Theresa May has made a surprising choice to replace Dominic Raab in the all-important role of Brexit Secretary: Stephen Barclay, who has been serving a junior health minister since January.
Barclay, who voted to leave the European Union, has never served in Cabinet before. But it appears May has found a loyalist to helm the Department for Exiting the EU, as Barclay has never rebelled against the government in parliamentary votes.
Elected to parliament in 2010, Barclay has also held the post of Economic Secretary to the Treasury. He was a director at Barclays bank before beginning his political career.
What it means: While Barclay supported the campaign to leave the European Union, the appointment of such an inexperienced Brexit Secretary will do little to appease pro-Brexit MPs angered by the diminishing importance of the position.
Barclay’s role will be limited to the domestic delivery of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, the Press Association reported, while Theresa May takes sole control of negotiations with the bloc.
Theresa May has replaced one of the two Cabinet ministers who resigned on Wednesday. She has chosen Amber Rudd to replace Esther McVey as Work and Pensions Secretary, the Press Association and others report.
Rudd resigned in April after admitting she “inadvertently misled” government over targets for the deportation of illegal immigrants, in the wake of the scandal over the wrongful threats of deportation for immigrants of the Windrush generation. An inquiry found earlier this month that she had been given inaccurate information by her officials in the lead-up to the crisis.
What it means: Rudd’s return to frontline politics ensures Theresa May will have a key ally back in her Cabinet. Rudd replaced May as Home Secretary after she was appointed Prime Minister, and was a high-profile defender of May during her time in office.
While her appointment fills one of the posts left empty since yesterday, May is yet to announce a new Brexit Secretary following Dominic Raab’s departure.
A second referendum is looking more likely now that Theresa May has unveiled her draft Brexit plan, according to Tom Watson, the deputy leader of UK’s opposition Labour Party.
“We’ve been saying that is on the table for a year-and-a-half. At that time, it seemed very unlikely that there would be a people’s vote, that was the insurance option at the end of a series of unlikely events,” Watson told The House magazine.
“It seems to me that it is more likely given the weakness of Theresa May’s position,” he added. “Given the weakness of her own government, I think it is more likely that we could get there.”
Several Labour MPs have called for a second referendum, or People’s Vote, this week. The party’s position is that it favors a snap general election, but could campaign for a People’s Vote if it fails to achieve one.?
Rumbling on in the background to this week’s Brexit drama has been a legal case related to Article 50, the section of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty that governs how member states can leave the bloc.
A cross-party group of remain-supporting lawmakers brought a case in the Scottish courts to seek a ruling on whether the UK government can, unilaterally, withdraw its notification to leave the EU. That notification, issued under Article 50, set in train a two-year countdown clock that expires at midnight, Brussels time, on March 29, 2019.
The UK government, defending the case in Scotland, argued that it did not have the legal right to unilaterally rescind the Article 50 notification.
Unexpectedly the Court of Session, Scotland’s highest court, referred the case to European Court of Justice. The ECJ has scheduled a hearing for November 27, just two days after an emergency summit of European leaders at which they are expected to ratify the UK-EU withdrawal agreement.
In the meantime, the British government appealed to the UK Supreme Court, which in certain cases can overrule decisions by the top court in Scotland. Today, the Supreme Court said it would decide whether it has the legal right to intervene.
Why this matters: It might seem curious that the British government would oppose a case that merely seeks to get legal clarity on Article 50. But the implications are clear – if the ECJ decides that the trigger for Brexit can be undone, remain-supporting lawmakers are sure to call on the government to do just that.
“The Court is aware of the urgency of this matter,” the UK’s Supreme Court said in a statement on the challenge.
Europe is pressing ahead with its Brexit timetable. Despite the political turmoil in the UK, officials are continuing their preparations for a special summit of EU leaders on November 25, at which the draft withdrawal agreement would be ratified. “Things are running on the right track here in Brussels,” one diplomat told CNN.
The mood was calm at a meeting this morning of the EU27 ambassadors (the 28 EU nations minus the UK), the diplomat said.
That meeting has now ended, with ambassadors due to reconvene on Sunday. Sebastian Kurz, the Chancellor of Austria, which holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters this morning that the deal is a good one for both sides.
All eyes today are on the number of MPs who have submitted letters demanding a vote no-confidence in Theresa May. The figure required to prompt a showdown is 48 – and Steve Baker, a leading member of the pro-Brexit group of MPs known as the European Research Group, says the threshold could soon be met.
“People have been ringing me and they are telling me that they are putting letters in. I have spoken to colleagues as well and I think we are probably not far off. I think it is probably imminent,” Baker told the BBC. “If it comes to a vote, Theresa May will lose it,” he predicted.
But he admitted that only Graham Brady, the chairman of the all-important 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, knows the true number.
The number of MPs who have publicly confirmed that they’ve sent letters to Brady currently stands at 21, according to CNN’s count. But MPs don’t usually go public, so the true number is anyone’s guess.
There’s more good news for Theresa May. Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, one of the pro-Brexit voices who remains in May’s Cabinet, confirms he won’t be resigning. “I think you can assume that quite clearly,” he told CNN’s Max Foster, when asked if he’d be staying put.
That follows the confirmation by another Brexiteer Cabinet minister, Michael Gove, that he was staying on. “The greatest price that could be paid would be to have no Brexit at all… I think that is far too high a price to pay,” Fox said.
