I suspect it was more a case of the proles understanding that whatever they did, they would not win. Too much ranged against them, marshalled by people who naturally knew much better about what was good for them. And so it is with our latest Peasants’ Revolt on

Wednesday

Joanna Rossiter

MPs should not fall for the EU’s promises on the future relationship

A note leaked to the Times written by the EU’s deputy chief negotiator shows that the EU has no intention of releasing the UK from the customs union if May’s deal is signed. This attitude should come as little surprise to those close to the deal. Throughout the process, the EU have wished to hamper the UK’s future trading relationships to ensure that Brexit does not set a precedent for other countries who might seek to leave. But, in spite of this leaked memo, the EU will not be admitting their intentions in public any time soon. Quite the opposite. The political agreement that will be published alongside the withdrawal

James Forsyth James Forsyth

May’s Brexit cabinet: the rows, the threats, the deal

Five hours of cabinet discussion produced several memorable moments. Esther McVey’s push for a formal vote, I understand, went on for several minutes and ended with Mark Sedwill, the new Cabinet Secretary, looking up the rules on procedure. Perhaps more worryingly for No. 10, both Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, and Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, urged Theresa May to go to Brussels and get more before putting the deal to Parliament. Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, was his usual colourful self. His argument was that this life raft, constructed of oil drums and a plastic sail, needed to make it out on to the open ocean. But when those in

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Michel Barnier hails the draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement

‘White is the new green’, said Michel Barnier as he held the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement aloft at a press conference in Brussels tonight. The EU’s chief negotiator was referring to the chunks of text that had previously been coloured in where there had been disagreement. Not too long ago, the white sections were few and far between. Now, the colours are all gone and the mammoth 585 page proposed Brexit agreement is the result. A no deal Brexit has, for now at least, been avoided. We’re all familiar with the dire warnings of the cost to Britain of an acrimonious Brexit. These predictions are contentious but one thing is sure: on

Theresa May

Full text: Theresa May’s Brexit Cabinet statement

The Cabinet has just had a long, detailed and impassioned debate on the draft Withdrawal Agreement and the Outline Political Declaration on our future relationship with the European Union. These documents were the result of thousands of hours of hard negotiation by UK officials, and many, many meetings, which I and other ministers held with our EU counterparts. I firmly believe that the draft Withdrawal Agreement was the best that could be negotiated, and it was for the Cabinet to decide whether to move on in the talks. The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop. But the collective decision of Cabinet was that

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Corbyn exposed the flaw in May’s Brexit plan at PMQs

Today’s choice for ‘A Book At Bedtime’ is the government’s draft Brexit deal. At daybreak the masterpiece was being referred to as a 500-page tome but its estimated length has now risen to 540 pp. That explains why the PM looked so calm and unruffled and at PMQs. No MP is going to risk brain damage by working through this Proustian monster. Even the wonkiest wonk in Westminster won’t read it all, and May stands to profit from her colleagues’ ignorance of the fine print. Roger Gale, who once held the demanding role of children’s TV producer, spoke up for every workshy lazybones in parliament. He asked the PM to

Alex Massie Alex Massie

A bad Brexit deal was inevitable

Well, what did you expect? I appreciate this is a question the Brexiteers are manifestly incapable of answering but that says more about their preconceived notions of what Brexit could reasonably deliver. It is a reflection, too, of the manner in which there have always been two different kinds of Brexit.  There has been the Brexit of dreams and the Brexit of reality. The Brexit of psychology and the Brexit of technical policy detail. There has always been an obvious tension, to put it mildly, between these two positions and it is not anyone else’s fault that in pursuit of their dreams the diehard Brexiteers decided the detail could all

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Theresa May’s Brexit is a mess. But will Tory MPs dare move against her?

