“Theresa May will be urged by her own MPs to name the date of her departure on Wednesday as the price of getting her Brexit deal through Parliament. The Prime Minister will attend a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs where she will be pressed to announce she will be gone by the autumn. In return, “a lot” of Brexiteers would drop their opposition to her Brexit deal, giving her until Friday night to get it agreed before a deadline set by the EU. Eleven Tory MPs who previously voted against the deal have signalled they are prepared to switch sides, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the ERG group of Tory Brexiteers, who said the deal was “definitely not” worse than remaining in the EU.” – Daily Telegraph
Election:
Comment:
““The choice seems to be Mrs May’s deal or no Brexit,” Mr Rees-Mogg said on Twitter ahead of a likely third House of Commons vote on the agreement this week. His group contributed heavily to the deal’s overwhelming defeats in two previous Commons votes this year. “Is this deal worse than not leaving?” he added in a podcast recorded for the ConservativeHome website. “No, definitely not. If we take this deal we are legally out of the EU… It restores our independence.” Mr Rees-Mogg has in the past attacked the deal for potentially reducing Britain to a “slave state” because of the so-called backstop, a measure that could indefinitely yoke the UK to a customs union with Brussels.” – FT
>Yesterday: Audio: The Moggcast. Deal-or-No-Brexit “becomes the choice eventually…May’s deal is better than not leaving at all”
“Boris Johnson signalled he is edging closer to backing Theresa May’s Brexit deal – after months of slamming it. The ex-Foreign Secretary said he could “see the point of view” of Tory Brexiteers who are rowing in behind the PM’s deal. But his comments were met with fury from Brexit-backing members of the audience at his speech in London. One angry member of the crowd shouted that he was “going soft” on Brexit. But Mr Johnson hit back, telling The Daily Telegraph event: “Someone is shouting at me I am defeatist. I’m not!” He accused the EU of wanting to “administer a punishment beating” to the UK. He also warned that in some ways Mrs May’s deal is worse than staying in the EU, telling the event: “Why would you leave a club to be run by its members?”” – The Sun
Ulster:
“I apologise for changing my mind. Theresa May’s deal is a bad one, it does not deliver on the promises made in the Tory Party manifesto and its negotiation was a failure of statesmanship. A £39 billion bill for nothing, a minimum of 21 months of vassalage, the continued involvement of the European Court and, worst of all, a backstop with no end date. Yet, I am now willing to support it if the Democratic Unionist Party does, and by doing so will be accused of infirmity of purpose by some and treachery by others. I have come to this view because the numbers in Parliament make it clear that all the other potential outcomes are worse and an awkward reality needs to be faced.” – Daily Mail
>Today: ToryDiary: Our view of May’s deal
“The closest precedent for today’s procedural adventure is from 2003, when Tony Blair’s government sought to break a deadlock on reforming the House of Lords by asking MPs to vote on five options. All five motions were defeated, including one to leave the Lords untouched. MPs backed several contradictory outcomes and the upper chamber remains unchanged. As Iain McLean, professor of politics at Nuffield College, Oxford, writes in Red Box today, the same risk exists when it comes to Brexit. “MPs have already voted against no deal. But if they vote against all the other options, the result is that the UK leaves with no deal on April 12,” he says.” – The Times
Northern Ireland:
More:
>Today: Chris White in Comment: A guide to today’s indicative votes – and their significance, as the legislature seizes power from the executive
>Yesterday:
“MPs risk voting away their own influence over a big part of UK economic policy — its trade policy. Being in a customs union with the EU is a serious loss of UK sovereignty. And this is not just a theoretical concept. I believe that, over time, this would be democratically unsustainable, for the world’s fifth biggest economy to have its trade policy set by others, and without a seat at the table. I believe it was Senator Elizabeth Warren who coined the phrase, “if you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu.” Nowhere is this truer than in trade policy. Today, MPs should think about the customs union option, and vote to reject it.” – Times Red Box
Editorial:
>Today: Robert Halfon MP’s column: Mythbusting Common Market 2.0
>Yesterday: Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky in Comment: Leaving the EU is an opportunity for greater localism, and to adapt our laws to suit our interests
“Theresa May was warned by Remain members of her Cabinet that she will face mass-resignations by junior ministers if she attempts to whip votes that could lead to a softer Brexit. Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark all argued in Cabinet that there must be free votes on alternative Brexit options on Wednesday, including on membership of a Customs Union, revoking Article 50 and a second referendum. One Cabinet source said there will be “carnage” if the Prime Minister denies ministers free votes, with around 20 ministers prepared to quit. “There won’t be a junior Remain minister left in Government,” the source said. Cabinet ministers, however, are not expected to resign over the move. How many Tory MPs will rebel against voting for extension?” – Daily Telegraph
Labour:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
“In the tabloid press he was known as the hapless minister who left documents in a park bin, posed in a toga and let a burglar into his home at 3am. Now, however, Oliver Letwin has emerged as the driving force in a “parallel government” of UK MPs drawing up plans for an alternative Brexit…. But some Tory colleagues see Sir Oliver as the figurehead for an understated, “very British coup”. “Our Prime Minister in name only waits for our Prime Minister in all but name — namely, Oliver Letwin,” Paul Goodman, editor of the ConservativeHome website, wrote on Tuesday, before warning of challenges ahead for Sir Oliver. “Today, he sits triumphantly astride the Commons tiger. Tomorrow, for all he or anyone else knows, it could shrug him off and devour him.”” – FT
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday:
“Stop and search could be used in schools as a way to help clamp down on knife crime, the chair of the education select committee has suggested. The Conservative MP Robert Halfon was speaking ahead of a committee hearing that has been called to look at whether there is a link between the rise in school exclusions and an increase in the number of stabbings. Halfon said he accepted there were different views on stop and search, but he wanted to hear evidence from experts on whether it could play a role in the fight against knife crime. “I think possibly in schools where there’s trouble you probably need to do it,” he said. “I want to hear the evidence.”” – The Guardian
“John Bercow has apologised after telling a former minister that he “wasn’t a very good whip”. On Monday the Speaker told Greg Hands, a Conservative MP: “I do not require any help from the right honourable member, who would not have the foggiest idea where to start. He was once a whip — he wasn’t a very good whip. It would be better if he could keep quiet. That is the reality of the matter.” There were cries of “withdraw” and “outrageous” from the Tory benches, and several MPs raised complaints with the Speaker… Mr Hands was defended by Anna Soubry, a member of the Independent Group, who said that he was “a rather good whip [who] resigned on a point of principle”.” – The Times
“A former political adviser to Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, is taking the party to an employment tribunal alleging racial discrimination, saying she was treated less favourably as the only “black person on the team”. Sarah Goulbourne had a complaint accepted at the Central London employment tribunal, in which she accuses Alicia Kennedy, a member of the deputy Labour leader’s office, of racial discrimination, harassment and bullying. Goulbourne lost her job in Watson’s office in 2018 when Labour party headquarters cut funding for his staff, with seven employees leaving in total. Six other employees who were white either took voluntary redundancy or were not replaced, and Goulbourne was made redundant.” – The Guardian