But he admitted that recent days and weeks have not been plain sailing.
He gave an insight into the marathon five-hour Cabinet session on Wednesday, at which the draft Brexit deal was reluctantly agreed, and which precipitated the resignation of Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.
“We’ve been very frank about our views in Cabinet,” he said, calling Wednesday’s Downing Street meeting “a pretty no-holds-barred conversation… There were some very passionate views expressed at that meeting.”
Watch the full interview:
Ordinarily, someone not doing something isn’t big news. But in this case, it is.
Michael Gove, a leading pro-Brexit Cabinet member and Theresa May’s Environment Secretary, has told reporters that he won’t be resigning from Theresa May’s Cabinet over her draft Brexit agreement.
“I am looking forward to continuing to work with all colleagues in government and in Parliament to get the best future for Britain,” he said outside his department this morning. When asked if he has confidence in the Prime Minister, Gove added, “I absolutely do.”
Why this is important: The news will come as a huge relief to May, who can ill afford to lose more pro-Brexit members of her government after being hit by seven resignations yesterday. A Downing Street spokeswoman said May “is very pleased that he will continue doing the important work he is doing there,” according to Britain’s Press Association.
In her interview with radio station LBC this morning, May did not deny reports that she offered Gove the job of Brexit Secretary, only to have him turn it down.
David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary who resigned from May’s Cabinet when she set out her negotiating position at her Chequers retreat in July, has come under fire from a former senior civil servant for comments he made on BBC Radio this morning.
In an interview with Radio 4’s Today program, Davis accused the European Union of slow-walking the negotiations in order to put pressure on the British side. “The European Union has spun this out deliberately to use time against us,” Davis said.
That angered Simon Fraser, who was the permanent secretary at the Foreign Office – the most senior career civil servant in that department –?between 2010 and 2015. Fraser said on Twitter that it was a “preposterous” statement and that the delays came from the British side.
A senior member of Britain’s opposition Labour Party, John McDonnell, has said a “compromise” Brexit deal could still be reached by parliament.
“People have looked over the edge of a no-deal Brexit and realized it could be catastrophic for our economy,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today program this morning. “What is emerging within the House of Commons now is almost a unity platform to avoid a no deal.”
But McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, added that Labour’s ultimate objective is to secure a snap general election – and said that the party could still call for a second referendum if that goal isn’t achieved.
“If we can’t get a deal that does respect [the referendum] and at the same time protects jobs and the economy, our priority is for a general election. But if we can’t get that, yes - a People’s Vote remains on the table,” he said.
The comments echo those made by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in an email sent out to the party’s members last night.
The British Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, is widely reported to be thinking about resigning, after he apparently declined Theresa May’s offer to appoint him Brexit Secretary yesterday. (The position is open after the resignation of the previous incumbent, Dominic Raab.)
Gove was mobbed by reporters and camera crews outside his London home as he left for work, and again when he arrived at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Apart from wishing the media “good morning,” he didn’t say anything.
By the time he arrived at his office, he appeared to have acquired his breakfast. He’ll need the sustenance for the decisions he will have to make today.
Breakfast update: It appears that Michael Gove is carrying a paper bag from Patisserie Valerie, a British cafe chain that’s in deep financial trouble. Is this a subtle message? Its chief executive resigned on Thursday. His name? (Paul) May.
The British Prime Minister has declined to say whether she would allow a so-called free vote for members of her government when (or possibly if) the Brexit deal comes before the UK Parliament.
Ordinarily, ministers must vote according to government policy, or else resign or be fired. But if the party leadership grants a free vote, they would be able to vote according with their own views, even if that means voting against the government.
Asked on LBC Radio whether she would allow a free vote on the Brexit deal, Theresa May replied: “There is cabinet collective responsibly in this country… You’re asking me to look at issues around the vote before we’ve even finalized issues with the European Union.”
Why this is important: Another Cabinet minister who’s believed to be considering her position, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, reportedly asked the Prime Minister to permit a free vote. That would allow Mordaunt to remain in the Cabinet. It looks like May is keeping the option on the table.
In her radio phone-in today, a caller asked Theresa May whether she ought to resign, having failed –?in the caller’s view ?– to achieve a Brexit deal that honored the result of the 2016 referendum.
She responded by defending her deal and ignoring the call to stand aside.
What you need to know: The British Prime Minister has shown remarkable resilience. She made it clear in her Thursday press conference that she wasn’t going anywhere, saying she wanted to see her deal through. It now seems unlikely that May will quit of her own accord. That’s why Westminster is waiting to see if enough members of May’s Conservative Party move to unseat her.
The British press is awash with rumors that more British government ministers will resign over Theresa May’s Brexit deal today.
Chief among the apparent waverers is Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary. Prime Minister Theresa May is reported to have offered Gove, a leading Brexiteer, the vacant job of Brexit Secretary yesterday. He is said to have turned it down, after May rebuffed his demand that he be allowed to change the terms of the Brexit deal.
May was asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari whether the reports were true. “I don’t talk about things to do with the cabinet reshuffle,” she said, adding that she’ll be appointing a new Brexit Secretary “over the next day or so.”
“I don’t bet on anything to do with politics,” she said when asked to wager on who would take up the position.
What you need to know: If Gove resigns, he would be the the tenth Cabinet minister to quit in just over a year.
The embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May is taking questions on LBC Radio this morning. The London-based station is live streaming the show.
Asked about whether she would fight a confidence vote, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May swiped at her critics, saying her draft deal was in the national interest and she was determined to see it through.
“Leadership is about taking the right decisions, not the easy ones,” May told reporters. “As Prime Minister my job is to bring back a deal that delivers on the vote of the British people. I believe this is a deal which does deliver that, which is in the national interest and am I going to see this through? Yes.”
While May conceded that “uncomfortable decisions” have had to be made, and that she understood that some were unhappy with those compromises. But she underlined that her deal delivered what people voted for.
Customers in the Red Lion pub –?close to the House of Commons in Westminster – watch televisions broadcasting Theresa May’s news conference in which she said the plan she’s set out for Brexit is the right one for the country.
Theresa May vowed in a news conference on Thursday evening to fight for her Brexit deal – despite a slew of ministerial resignations.
“Serving in high office is an honor and privilege,” she told a room of reporters.
“It is also a heavy responsibility – that is true at any time but especially when the stakes are so high.
“I believe with every fiber of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.
“From the very beginning I have known what I wanted to deliver for the British people to honor their vote in the referendum.”
Watch more from May:
The full 585-page Brexit draft withdrawal agreement that everyone is arguing about today is long, complex, and contains several highly contentious clauses. We’ve read it so you don’t have to. Here are some of the key takeaways:
Transition period: Britain will formally exit the EU on Friday, March 29, 2019, at which point it will cease to be involved at any level in EU decision-making. However, under the draft agreement, the UK will stay inside the bloc’s single market and remain subject to EU laws and regulations until the end of December 2020 while the two sides attempt to iron out a new trade relationship.
Irish border and customs union: There will be no hard border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and EU member the Republic of Ireland, at least in the short term. In the event of the transition period being extended beyond 2020, the draft deal commits both parties to a “backstop” solution, consisting of a “single customs territory between the (European) Union and the United Kingdom.”
Financial markets: Under the draft agreement, “entities established in the United Kingdom shall be treated as entities located outside the Union.” In practice, this is likely to result in London’s financial center being granted a level of EU market access similar to that granted to US and Japanese firms, under an arrangement known as “equivalence,” potentially jeopardizing London’s attractiveness to international financial companies.
Freedom of movement: The draft document provides protections for the more than three million EU citizens in the UK, and over one million UK nationals in EU countries to continue to live, work or study as they currently do. Crucially, “no exit visa, entry visa or equivalent formality shall be required of holders of a valid document issued” for EU and UK nationals when crossing national boarders within the bloc.
If you still can’t get enough of Brexit, you can read the full text of the draft withdrawal agreement here.
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May is due to hold a news conference shortly at Downing Street after a day of turmoil following a series of dramatic resignation over her Brexit deal.
The Scottish government has announced that Theresa May’s Brexit deal is dead in the water. Michael Russell, the Scottish constitutional relations secretary, said in a statement:
Russell also said that, if agreed by the EU at the Brussels Summit on November 25, the Scottish Government will vote, on it before the vote in the House of Commons.
Conservative MP and Brexiteer Nadine Dorries said on Twitter that she had already submitted her own letter of no confidence.
Parliament will stop Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal and could force another referendum, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw told CNN’s Hala Gorani.
Labour’s position is that it favors a general election over a second referendum. But if the UK was on the verge of crashing out with no deal, Bradshaw predicted that Labour would swing behind a parliamentary effort to force a new vote.
“By the time we get to that scenario, when we’re facing down the barrel of a no deal gun, Labour will support it – as will the majority of parliament,” Bradshaw said.
As Theresa May fights to save her draft Brexit deal, it’s worth remembering there is still a long road ahead:
Prime Minister Theresa May is set to hold a press conference at No 10 Downing Street at 5 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET) on Thursday, as May reels from a series of dramatic walkouts and calls grow for a vote of no-confidence.
Labour MP Owen Smith, who unsuccessfully challenged Jeremy Corbyn on an anti-Brexit platform in 2016, has told CNN that the party takes no joy in the apparent crumbling of Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
“There is no great joy on our side that this government is crippling under the weight of an impossible Brexit dream that cannot be delivered,” he told CNN’s Max Foster.
Smith was adamant that Labour would not support May’s deal when it eventually comes to parliament for a vote.. The deal “was dead before it was read by most people,” he says. “The truth is there is no prospect of the Labour Party supporting it because it’s a bad deal.”
Nor was there support for the deal in May’s own party, he said. “She’s succeeded in doing the impossible, in uniting the left wing and the right wing,” Smith said. He blamed “30 years of civil war in the Tory Party about Europe” for bringing about “this mess,” but insists parliament will prevent Britain leaving the EU without a deal.
“It’s a period of volatility in British politics as we’ve not seen for many, many generations.”
Conservative MP Sheryll Murray has joined the chorus of Brexiteers calling for a confidence vote.
Conservative MP Rehman Chishti has stepped down as Conservative party vice chairman, saying that he “cannot support” May’s Draft Brexit deal. He is the seventh in?a slew of resignations today.
“The UK in effect will be part of a system where it will be a rule taker without any say on the rules,” he said of the Brexit deal in his resignation letter.?
