Theresa May warns MPs to back her and vote for her departure bill or Britain will experience HARD Brexit
THERESA MAY has warned MPs that Britain will be thrown into an ultra-hard Brexit if they vote down her EU departure deal.
The PM said the Government would be forced to “fall back on other arrangements” if the Commons blocked an agreement in 2019 – rather than go back to the negotiating table.
This would almost certainly mean resorting to World Trade Organisation rules for trade – meaning blanket tariffs on exports and imports.
She did climb down and agree to spell out her Brexit negotiation plan to Parliament in a policy "White Paper" in the coming days in a bid to defuse a rebellion by Tory MPs.
A separate, brief Brexit bill paving the way for the start of divorce talks will be tabled tomorrow.
But Government sources claimed that allowing MPs the chance to force her to reopen Britain’s departure deal in two years’ time would completely undermine the talks with Brussels.
Insiders said EU leaders would realise they could make a poor Brexit offer in the hope it encourages Government to change its mind over leaving.
Labour’s Pat McFadden triggered the PM’s comments by demanding what would happen if Parliament said “no” to the agreement that is reached in a vote. Brexit backers accused the MP of trying to keep Britain in the EU via the “back door”.
Tory backbencher Jacob Rees Mogg said: “It’s just another attempt to delay and thwart Brexit. All these people now talking about Parliamentary sovereignty were more than happy to be under the yoke of Brussels.”
He added: “It doesn’t take Bletchley Park to decode Pat McFadden’s view – he wants to stay in the EU at all costs.”
The PM’s climbdown on a White Paper came just 24 hours after Brexit Secretary David Davis brushed off demands for a formal policy paper laying out the negotiation plan. He said MPs could read from Mrs May’s landmark Lancaster House Brexit speech last week instead.
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But the PM decided on a swift U-turn to see off a growing rebellion among pro-Remain backbench Tories.
Mrs May told MPs during PMQs: “I have been clear that we will ensure that parliament has every opportunity to provide scrutiny on this issue.
“I recognise that there is an appetite in this House to see that plan set out in a White Paper.”
Pro-EU MPs across the political divide insist the document is vital for them to be able to have “meaningful debate” on the Premier’s Brexit plans.
But Mrs May refused to say when the White Paper would come.
Labour insisted the PM must publish the the document before Parliament votes to authorise the start of Article 50 departure talks.
And in a bid to force her hand, Jeremy Corbyn vowed to push it to a vote with the support of pro-EU Tory MPs.
Downing Street signalled that Mrs May would avoid upsetting other EU leaders by not triggering Article 50 at the same time as they meet to mark the EU’s formation.
Celebrations are planned in the Italian capital on March 25 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957.
The clash means the PM could fire the starting gun to Britain’s EU exit two weeks early.