Cabinet ministers ‘preparing to demand Theresa May resigns' in bid to save Brexit
3 min read
Ministers are reportedly preparing to force Theresa May to announce that she will stand down by the end of June in a bid to win MPs’ support on Brexit.
The Sunday Times says senior Brexiteers warned the PM’s team that she could only win enough Commons support for her Brexit agreement if she vowed to quit and allow her successor to lead the next stage of negotiations.
One cabinet minister said: “I don’t believe there is a single one of us who thinks it’s a good idea for her to stay beyond June.”
Another, who is said to have been previously loyal, added: “She’s run out of road.”
The paper says Cabinet Ministers have met to consider whether they will have to call on her to vow to resign as early as this week.
Mrs May’s aides meanwhile are said to be considering persuading her to pledge to stand aside as soon as the deal is passed in order to get MPs back on board.
The paper adds that should there be a fresh confidence vote in the Prime Minister’s position, a host of Tories could join Labour in bringing her down.
“Tories will vote for it,” one aide said.
The report also says that allies of the four favourites to take over at Downing Street – Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid, Jeremy Hunt and Dominic Raab – have said they were “ready to go” and that “things could move quickly”.
The revelations come ahead of the latest meaningful vote on her Brexit agreement, which is due to take place on Tuesday.
Yet in another damning blow for the PM, the paper says the failure of ministers to win concessions on the controversial Northern Ireland backstop could see the meaningful vote fall by more than the 230 by which she lost in January.
Even “optimists” predict a majority of 150, it adds, with one saying: “It’s bloody bad.”
“It will be in the same sort of ballpark as January unless something changes. We are at Defcon 2,” they added.
The PM has vowed that should the deal fail to win Commons support, a vote would be held on Wednesday on whether to support a no-deal exit, and then a vote on Thursday would give the option to delay Brexit by two months.
However the paper adds that she could pull the latter votes in a last-ditch bid to win concessions at an EU summit on 21 March.
HAMMOND BUDGET ‘BRIBE’
Meanwhile Philip Hammond is reportedly preparing to offer a Conservative MPs a £20bn “bribe” that will finally “end austerity” in his spring statement on Wednesday if they support the Prime Minister’s deal.
The paper says the plan would prompt a three-year spending review that would boost the police, schools and the justice system in particular.
The Chancellor reportedly has a £15bn Brexit contingency fund, which combined with an upturn in tax gives him “up to” £20bn to spend.
“We will be in a position to spend quite a lot of money this autumn,” a source said.
“Austerity will be well and truly over. But there’s no way we can do that until Brexit is resolved. We absolutely must have a deal or all bets are off.”
It is said under a no-deal scenario however, Mr Hammond would use the money to enforce a one-year emergency plan to keep all departments going.
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