Brexit Secretary Raab resigns thrusting May's government into turmoil

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Brexit Secretary Raab resigns thrusting May's government into turmoil

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - British Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab resigned on Thursday thrusting Prime Minister Theresa May's government into turmoil just two days after she clinched an EU divorce deal that was mauled by opponents, allies and mutinous members of her party.

 

"Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election," Raab said.

 

"This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust," Raab said. "I cannot support the proposed deal."

 

The resignation of such a senior minister thrusts the United Kingdom into a political crisis just as May was attempting to garner support for a Brexit deal which her opponents have warned could sink her premiership.

 

It also throws the future course of Brexit into uncertainty: scenarios range from a calm divorce to rejection of May's deal, potentially ending her premiership and leaving the bloc with no agreement, or another referendum.

 

Raab said May's plan threatened the integrity of the United Kingdom and he could not support an indefinite backstop arrangement where the EU held a veto over Britain's ability to exit.

 

"No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement," Raab said in his resignation letter.

 

The 44-year-old was appointed to the role of Brexit minister in July this year following the resignation of his predecessor David Davis, who also quit in protest at May's Brexit strategy.

 

European Union leaders will meet on Nov. 25 to endorse the divorce deal.

 

British journalists said anger among Brexit-supporting Conservative lawmakers was so high that they might call for a vote of no confidence in May's leadership. There was no confirmation.

 

ITV reporter Robert Peston said enough demands for a no confidence vote could be lodged by lunchtime on Thursday.

 

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-15

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Britain's work and pensions minister McVey quits over Brexit deal

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet, the second senior minister to resign on Thursday over a Brexit deal agreed between London and Brussels.

 

"The deal you put before the Cabinet yesterday does not honour the result of the referendum", McVey wrote in a letter to May.

 

(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Sara Young; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-15

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Britain's Labour Party says PM May has no authority after latest resignation

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's main opposition Labour Party said on Thursday Prime Minister Theresa May had no authority left after her Brexit minister Dominic Raab resigned.

 

"The Government is falling apart before our eyes as for a second time the Brexit secretary has refused to back the Prime Minister's Brexit plan," said Jon Trickett, a member of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's senior team.

 

"This is the twentieth minister to resign from Theresa May’s government in her two year premiership. Theresa May has no authority left and is clearly incapable of delivering a Brexit deal that commands even the support of her Cabinet - let alone parliament and the people of our country."

 

(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, editing by William James)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-15

[simoh1490]

Bye bye Pound Sterling, I remember you well!

[Small Joke]

This entire 'dogs brexit' just needs to be eighty-sixed already.

No second 'referendumb', no more wasted tax cash that could have gone to the NHS, or re-nationalising the shambolic privatised railways, or almost any other national need.

It's tied up government since the vote, and NOBODY but nobody can agree, from the toffs, to the man down the pub, further dividing the nation.

Drop the dead donkey.

[darksidedog]

What a complete debacle. While I don't think it is going to be possible to find any deal that everyone is happy with, it certainly seems as though the one on the table right now is not going to fly. The no deal Brexit is looking ever more likely.

[Grouse]

Bye bye Raab! Evil weasel!

 

If this continues, I will support Hammond and May for the rest of their time in "Government".

[simoh1490]

2 minutes ago, Small Joke said:

This entire 'dogs brexit' just needs to be eighty-sixed already.

No second 'referendumb', no more wasted tax cash that could have gone to the NHS, or re-nationalising the shambolic privatised railways, or almost any other national need.

It's tied up government since the vote, and NOBODY but nobody can agree, from the toffs, to the man down the pub, further dividing the nation.

Drop the dead donkey.

Have no fear, Jeremy will be along shortly to fulfil all your fantasies.....and then some.

[Guest]

I'm sorry for my British friends. I wonder whether May is able to fill the cabinet posts with more moderate people or will she be forced to resign?

 

Then what?

[Grouse]

3 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

What a complete debacle. While I don't think it is going to be possible to find any deal that everyone is happy with, it certainly seems as though the one on the table right now is not going to fly. The no deal Brexit is looking ever more likely.

The no Brexit deal is far more likely ????

[Grouse]

I love the way May just ignored the DUP! What's not to like about that?

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, oilinki said:

I'm sorry for my British friends. I wonder whether May is able to fill the cabinet posts with more moderate people or will she be forced to resign?

 

Then what?

She's toast.

[Grouse]

Please, please, oh Please let it be Esther McFey next. Purlease. Pretty please!

 

Look, we all like a bit of rough occasionally but this one is beyond the pale. 

[Grouse]

4 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

She's toast.

Altruism garnished with a flourish of reality and a sprinkle of common sense served lightly toasted 

[Grouse]

Isn't this great!

 

I've not been so excited since, er, yesterday!

[simoh1490]

The Commons debate on this is fun: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/11/15/brexit-deal-latest-news-theresa-may-braced-backlash-commons/

[Guest]

Here is a live stream by Euronews. 

 

 

[snoop1130]

British PM May battles to save Brexit deal as ministers quit

By Elizabeth Piper, Kylie MacLellan and William James

 

Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Dominic Raab, leaves 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/Files

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May battled on Thursday to save a draft divorce deal with the European Union after her Brexit secretary and other ministers quit in protest at an agreement they say will trap Britain in the bloc's orbit for years.

