Theresa May has signalled for the first time that Brexit may be delayed if MPs fail to back her own plans for the UK’s divorce from the EU.
In a bid to avoid mass resignations from ministers worried about a no-deal exit, the prime minister suggested she would allow a Commons vote to extend the March 29 deadline for leaving the European Union.
Keen to head off a possible backlash from hardline Brexiteers, May will also allow a rival vote to let MPs back a no-deal Brexit.
Staunch Eurosceptic MP Andrea Jenkyns warned that any delay would “certainly” damage trust in politicians, while DUP leader Arlene Foster said a hard deadline was needed to force the EU into concessions.
Speaking in the Commons today, May said a meaningful vote on her deal would be held by Tuesday March 12.
She said if her deal is rejected, MPs will then be given the chance to vote by March 13 for a no-deal Brexit.
May has repeatedly insisted that the UK will leave the EU ‘on time’ next month, declaring she needed to deliver on the wishes of the 17 million people who voted to Leave.
But up to 30 ministers and ministerial aides had warned that if May failed to change tack they would be forced to rebel against the government and back Labour’s Yvette Cooper to force her hand.
The Cooper amendment, which seeks to hand power from the PM to parliament, would allow for an extension of the two-year Article 50 process for quitting the 28-nation bloc.
The Cooper move may now be academic, preventing ministers from having to resign or be sacked in order to vote for it.
Foster, whose DUP props up the Tories in power, made clear that delay could be a mistake. She told Bloomberg: ”’In negotiations you need that compression of time to come to a deal.”
May’s move also failed to impress some pro-EU MPs. Sarah Wollaston, who quit the Conservative Party to join The Independent Group, said all that was on offer from the prime minister was “the possibility of a short gangplank added to the cliff edge”.