Chishti – a British trade envoy to Pakistan – also cited the Asia Bibi case, saying the UK government had failed to exhibit moral leadership in the case of the Pakistani Christian woman whose death sentence for blasphemy was overturned last week by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
The Dow dropped 200 points, or 0.9%, at Thursday’s opening bell, while the S&P 500 lost 0.9%, and Nasdaq slipped 0.6%.
The British pound has sunk 1.5% after key UK government ministers resigned, plunging the Brexit process into deep uncertainty. US-listed shares of UK banks Royal Bank of Scotland sunk 11% and Barclays lost 6%.?
Rory Stewart, a minister of state at the Ministry of Justice, has attacked MPs attempting to trigger a leadership challenge against Theresa May, telling CNN’s Julia Chatterley it “feels like a sort of coup d’état taking place in parliament.”
“None of these other guys have got any plans,” he said of the rebelling MPs. Stewart also backed May’s under-fire draft agreement, saying it offers “the best of both worlds.”
“This is a very sensible, pragmatic deal,” he said. “On the other hand, you can go for the hard Brexit point, which is no deal, crash out, [and] pretend you can reinvent Britain as Singapore.”
Another Conservative MP, Henry Smith, has submitted a letter to the chairman of the 1922 Committee, requesting a vote of no confidence in Theresa May. He tweeted a photograph of his letter, which was quite a bit shorter than Jacob Rees-Mogg’s.
Usually, Conservative MPs do not make such letters public, making it hard to figure out how many have been submitted.
Most days, it’s not hard to work out what’s going on in Westminster politics. There’s usually an array of MPs, special advisors and civil servants willing to share gossip with well-connected journalists. As recently as last night, these sources were briefing widely: that’s how we learned how for example, that at the end of yesterday’s marathon Cabinet session, ministers were all offered a glass of wine.
Today, it’s a totally different story. Have Conservative officials received enough letters from the party’s MPs to trigger a vote of no-confidence in May? No-one will say. Does May plan to carry on? Nothing.
What can we learn from this deafening silence? Well, as reports swirl that those letters are pouring in, it??seems inconceivable that some pretty serious plotting isn’t happening.?
You’ll be hearing a lot today about letters to the 1922 Committee, the group of British Conservative Party lawmakers who have the power to unseat the leader of their party, Prime Minister Theresa May. Here’s a quick refresher on how the process works:
Letters to the committee
To trigger a vote of no-confidence, at least 48 Conservative Members of Parliament must submit letters to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee. That committee is actually the parliamentary group of all backbench Conservative MPs – that is, everyone who’s not a member of the government.
Within 48 hours of receiving 48 letters, Brady must consult with the executive committee, comprised of of 18 backbench MPs, on whether to call a vote.?
If a vote is called, the Prime Minister has the choice of fighting it, or resigning. Typically, Conservative Prime Ministers have opted to fall on their sword for the good of the party.
But if May decides to fight the vote …
Vote takes place
If a vote of no confidence is called, all Conservative MPs can take part. If May wins, she remains leader of her party, and therefore Prime Minister. If she loses, she must resign and is prohibited from standing as a candidate in the subsequent leadership contest.
May needs over 50% of the vote to stay on as Prime Minister – that’s 159 MPs.?
If May wins, the Conservative Party cannot call another confidence vote for at least a year.
If she loses…?
Leadership contest
The 1922 committee organises a ballot of all Conservative MPs. If there are multiple candidates, there are multiple rounds of voting. The candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated at each round, until there are two candidates left.
Those two candidates are then put forward for a vote among the full Conservative Party membership. The winner by simple majority is appointed the new leader of the party. As the Conservative Party is currently in government, that person automatically becomes Prime Minister.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, has released the text of his letter calling for a vote of no-confidence in Prime Minister Theresa May.?Here it is in full:
As Theresa May’s government splinters, her social media accounts have been pushing messages supportive of her Brexit deal.
It’s fair to say that the focus of debate in Westminster is not on the Royal Mail’s views on the Draft Withdrawal Agreement.
London’s Evening Standard newspaper, edited by former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, is reporting that Environment Secretary Michael Gove has turned down an offer to replace Dominic Raab as Brexit secretary.
Why that matters: Gove is the most prominent Brexiteer left in May’s fracturing Cabinet. If he has turned down the opportunity to be Brexit secretary it suggests that he does not support May’s deal. But he has not yet announced publicly whether he intents to remain in the Cabinet.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who heads the influential pro-Brexit European Research Group, has submitted a letter calling for a vote of no-confidence in Theresa May.?
The leading Brexiteer is part of a growing chorus of Conservative MPs calling for a leadership challenge. May’s opponents need 48 letters from Tory MPs to trigger that confidence vote.
Speaking outside Parliament, Rees-Mogg denied he was mounting a “coup” against May, saying he merely wanted to change course on Brexit policy.
Rees-Mogg denied he was motivated by his own ambitions. “This is nothing to do with me. This is about not having confidence in the current leader,” he said.
From the moment she took over as Prime Minister more than two years ago, Theresa May must have known this day would come.
May has presented her party with a plan for Brexit agreed on by both the UK and Brussels – and, one by one, her ministers and members of Parliament are rejecting it. The future of both the Prime Minister and the country depends on what happens in the next 24 hours.
British politics is now no longer only divided between people who want to remain in the EU and those who want to leave. There is now a battle between those who want the draft deal to go ahead in the national interest, led by the Prime Minister, and those who want Britain to leave the EU at any cost. Whoever wins that battle will decide the outcome of Brexit.
