Theresa May faces a catastrophic three-digit defeat on Brexit deal again, claim Brexiteer Tories
BREXITEER Tory MPs claim Theresa May is on course for another catastrophic three figure defeat on her EU deal.
Losing the new make or break Commons showdown – set for two weeks time – would be the PM’s fourth drubbing a row and end her Premiership.
One senior Eurosceptic Tory MP claimed “dozens” like him who had reluctantly backed Mrs May’s agreement with Brussels in earlier votes now plan to switch back again, as anger boils over about her decision to try to do a deal with Labour.
They were lead by ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who told The Sun: “It’s over for this deal, I’m not going to support it and I’m not the only one.
“The Government has no intention of trying to replace the backstop, in which case all reason to vote for this deal has gone.”
At the same time, Leave-backing Labour MPs are also refusing to bail out the PM, with one telling The Sun that the PM “will be lucky to get 10 of us”.
It’s over for this deal, I’m not going to support it and I’m not the only one.
Iain Duncan Smith
And the DUP also dug in with its continuing refusal, with the Ulster unionists’ Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson accusing the Government of having “broken its arrangement with us”.
But Jeremy Corbyn threw Mrs May a potential lifeline.
While his spokesman said there would be no deal with Mrs May unless she bows to his demands for a customs union, he suggested Labour may abstain on the first vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
That would allow it to be amended during its later stages if a majority of MPs can be built for any alternative Brexit option.
As the Government began to build a case to back Mrs May again, Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay warned rebel Tory MPs that shooting down her exit deal again will rip up two years of Brussels as it would mean “the Barnier deal is dead”.
Other Cabinet ministers also weighed in with doomsday warnings for rebel Tory MPs.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said the bill’s defeat will create “a path that inexorably takes us to either the potential of revocation of Article 50 or leaving without a deal”.
‘DELIVER THE VOTE OF THE PEOPLE’
No10 have confirmed the key vote will be held between June 4 and 7, the same week that US President Donald Trump will arrive on a state visit to London.
Mrs May called on all MPs to think again in the run-up to the votes.
The PM said: “What this Bill does is delivers on Brexit.
“When MPs come to look at this Bill, when they come to vote on this legislation, I’m sure that they will be thinking of the duty that we have to ensure that we deliver on the vote of the British people.
One veteran Tory Eurosceptic MP who plans to vote for the bill said it will fail because “it’s got personal for her now”.
The MP added: “So many of my colleagues don’t want her to succeed they’re prepared to do anything to stop her. It’s very sad”.
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Mr Barclay also poured doubt on has signalled that plans for indicative or definitive votes as an alternative way of building a Commons majority for an outcome are dead because Labour has refused to sign up to it.
He told a committee of peers: “There is little point in having indicative votes if people are not willing to be bound by the consequence of that.
“To date the opposition are not willing to commit to that process.’’
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