 

Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.

 

Their departure, and the resignations of two junior ministers, shakes May's divided government. Raab is the second Brexit secretary to quit over May's plans to leave the EU, the biggest shift in British policy in more than 40 years.

 

By leaving now, some suggested that Raab could be positioning himself as a possible successor to May.

 

But the prime minister showed little sign of backing down in parliament, where she warned lawmakers they now faced a stark decision - choose to leave with no deal, risk Brexit never happening or back her deal.

 

"The choice is clear. We can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all, or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated," she said.

 

She acknowledged that hammering out an agreement with her cabinet was not "a comfortable process".

 

But she told those lawmakers who believed she could get a deal that did not include a backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland that they were wrong.

 

STRATEGY IN DOUBT

 

It was the backstop arrangement, which would see Britain and the EU establishing a single customs territory, that spurred her Brexit secretary and work and pensions minister to resign.

 

"Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election," Raab said.

 

"This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust," Raab said. "I cannot support the proposed deal."

 

Less than five months until Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the resignations put May's Brexit strategy in doubt.

 

EU leaders are ready to meet on Nov. 25 to sign off on the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement.

 

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe summed up the uncertainty, saying events in London raised concerns about whether the agreement would be ratified. "We need to prepare ourselves for a no-deal Brexit," he said.

 

Some lawmakers in London openly questioned whether May's government will survive.

 

One eurosceptic lawmaker in May's Conservative Party said more colleagues were either putting in letters to trigger a no confidence vote in her leadership or were increasingly minded to do so. A challenge is triggered if 48 Conservatives write such letters. May could be toppled if 158 of her 315 lawmakers vote against her.

 

'FALLING APART'

 

Britain's opposition Labour Party said the government was "falling apart".

 

"Theresa May has no authority left and is clearly incapable of delivering a Brexit deal that commands even the support of her cabinet, let alone parliament and the people of our country," said Jon Trickett, a member of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's senior team.

 

Raab, 44, was appointed to the role of Brexit secretary in July this year following the resignation of his predecessor David Davis, who also quit in protest at May's Brexit strategy.

 

At the heart of Raab's criticism of May's deal was the belief that the pursuit of a customs union with the EU would be the "starting point" for talks on the future relationship with the bloc, "severely prejudicing" what Britain could achieve.

 

He said May's plan threatened the integrity of Britain and he could not support an indefinite backstop arrangement - to prevent a return to a hard border on the island of Ireland - where the EU had a veto over Britain's ability to exit.

 

The backstop arrangement to come into force if a future trade deal does not prevent the return of a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland has long been the main obstacle not only to a deal with the bloc, but to any agreement of her top ministers.

 

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up May in parliament, had threatened to pull its support from the minority government if the backstop meant the province was treated differently from the rest of mainland Britain.

 

"No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement," Raab said in his resignation letter.

 

Eurosceptics in May's party have long feared that the prime minister was leading Britain towards a customs union with the EU, something that, they say, would mean a Brexit in name only.

 

Nigel Dodds, the DUP's deputy leader, welcomed the resignations, praising the ministers for standing up for "the Union".

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-11-15

[stevenl]

So the guy who negotiated the deal now backs out of it.

Sounds a lot like jumping from a sinking ship.

[Jim1000]

is it dfficult to start learning Marxist sorry Russian in your sixties ?

[Jim1000]

is it difficult to start learning Marxist sorry Russian in your sixties ?

[steve73]

Looking like Michael Gove is being touted to replace Rabb.

[Chomper Higgot]

13 minutes ago, Jim1000 said:

is it difficult to start learning Marxist sorry Russian in your sixties ?

Ask Farage he knows.

[Chomper Higgot]

So Brexit’s a crock’ 

 

 

Who knew?!

[lamyai3]

7 hours ago, Grouse said:

Look, we all like a bit of rough occasionally but this one is beyond the pale. 

All these articles about shafting her aren't helping allay the mental image. 

[nontabury]

7 hours ago, stevenl said:

So the guy who negotiated the deal now backs out of it.

Sounds a lot like jumping from a sinking ship.

Sounds more like he was never in charge of the negotiations. Think Ollie Robbins an out and out remainer, supported by the remain supporting P.M.

[stevenl]

3 hours ago, nontabury said:

Sounds more like he was never in charge of the negotiations. Think Ollie Robbins an out and out remainer, supported by the remain supporting P.M.

In which case he should have resigned straight away.

[Briggsy]

May's position looks decidedly rocky. She should never have been leader but Boris forced the Conservatives to elect her so they didn't get him.

 

She was incompetent and indecisive as Home Secretary but got along by consistently using the tactic of aligning her position with the most powerful side and doggedly following the line of least resistance.

 

Nothing has changed.

[klauskunkel]

14 hours ago, Grouse said:

 

If this continues, I will support Hammond and May for the rest of their time in "Government".

what about Clarkson?

[Katipo]

A single customs territory sounds like a good thing. It will certainly make movement of goods in and out of the UK much easier, and surely has to be good for the economy. Or am I missing something here?