Read the full op-ed here.
Another member of Theresa May’s government has resigned over her Brexit deal. Ranil Jayawardena, Conservative MP for North East Hampshire, quit his post as a a parliamentary private secretary – a ministerial aide. He’s the sixth member of the government to resign today.
Here’s the breakdown of resignations so far:
Cabinet
Junior ministers
Parliamentary private secretaries
Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Coveney has declared that he has faith in Theresa May’s ability to navigate “difficult days” ahead, amid a string of ministerial resignations in the UK, the UK Press Association reported.
Coveney, who was challenged during questions in the Dail?(the Irish parliament)? on whether May’s draft Brexit deal was already doomed, said that the British Prime Minister was “resilient” and had “shown remarkable capacity to get things done in difficult circumstances.”
The Irish government has been cautious not to describe the deal as a victory, Coveney said. “Yesterday we were very careful not to comment when it wasn’t helpful to do so. But we do have an obligation to explain to the Irish people what has been agreed.”
Theresa May has been answering questions on her Brexit deal in the House of Commons for two hours. She has faced a barrage of criticism from fractious MPs, and she’s not done yet.
This comes on top of the hour she spent on Wednesday at the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), which was itself followed by a bumpy five-hour Cabinet meeting. She could be forgiven for wanting a break.
British Prime Ministers, unusually for world leaders, have to submit themselves to regular parliamentary scrutiny. It’s a gruelling ordeal that requires a great deal of physical and mental stamina.
May is widely recognised as a stalwart, if uninspiring, parliamentary performer. Although her attempts at scripted zingers at PMQs sometimes fall flat, she rarely puts a foot wrong.
Westminster is awash with reports that members of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s own Conservative Party will trigger a vote of no-confidence in her leadership. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Brexiteer, just stood up in the House of Commons to ask May why he should not submit a letter to Conservative Party officials demanding such a vote.
Rees-Mogg said:
Parliamentary convention often requires MPs to speak in arcane language, and Rees-Mogg revels in it.
What he meant was that, in his judgment, May’s actions don’t match up to her promises, giving him good reason to submit a letter demanding a confidence vote to Sir Graham Brady, the party official who represents the interests of Conservative MPs. (Brady is the MP for Altrincham and Sale West, in northwest England.)
If 48 MPs submit such letters, Brady must allow a vote of no-confidence in May.
It was a dramatic moment: Sitting just behind Rees-Mogg in the House of Commons chamber was the Conservative chief whip, Julian Smith, the man responsible for internal party discipline.
The deputy leader of the Northern Irish party that props up British Prime Minister Theresa May’s minority government has delivered a sharp rebuke of her draft Brexit deal.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Nigel Dodds, who leads the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Westminster, told MPs they had a clear choice ahead of them.
Why this matters: The DUP’s 10 MPs give May her governing majority in Parliament under an arrangement worked out following last year’s election, which left the Conservative Party short of an outright majority.
The land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been the key sticking point during the past 20 months of negotiations between the UK and EU. Both sides have been keen avoid the reintroduction of a so-called hard border.
Read more here.
It’s a convention in the UK Parliament for a statement by the Prime Minister to be followed by a reply by the leader of the main opposition party. That’s Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader.
Corbyn didn’t hold back in his response to May’s statement on Brexit to the House of Commons. He said May’s negotiations that resulted in Wednesday night’s draft Brexit deal with the European Union had ended in a “huge and damaging failure.” He made it clear that the deal proposed by May failed to meet the “six tests” set by the Labour Party that would guarantee its support.
Corbyn ended by declaring that the government should withdraw the deal. “The government simply cannot put to Parliament this half-baked deal that both the Brexit Secretary and his predecessor have rejected.”
France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned Thursday that Britain could still crash out of the European Union without a deal. The warning came after two dramatic British Cabinet resignations on Thursday morning. On Wednesday night, Theresa May’s Cabinet approved her draft Brexit deal with the European Union.
“Nothing allows us to say at this stage that the agreement will ultimately be adopted. We must prepare ourselves for a potential outcome, which we do not want but which is on the table, that of an exit without an agreement,” Philippe said in a news conference Thursday.
France’s economy minister Bruno Le Maire earlier tweeted: “The agreement on #Brexit is good news. This should allow Europeans and the British to find a way out that is in everyone’s interest. Careful, however: we must ensure that the United Kingdom respects all European regulations.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May warned Members of Parliament on Thursday that voting against a deal would bring more uncertainty and division for the country.
Giving a statement on Brexit to the House, May said that “voting against a deal would take us all back to square one.”
“It takes back control of our borders, laws and money. It protects jobs, security and the integrity of the United Kingdom. And it delivers in ways that many said could simply not be done,” she said.
Read in full:
Theresa May is pressing on with the business of the day, which includes a statement to Parliament on her Brexit deal, after which she will spend some hours answering MPs’ questions. It will be a gruelling morning for her.
She begins her statement by paying tribute to the ministers who resigned from her government earlier in the day. Addressing the House of Commons, May acknowledged that delivering Brexit involves “difficult choices.”
Two Cabinet ministers, two junior ministers and a parliamentary?aide resigned on Thursday morning, after May won approval from her Cabinet for her draft Brexit deal on Wednesday.