It’s time for Bond — Basildon Bond,’ is the joke among pro-Leave MPs as Theresa May serves up her mess of pottage as Brexit. Market research, however, shows the joke does not work on MPs under 40 because they do not know what Basildon Bond is. So perhaps I should explain to the hip Spectator crowd that Basildon Bond remains the commonest brand of quality paper on which to write letters. There need to be 48 such letters sent to Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, to provoke a vote of confidence in Mrs May among Conservative MPs. There are certainly far more than 48 who do not,

David Davis

Why the Cabinet must reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Let’s be clear. If the Cabinet supports the Prime Minister’s proposed deal today, and they somehow manage to whip Parliament into allowing it to proceed, then a whole raft of irreversible consequences will flow from it.  This will begin the breakup of the United Kingdom, not just isolating Northern Ireland, but also undermining the Unionist cause in Scotland. The so called backstop will not actually be a backstop at all but a foundation for EU ambition to constrain our opportunities and limit our competitiveness. In Brussels they admit this privately. This deal will contrive to make the Customs Union inescapable forever and effectively trap the UK to perpetual domination from Brussels. The

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Brussels ‘leverage’ leak makes life even more difficult for Theresa May

It’s crunch day – yes, really this time – for Theresa May. After spending the evening in one-on-one meetings with a select few cabinet ministers, this afternoon the Prime Minister will chair a special cabinet meeting – where she will seek approval for her proposed deal. The devil will be in the detail – but for some the detail is neither here nor there with the European Research Group quick to see red ahead of reading the document. Last night, Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested on Newsnight that he could be forced to withdraw his support for the Prime Minister. Not helping matters is a Brussels leak that makes its ways into

Saturday

James Forsyth

The only case Mrs May can make for her Brexit deal

Jo Johnson’s resignation, the DUP kicking off and the European Commission’s Article 50 task-force talking about a lack of progress mean that it hasn’t been a good end to the week for Theresa May. As I write in The Sun this morning, one government source says ‘if there’s no November Council, then no deal goes into overdrive’. But given Theresa May’s desire to avoid no deal there probably will be some sort of agreement in the not too distant future. But it will be flawed—and Theresa May should say so. Why would a Prime Minister admit that a deal they’ve negotiated isn’t great? Because if May tries to say that

Friday

Joanna Rossiter

Why everyone wants a taste of Brexit

When Boris Johnson declared this week that Theresa May’s new deal would be a ‘Christmas present of the finest old Brussels fudge,’ he embraced one of Brexit’s most enduring motifs: food. This week’s Spectator cover story ‘Brexit is Served‘ is full of culinary metaphors. The language of food seems to cross the Brexit divide: Remainers and Leavers are united in their love of food and for good reason: when it comes to food we all have wildly different tastes and it is the same with Brexit. Like Marmite, you either love Brexit or you hate it. It began with Andrew RT Davies’ promise to the Tory party conference in 2016.

Cindy Yu Cindy Yu

The Spectator Podcast: why May’s Brexit deal is hard to stomach, but the alternative is worse

As Theresa May prepares to unveil her Brexit deal, we ask: just how bad is it, and what happened to ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’? In the American midterms, the Blue Wave didn’t happen, but Democrats did take control of the House of Representatives – what next for Trump’s presidency? And last, as we approach Remembrance Sunday, who are the lives we are remembering, and is it time to move on? First, Theresa May is serving up two unpalatable options on Brexit – her deal or no deal. If we take her deal, Britain risks being tied to the EU forever through the customs union; but if

Thursday

Christopher Hart

Mike Leigh

So there I was in Soho Square on a cold and rainy morning, nibbling my complimentary almond croissant and eagerly looking forward to the advance preview of Mike Leigh’s new historical epic Peterloo. This People’s Uprising of 1819, and its brutal suppression by a wealthy, uncaring and out-of-touch metropolitan elite, took place precisely 200 years before we finally leave the EU next year. And thrilling if traumatic times they were too. ‘An old, mad, blind, despised and dying King… A people starved and stabbed in th’ untilled field…’ wrote Shelley in some of his most ferocious lines. So Leigh surely saw Peterloo as a powerful metaphor for our own Brexit

Wednesday

Joanna Rossiter

The leaked Brexit memo exposes May’s botched strategy

The leaked plan of how the Government might try to sell the Brexit deal contains a telling passage. The memo instructs the Cabinet Office to talk up the agreement by ‘comparing it to no deal but not to our current deal’. For all the claims by a government spokesman that the ‘misspelling and childish language in this document should be enough to make clear it doesn’t represent the government’s thinking’, this key phrase is the closest we have come to a disturbing admission: that Theresa May’s deal could leave us worse off than remaining in the EU. The suggestion that this might be the case – coupled with the speed with which it seems Downing Street