Theresa May warns MPs Brexit will ‘slip through our fingers’ unless deal is agreed with Jeremy Corbyn
3 min read
Theresa May has warned her MPs that failure to agree a way through the Brexit impasse with Jeremy Corbyn could see Britain’s bid to quit the EU “slip through our fingers”.
In a stark warning the Prime Minister said she had “no choice” but to reach out to the Labour leader after hardline Brexiteer Tories and the DUP knocked back her deal on three occasions.
The Government and Opposition have been locked in negotiations since last week after Mrs May asked for "national unity" following the Commons defeats.
The fresh plea follows a Labour spokesperson claiming on Friday that the PM had not yet “offered real change or compromise”, while Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said refusal to change elements of the political declaration had been "disappointing".
However Mrs May insisted there remained a “basis for compromise” for a deal to be agreed that would see Britain leave the EU in six weeks.
“Because Parliament has made clear it will stop the UK leaving without a deal, we now have a stark choice: leave the European Union with a deal or do not leave at all,” she said in a statement.
“My answer to that is clear: we must deliver Brexit and to do so we must agree a deal. If we cannot secure a majority among Conservative and DUP MPs we have no choice but to reach out across the House of Commons.
“The referendum was not fought along party lines and people I speak to on the doorstep tell me they expect their politicians to work together when the national interest demands it.
"The fact is that on Brexit there are areas where the two main parties agree: we both want to end free movement, we both want to leave with a good deal, and we both want to protect jobs.
“That is the basis for a compromise that can win a majority in Parliament and winning that majority is the only way to deliver Brexit.
“The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all. It would mean letting the Brexit the British people voted for slip through our fingers.
“I will not stand for that. It is essential we deliver what people voted for and to do that we need to get a deal over the line.”
Her comments come after Chancellor Philip Hammond yesterday told Romania's finance minister that the Government has "no red lines" in their talks with Labour.
'BORIS LOCK'
And it comes as The Sunday Times reports that Mrs May plans to enshrine in law a customs arrangement with the EU in a bid to win over Labour support.
The so-called “Boris lock” would mean that a Eurosceptic future Tory leader would have to overturn primary legislation in order to strip back the plan.
The paper also says that Mrs May’s aides have discussed offering Labour a seat in her delegation to Wednesday’s EU summit.
The PM's intervention comes after the PM wrote to EU chiefs asking for them to grant the UK another extension to Article 50 when they convene at an emergency EU Council summit this week.
Mrs May had asked for a delay until 30 June or earlier, if a deal is agreed, however it is widely believed that Brussels will only consider a so-called “flextension”, whereby Britain could be kept in the EU for up to another year, again, unless it approves a deal before hand.
Such an agreement could see the UK forced to contest EU elections in May, in a move that has sparked outrage among Brexiteer Tory MPs.
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