Theresa May lashes out at anti-Brexit MPs plotting to block the UK’s leave from the EU as she arrives in Delhi
DETERMINED Theresa May last night blasted Remainers trying to neuter Britain’s Brexit demands.
The PM insisted ending EU free movement rules was central to delivering Brexit “in full”.
Her tough message to pro-Brussels MPs and peers came just two days after former Lib Dem chief Nick Clegg vowed to lead an alliance blocking a Brexit unless the Government commits to a “soft” deal and a second referendum.
He wants Downing Street to commit to remaining in the single market, which would rule out the UK taking back control of its borders.
But speaking in New Delhi ahead of a summit with India’s PM Narendra Modi, Mrs May stormed: “The people spoke on the 23rd of June.
“An important aspect that underpinned people’s approach to that vote was a concern that they had about control of movement of people from the EU into the UK.
“We saw the result of that and it’s now our job to get on and deliver it.”
She also once more ruled out a snap election, despite bookies slashing odds in recent days.
Just hours earlier, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, she stressed she was committed to seeing through the referendum mandate.
And she reiterated that MPs should remember they voted five to one to allow the people to decide Britain’s future when they agreed to a public vote in the first place.
Downing Street had already lashed out at the “anti-democratic” efforts by Mr Clegg and Labour’s Owen Smith. They hope to thwart Brexit in the wake of a High Court ruling that there must be a vote in Parliament before Mrs May can trigger official EU divorce talks.
In an astonishing rant yesterday Gina Miller, the hedge fund manager who brought the case, appeared to compare Mrs May to a “tin-pot” dictator.
And she boasted that everyone in the country should be Ms Miller’s “biggest fan” for ensuring the PM had to get MPs’ approval to invoke Article 50.
The former model said: “The case is that she cannot use something called the Royal Prerogative to do it because we do not live in a tin-pot dictatorship.”
Ukip boss Nigel Farage hit back at Ms Miller on BBC’s Andrew Marr Show by asking her: “What part of leave don’t you understand?”
And he warned that if voters feel cheated there would be a backlash of “political anger the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed”.
Earlier Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on the same show he believed Parliament would fall into line and approve the triggering of Article 50.
He also insisted the Government must be given “latitude” to make a deal with Brussels.
And he played down speculation that the unrest over Brexit could spark an early election.
The Tory big-hitter, who campaigned to Remain, said: “Theresa May wants to get on with the job and frankly a General Election is the last thing the British people want, with all these very, very important national decisions.
“Because of that I think it is highly unlikely that Parliament would not, in the end, back a decision to trigger Article 50.”
Today a hard-hitting report will reveal even an economic downturn would not put off the public from quitting the EU.
Analysis from the National Centre for Social Research said many voters were not convinced EU membership had been of benefit to the economy in the past or would be in future.
And they found there was a “widespread scepticism about the expertise of experts”.
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Senior research fellow Prof John Curtice said: “We should not assume that the public will turn against Brexit if economic difficulties follow.
“Many of those who voted to leave exhibited a distrust of financial institutions and experts that suggests they could well point the finger of blame instead at those same institutions and experts.
“That said, they are looking to the Government to negotiate a deal that ensures that in the end the consequences are at least economically neutral.”
A separate report by the Chatham House think-tank warned losing membership of the single market would be “particularly damaging” for the financial services industry which would hit output and employment.