The pound’s losses are accelerating, down 1.8% now, below $1.28.
Suella Braverman has resigned as a junior minister in the Department for Exiting the European Union, the full name for the Brexit department in the UK government. Her boss, Dominic Raab, resigned earlier today.
Braverman is a leading member of the European Research Group, the hardline caucus of Conservative MPs who support a “hard” Brexit
Another ERG member, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, has resigned as a ministerial aide in the Department for Education – the most junior rung of the British government.
The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called the draft agreement between the United Kingdom and EU a “decisive, crucial step” on Wednesday night. Fast forward several hours – and with news breaking of two significant Cabinet resignations – Barnier tweeted that the EU remains determined to deliver “an orderly withdrawal” from the EU.
Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey is the latest resignation. In her letter she says Theresa May’s deal does not honor the result of the Brexit referendum.
The resignation of Dominic Raab as the UK’s Brexit Secretary – followed about an hour later by Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey –?was significant for a number of reasons.
It was unexpected. While Raab was a leading Brexiteer, he was thought to have been on board with May’s plan, albeit reluctantly. His sudden resignation, allied with that of McVey and the junior Northern Ireland minister earlier in the day, fuels the sense of crisis surrounding May’s leadership.
He was a senior member of the Cabinet. Some ministers are more significant than others. As Brexit Secretary, Raab would have been expected to help persuade skeptical MPs of the merits of her deal, and help prepare for the crucial EU leaders’ summit on November 26. May has lost a key lieutenant.
Raab leads the way. His appears to have tipped the balance for McVey, who was reported to have become embroiled in a furious row in yesterday’s Cabinet meeting. If more Cabinet ministers resign, then it becomes harder for May to hold her government together.
A confidence vote is now more likely. The moves by Raab and McVey could also embolden MPs who are considering whether to trigger a vote of no-confidence in her leadership. Under the rules of Theresa May’s Conservative Party, a vote of no-confidence in the leader can be triggered if 48 MPs declare their support for one.
The pound has plunged on the back of Dominic Raab’s surprise resignation as Brexit Secretary on Thursday morning. Last night, after the United Kingdom and European Union agreed on the text of a Brexit withdrawal agreement, British Chancellor Phillip Hammond held a conference call with business leaders to convince them the draft agreement was the way forward. But Raab’s resignation has sent the business community back into uncertainty with the threat of a no deal scenario resurfacing.
British Prime Minister Theresa May will address the House of Commons at 10:30 a.m. local (5:30 a.m. ET), parliamentary officials say. The session will take place after government resignations and as members of her own ruling Conservative Party voiced concerns about the draft agreement she announced on Wednesday evening.
The pound fell by 1% to just over $1.28 on news of Raab’s resignation. It was trading flat earlier in the morning.?
Raab announced his resignation on Twitter saying he couldn’t support Theresa May’s deal.
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Dominic Raab resigns as Brexit Secretary. In a statement he’s said he “cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU.”
Raab is the second Brexit Secretary to resign this year. David Davis quit over the so-called Chequers Agreement.
Against long odds and after months of wrangling, Brexit moves forward as British Prime Minister Theresa May secures support for her draft deal with the EU.
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The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called the draft agreement a?“decisive, crucial step” on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking in Brussels, Belgium, after Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet came out in support of the draft agreement, Barnier said the negotiating parties have now found a solution to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. If the UK and EU don’t reach a future agreement by the end of the transition period, they would implement a backstop solution — to create an EU-UK single customs territory.
“Northern Ireland will therefore remain in this same customs territory as the rest of the UK. In addition Northern Ireland would remain aligned to those rules of the single market that are essential for avoiding a hard border. This concerns agricultural goods as well as all products,” Barnier said.
Though Barnier praised the draft agreement as a step forward, he warned that “the path is still long and may well be difficult to guarantee an orderly withdrawal… There is still work to be done.”
Negotiations still needed to address issues such as the protection of intellectual property rights and of personal data exchanged before transition period, he said.
However, he emphasized that the UK would remain “our friend, our partner, and our ally.”
Barnier declined to comment when asked what the EU would do if the British Parliament rejects the draft deal.
The text of the Brexit “withdrawal agreement” is 585 pages and now available to the public, CNN’s Erin McLaughlin reported.
The draft agreement was just published online and copies were distributed to members of the European Commission.
“All 585 pages now available for?the public to scrutinize.?This will no doubt be looked at by?Remainers and Brexiteers very closely there?in the United Kingdom,” McLaughlin noted.
The European Commission and Downing Street had copies of the text and were keeping details of the agreement under wraps, she reported.
“They were worried about the optics of?this situation.?They are very aware that Theresa?May is in an incredibly fragile,?predicament.?Now that the Cabinet has given a?green light to this deal it has?been published,” McLaughlin said.
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Here in its entirety is the full statement as delivered by Theresa May in Downing Street after the nearly five-hour cabinet meeting.
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After all the months of wrangling and amid all the talk of a brewing vote of no-confidence, Theresa May’s statement outside the iconic black door of 10 Downing Street was a moment of great political theater.
In their five-hour meeting, described by May as “long, detailed and impassioned,” Cabinet ministers may have voiced deep concerns about the withdrawal agreement secured by UK negotiators. But the British principle of collective Cabinet responsibility means that, at the end of the day, they’re either with May or against her. That allowed the Prime Minister to stride confidently down the steps of No. 10 and deliver a strong statement on behalf of the entire Cabinet to the waiting media.
