A delegation of four Remainers in Theresa May’s Cabinet have confronted her and warned her she must delay Brexit rather than pursue a clean, No Deal break with the EU.
As many as 100 anti-Brexit MPs could back an amendment tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Oliver Letwin which would see Brexit pushed beyond March 29th rather than allow it to take place on World Trade Organization (WTO) — or “No Deal” — terms, the Guardian reports.
Lord Chancellor David Gauke, Business Secretary Greg Clark, Scottish Secretary David Mundell, and Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd are said to have warned the Prime Minister that, if she cannot secure parliamentary backing for her already-rejected “Soft Brexit” deal with the EU, which the bloc has so far been unwilling to change, she must delay Britain’s departure from it.
The Tory Remainer bloc includes as many as 25 MPs who are members of the Prime Minister’s government, and some, such as business minister Richard Harrington, have already openly denounced No Deal and dared Mrs May to sack him if she doesn’t like it.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip “Remainer Phil” Hammond has also become emboldened in recent day, stating that No Deal would be an “extremely bad” and boasting that he is working “all day, every day” to make sure it doesn’t happen — and is refusing to say whether he would resign rather than deliver one, in line with the “no deal is a better than a bad deal” platform on which he was elected.
A senior Brexiteer in Cabinet told the Guardian the Prime Minister must get a grip on the Remainers, and throw any ministers who rebel against the Government off the front bench.
“It would be a huge mistake not to sack them,” the source said. “It would be effectively conceding we had lost control of the party.”
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