Theresa May warned soft Brexit offer to Labour would spark mass Tory rebellion
2 min read
Theresa May has been warned that a raft of Conservative MPs would block a soft Brexit deal if the Prime Minister caves in to Labour demands for a full customs union.
The Times reports that Jeremy Corbyn’s team will reject her offer of a temporary customs arrangement when the sides resume talks to try and resolve the current impasse.
The Prime Minister is also said to be ready to offer the opposition permanent alignment of workers’ rights with EU rules, and closer regulatory alignment.
It comes a day after the paper reported that Mrs May was weighing up the bid – that would stay in place until the next general election, when each party could set their own path, in exchange for their backing.
The PM has been urged not to cave in to Labour’s demand for a full and permanent customs union however, with Brexiteer MP Nigel Evans, warning “more than 100” could rebel.
He told the BBC's Pienaar’s Politics yesterday: “If there is a compromise that turns out to be a kind of ‘Brexit in name only’ involving anything close to a customs union, there would be more than 100 Tory MPs who would never support it.”
Meanwhile backbencher Lee Rowley tweeted: “My message to Theresa May, checked with thousands of residents on the doorsteps in the only place where we gained a council directly from Lab on Thurs: stop this madness.
“People didn’t vote for you to do a deal with a Marxist. Fix the backstop and stop wasting time.”
Another Tory MP told the Daily Telegraph that “80 to 90%” of backbenchers were against a cross-party agreement and that colleagues had expressed their anger on a WhatsApp group.
Graham Brady, the MP who heads the powerful 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers wrote in the Sunday version of the paper that a deal with Labour could prompt a “catastrophic split” internally.
“The temptation for the government now to do whatever is necessary to secure some kind of Brexit agreement is obvious but it must be resisted,” he wrote.
It comes as the Daily Telegraph reports that Mrs May is discussing the prospect of a three-way second Brexit referendum in the event that talks with Labour collapse.
It says officials have “war-gamed” the scenario of a vote on the PM’s deal, a no-deal exit, or remaining in the bloc.
The prospect could arise during a series of “indicative votes” in the Commons, which is said to be Mrs May’s plan B.
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