What this means: It’s still possible that one or two ministers could resign, or that hardline Brexiteers or Remainers might yet band together to challenge May’s leadership. But for now, the Prime Minister is in the strongest position she’s been in for months.
There will be more rocky moments ahead — not least the “meaningful vote”?on the deal that the government has promised the UK parliament.
The intrigue will no doubt continue in Westminster, but it’s clear tonight who has the upper hand.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says her Cabinet has decided to support a draft European Union withdrawal agreement.
“I firmly believe the draft agreement was the best we could negotiate,” May said to media gathered outside of 10 Downing Street, after the five-hour meeting ended.?May will address Parliament on Thursday.
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There is feverish speculation in Westminster that whatever the outcome of the Cabinet meeting, Theresa May will face a vote of no-confidence precipitated by her own Conservative Party.
According to party rules, 48 MPs must submit letters to the chairman of the 1922 Committee — the group that represents all Conservative MPs — to trigger a confidence vote in the party leader.?The only person who knows how many letters have been submitted is Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of that committee. He has not said anything in public today.
The key to all of this: The European Research Group (ERG). It is a group of about 40 Conservative MPs who favor a clean break from the European Union and whose members have voiced deep concerns with May’s negotiating strategy. Until now, the ERG has kept its powder dry. But today, Conor Burns, a member of the ERG, indicated to Sky News that its position may be changing.
“There comes a point where if the PM is insistent that she will not change the policy, then the only way to change the policy is to change the personnel,” he told Sky, according to a tweet by correspondent Tom Rayner.
If she survives the vote, May would be immune from another challenge for a year, according to party rules. But?the very fact of a confidence vote is hanging over May would be deeply damaging, and would add to the air of crisis surrounding her leadership.
Theresa May’s Cabinet meeting has now been going on for more than four hours.
But in Brussels,?Belgium, a meeting of ambassadors from the other 27 European Union member nations has ended.
Ambassadors are remaining tight-lipped: Like everyone else, they are awaiting the outcome of the Cabinet meeting in London.
The United Kingdom has taken a big step towards securing a Brexit deal with the European Union. For businesses, the agreement would deliver much-needed certainty about the next two years.
Here’s how the deal would affect business, markets and the economy.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to give a speech outside 10 Downing St after the Cabinet meeting on the UK’s draft deal with the European Union?concludes, Downing Street said.
Among those at the meeting is UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who took over the role after David Davis resigned in July over the Brexit deal put forward by May. A long-standing supporter of leaving the EU, Raab was ridiculed last week for comments he made on trade.
Also present is Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, a pro-Remain figure who has previously warned that the government would be forced to implement an emergency budget should the Prime Minister fail to secure a Brexit deal.
While Conservative lawmakers debated the draft agreement, demonstrators on both sides of the debate sought to make their voices heard.
Opponents of Brexit demonstrated outside Parliament with banners proclaiming “Stop the Brexit mess!”as May addressed lawmakers during Prime Minister’s Questions.
Meanwhile, Brexit supporters marched in Whitehall, calling for Britain to “take back control” through a definitive break with the EU.
Ministers have gathered in Downing Street for a Cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister Theresa May must persuade doubters and critics to get on board with the draft Brexit deal agreed with the European Union.
The meeting was preceded by a swirl of media speculation over possible ministerial resignations if May fails to win their backing.
At the same time, ambassadors from the EU’s other 27 states are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the agreement.
May is expected to give a statement later updating the nation on the outcome of the Cabinet meeting.
Earlier, answering questions in the House of Commons, she told lawmakers: “We will not rerun the referendum, we will not renege on the decision of the British people. We are leaving the EU on March 29, 2019.
“The British people are very keen to see an end to the free movement of people, and we will deliver.”
If the UK Cabinet approves the Brexit deal, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is expected to signal to European Council President Donald Tusk that sufficient or decisive progress has been made, an EU official and an EU diplomat?told CNN.
Tusk would then call an extraordinary Brexit summit.
The text – translated into a number of languages – then goes out to the capitals of the EU member states, the two sources said. They will want to take a close look at it and will ask questions. They will want reassurances from the commission that Barnier has thought of every angle and that what’s there is in accordance with Barnier’s negotiating guidelines. They will want to do their own checks and “everyone will have their own little thing they’re explicitly interested in.”
The ambassadors meet Wednesday, then possibly again Friday. Those meetings may be followed by others to prepare for the summit. No date has yet been set but it is expected to take place within two weeks, the EU official and EU diplomat said.
The leaders will then look to sign off on the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration at the political level.?Unanimous sign-off is needed.?This would not be a summit to negotiate or redo the deal. This is a summit to finalize a deal.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, told Ireland’s Parliament that his government ministers had decided the text should be put to a vote.
He said the vote was not necessary but would give parties an opportunity to debate the Northern Ireland border “backstop.” He described it as?the third option which he hoped would never have to be used – but said?he was satisfied that Ireland had got the necessary guarantees in the draft deal.
The part of the agreement that deals with the border between Ireland, which remains in the EU, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, has been a particular sticking point in negotiations.
Varadkar said that if the UK cabinet agreed to the deal later Wednesday, it would be published by the EU Commission.
