Cabinet Brexiteer Michael Gove urges fellow Tories to support Theresa May's deal
2 min read
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has urged his Conservative colleagues to get behind Theresa May's plan for leaving the EU - and warned them not to put Brexit "in peril.".
Writing in the Daily Mail, the top Cabinet minister - who campaigned to leave in 2016 - said: "I am doing everything I can to support the Prime Minister's deal which secures, at long last, our exit from the EU."
The intervention comes as Mrs May battles to win support from her backbenchers for her withdrawal agreement ahead of a crucial Commons vote on 11 December.
There had been speculation following a string of ministerial resignations over the deal that Mr Gove himself had been considering quitting.
But he said: "Is it perfect? Far from it. Does it deliver 100 per cent of what I wanted? No. But then we didn't win 100 per cent of the vote on June 23 2016.
"In politics, as in life, you can't always get everything that you want. But this deal delivers in crucial ways."
Hitting out at calls for a fresh public vote on Brexit, Mr Gove argued that "a second vote to overturn the first would not just damage public faith in democracy, it would also cause deep wounds to the social fabric of our country".
And, directly apealing to prospective Conservative rebels who plan to vote against the proposal, he said: "The choice facing my colleagues in Parliament is momentous. Get this wrong and we may put in peril the Brexit the British people voted for and want us to deliver.
"It's time for all of us to put our personal perfect plan to one side, recognise the reality of the choice we face, and start to bring the country back together again.
"Let's not, at this critical hour, risk the chance to reclaim our democracy and renew faith in our country."
However, Mr Gove's comments came as Theresa May was hit with yet another resignation over her agreement, with universities minister Sam Gyimah hitting out at "a deal in name only" which he argued would leave the UK at the EU's mercy for years to come.
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