EXCL Dominic Grieve vows to fight on to stop no-deal Brexit despite John Bercow blocking latest plan
2 min read
Dominic Grieve has vowed to fight on in his quest to prevent a no-deal Brexit despite his latest plans being dashed by John Bercow.
The Tory former Attorney General said he and other like-minded MPs will continue to look for Parliamentary mechanisms to block whoever takes over as Prime Minister from taking the UK out of the EU without support from the House of Commons.
On Monday, Commons Speaker Mr Bercow refused to select an amendment he laid down with Labour’s ex-Foreign Secretary Dame Margaret Beckett which would have cut off cash to government departments in a no-deal scenario.
Speaking to PoliticsHome, Mr Grieve said he was confident there was still no majority for no-deal in Parliament, but said MPs opposed to it "at some point have got to be willing to take action".
But he admitted he and others need to find a “less apocalyptic” method to do so, after his plan to effectively shut down the Government was slammed as “grossly irresponsible” by Prime Minister Theresa May.
“The problem is not going to go away,” he explained, as both candidates in the race to replace her have said they are willing to exit the EU with no withdrawal agreement in place.
Mr Grieve said he wanted to use the time between now and the October 31 deadline to “maximise the options” for blocking no deal.
But the MP for Beaconsfield did not reveal what options there were still at his disposal, after Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told reporters on Tuesday it is “difficult to see the parliamentary mechanisms in terms of formal procedure” which could be used to rule out no deal.
Instead the Labour frontbencher said the issue was about the “moral authority of Parliament” - and that if there is “vote after vote” by MPs against no-deal it would be “very difficult to see a Prime Minister being able to exercise their authority”.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