Asked about its impact on the Good Friday Agreement, which helped end years of deadly sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, he said: “My reading is that the Good Friday Agreement is not negatively impacted by this, in fact it is protected by the draft agreement.”
Varadkar also gave an assurance to the pro-British community in Northern Ireland that Dublin would respect the 1998 peace deal and the integrity of Northern Ireland.
Peter Bone, a Conservative Member of Parliament and long-standing euroskeptic, said during this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions that “if the media reports about the EU agreement are in any way accurate” then the Prime Minister would not be “delivering the Brexit people voted for.” He added that it could lead to her losing the support of both Conservative MPs and “millions of voters across the country.”
Theresa May has just taken questions from lawmakers in the House of Commons. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, accused the Prime Minister of offering a “false choice to Parliament between her botched deal or no deal.” He went on to castigate the PM’s deal asl the “worst of both worlds” and a failure on the government’s own terms.
May was bullish, saying that the Labour’s plan was to “frustrate Brexit” and insisted that her government was negotiating a good deal for the United Kingdom.
In recent weeks, Labour’s policy on Brexit has at times appeared confused. Corbyn suggested to a German newspaper that Brexit could not be stopped, but his Brexit spokesperson later suggested that a second referendum was still on the table.
The British Retail Consortium said the draft agreement is a welcome step, because businesses “urgently need certainty.”
“It is vital that we avoid the cliff edge of no deal in March 2019 as this could immediately lead to consumers facing higher prices and reduced availability of many everyday products,” Helen Dickinson, the lobby group’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The retail sector employs more than 2.5 million people in the United Kingdom, and consumer spending is one of the key drivers of the British economy. Any Brexit disruption would harm brick and mortar shops that are already under pressure from online competition.
The Evening Standard – a London evening daily edited by former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who campaigned to remain in the EU – represents the draft deal as Britain handing over the reins to the European Union.
Osborne was sacked as finance minister by May when she became Prime Minister in 2016 and stepped down as a Member of Parliament the following year, shortly after he took on the paper’s editorship.
As ministers prepare to troop into Downing Street for a crucial Cabinet meeting, opponents of the deal – many within Prime Minister Theresa May’s own party – are urging them to kill it off.
“It is vassal state stuff,” said Boris Johnson, a leading Brexiteer who quit May’s Cabinet earlier this year. “Chuck it out.”
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, whose 10 MPs prop up May’s minority government, said it would oppose it. Sammy Wilson, the party’s Brexit spokesman, wrote on Twitter: “We are clear – we will not be voting for this humiliation!”
DUP leader Arlene Foster was less categorical, however, telling UK broadcaster Sky News early Wednesday on her way to London that she hoped actually to get to see the text, “so that we can make our own judgement on that.”
The main opposition Labour party also indicated that it would vote down the deal. “Given the shambolic nature of the negotiations this is unlikely to be a good deal for Britain,” said Keir Starmer, the party’s Brexit spokesman.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted late Tuesday that lawmakers must be able to put forward changes, tweeting: “Parliament is sovereign and must have a truly meaningful vote on any Brexit agreement.”
House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative, was more positive, telling ITN she’s “extremely optimistic that we’ll have a good deal” but that she hasn’t seen the detail yet.
Business leaders are beginning to react to the proposed deal. Juergen Maier, UK CEO of German engineering giant Siemens, said the agreement would help eliminate uncertainty and give companies confidence to invest.
“What we now need is we need calm, and we need to have a proper look at this. My gut feeling is we need to get behind it and we need to make this deal work. What we need is certainty,”?Maier told BBC Radio.
“It has been two very difficult years for manufacturers like ours here in the UK. We are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in British manufacturing and what we need is certainty that we can continue to invest and trade properly here,” he added.
“It looks to me this is the only deal in town I think it is better to get behind it, maybe fine tune it a little bit and make it work.”
The UK front pages are, predictably, dominated by news of the draft Brexit agreement.
Both the Telegraph and the Financial Times say Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a “moment of truth” as she prepares to sit down with her Cabinet.
The Times says May is “accused of betrayal as she unveils Brexit deal,” describing her as putting her future in the hands of senior ministers as she asks them to sign off on the agreement.
“Brexit: May tells her Cabinet, this is the deal - now back me,” the Guardian headline reads, with a lineup of four Conservatives lawmakers who’ll be present below.
The Daily Mail proclaims it “Judgment Day” while the Daily Mirror headlines “May’s Brexit D-Day.”
The Sun devotes most of its front page to a family photo of Prince Charles as he celebrates his 70th birthday. But it finds room to headline May’s “plea to Cabinet” to back her Brexit deal.
May must now sell the deal to her Cabinet, which is deeply divided between ardent supporters of Brexit and those who voted to Remain. To do so, she must convince the Brexiters that the text, which is expected to include an arrangement that keeps the whole of the UK in close alignment with the EU, fulfills the result of the 2016 referendum.
If she fails, then she would likely have to return to Brussels to renegotiate – if she isn’t forced to resign. However, should she win her Cabinet Brexiters over, then it’s back to Brussels.
With the UK Cabinet in line, May will hope that an emergency summit of the EU Council – the 28 member states that make up the European Union – is called for November.
If the withdrawal text is approved there, it can move to legislative chambers of both the EU and the UK. May will then face perhaps the trickiest part of the process: getting the deal through her own Parliament.
