Rebel MPs want another THREE MONTH DELAY to Brexit
A CROSS PARTY group of Remainer MPs will try to force Boris Johnson to delay Brexit by another three months. Tory ex-ministers are joining forces with Labour to stop the UK crashing out of the EU on Halloween without a deal. Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will leave the EU on October 31 “do […]
A CROSS PARTY group of Remainer MPs will try to force Boris Johnson to delay Brexit by another three months.
Tory ex-ministers are joining forces with Labour to stop the UK crashing out of the EU on Halloween without a deal.
Mr Johnson has insisted the UK will leave the EU on October 31 “do or die”.
This has led to MPs, including former chancellor Philip Hammond and former justice secretary David Gauke, uniting across party lines to try to prevent the UK leaving without a deal.
They have put forward a bill that aims to force the PM to extend Article 50 by three months – if he can’t get backing for No Deal or a new deal by October 19, the day after the next EU leaders’ summit.
This would mean the new date for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU would be January 31 – provided that extension was accepted by the EU.
However it does not say what would happen if there were still no agreement by the end of January.
Tory rebels have been told that those who support the legislation face being kicked out of the party and deselected.
But leading figures, such as Mr Gauke, have insisted that despite the threat, they will press ahead and put the “national interest” ahead of their own.
Ex-Chancellor Mr Hammond has also written to the PM to ask for details about the state of negotiations with the EU and what alternatives to the problematic Irish backstop his government has put forward.
In a statement in Downing Street this evening Mr Johnson pleaded with Tory MPs not to support the bill to block a No Deal Brexit amid speculation he could call an election if he loses the Commons showdown.
Mr Johnson insisted “I don’t want an election, you don’t want an election” but he said he would not seek an extension to the Brexit deadline.
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He urged his MPs not go join Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in backing a “pointless” delay.
He said if MPs voted against the Government and backed the cross-party Bill they would “chop the legs” out from under the UK’s position in negotiating a deal with the EU.
The PM claimed the chances of a Brexit deal are increasing and he was “encouraged by the progress we are making” with Brussels.
