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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/dec/09/esther-mcvey-hard-for-theresa-may-to-stay-if-she-cant-renegotiate-brexit-deal
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| Esther McVey: hard for May to stay if she can't renegotiate Brexit deal | Esther McVey: hard for May to stay if she can't renegotiate Brexit deal |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Esther McVey has said she believes it would be “very difficult” for Theresa May to stay on as prime minister if she failed to renegotiate the Brexit deal – and refused to rule out running for the top job if a vacancy arose. | Esther McVey has said she believes it would be “very difficult” for Theresa May to stay on as prime minister if she failed to renegotiate the Brexit deal – and refused to rule out running for the top job if a vacancy arose. |
| Giving her first television interview since she resigned as work and pensions secretary last month, McVey said May also had to withhold paying the £39bn divorce bill, and if she could not renegotiate on that and the backstop the UK should go for a no-deal Brexit instead. | Giving her first television interview since she resigned as work and pensions secretary last month, McVey said May also had to withhold paying the £39bn divorce bill, and if she could not renegotiate on that and the backstop the UK should go for a no-deal Brexit instead. |
| Asked if May should stay on as prime minister given the Brexit deal she has negotiated, the former minister said that if May “goes out and gets this deal we want on those key points then she will remain as our prime minister”, adding: “If she doesn’t it is going to be very difficult for her.” | |
| May is battling to get the Brexit vote through parliament on Tuesday, with 100 Conservative MPs, including McVey, saying they will vote against it. Despite repeated rumours of delay, the junior minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the vote would take place, adding: “I think we have a good shot at winning.” | May is battling to get the Brexit vote through parliament on Tuesday, with 100 Conservative MPs, including McVey, saying they will vote against it. Despite repeated rumours of delay, the junior minister Kwasi Kwarteng said the vote would take place, adding: “I think we have a good shot at winning.” |
| The prime minister resigns after a humiliating defeat. Many MPs believe she will have to go if she loses by more than 100 votes. An interim prime minister would have to be chosen while the Tory party plans a leadership contest. | The prime minister resigns after a humiliating defeat. Many MPs believe she will have to go if she loses by more than 100 votes. An interim prime minister would have to be chosen while the Tory party plans a leadership contest. |
| May begs Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, left, to go the extra mile and reopen the talks. She asks for concessions over the Irish backstop, and then puts whatever she can secure to a second vote in the Commons. | May begs Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, left, to go the extra mile and reopen the talks. She asks for concessions over the Irish backstop, and then puts whatever she can secure to a second vote in the Commons. |
| Plenty of Conservative and Labour MPs would be happy to see a soft-Brexit, Norway-style solution that keeps Britain in the single market, as suggested by Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary. Although she has previously rubbished the idea, May could do a U-turn and try to sell it as a compromise to avoid the disaster of no deal. | Plenty of Conservative and Labour MPs would be happy to see a soft-Brexit, Norway-style solution that keeps Britain in the single market, as suggested by Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary. Although she has previously rubbished the idea, May could do a U-turn and try to sell it as a compromise to avoid the disaster of no deal. |
| With her deal ditched, and if “no deal” is also ruled out by parliament, May’s least worst option could be to go back to the people. Many Tory MPs are pushing her to do so. If Labour officially backs the idea, a second referendum –as suggested by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary – could happen. | With her deal ditched, and if “no deal” is also ruled out by parliament, May’s least worst option could be to go back to the people. Many Tory MPs are pushing her to do so. If Labour officially backs the idea, a second referendum –as suggested by Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary – could happen. |
| If parliament cannot agree on what kind of exit from the European Union it wants, and if there is no majority for a second referendum, Britain hurtles towards a no-deal departure on 29 March 2019. A hardcore group of Brexiters led by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg would rather accept trading with Europe on basic World Trade Organisation terms than May’s deal or any form of soft Brexit. | If parliament cannot agree on what kind of exit from the European Union it wants, and if there is no majority for a second referendum, Britain hurtles towards a no-deal departure on 29 March 2019. A hardcore group of Brexiters led by Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg would rather accept trading with Europe on basic World Trade Organisation terms than May’s deal or any form of soft Brexit. |
| If there is no agreement on anything, and “no deal” has been blocked off as an option by parliament, the other choice available is no Brexit. May or whoever is in charge could form a cross-party government of national unity, revoke Article 50 and call the whole thing off. | If there is no agreement on anything, and “no deal” has been blocked off as an option by parliament, the other choice available is no Brexit. May or whoever is in charge could form a cross-party government of national unity, revoke Article 50 and call the whole thing off. |
| However, few in Westminster believe the prime minister has a chance unless she can come up with significant concessions before then, prompting speculation that she could be out as soon as Tuesday night depending on the scale of any defeat. | However, few in Westminster believe the prime minister has a chance unless she can come up with significant concessions before then, prompting speculation that she could be out as soon as Tuesday night depending on the scale of any defeat. |
| May is under intense pressure from aides and senior ministers to consider pulling the vote on Tuesday, though a decision is unlikely to be taken until the 11th hour. | |
| No 10 sources also played down the prospect of May making a last-minute dash to Brussels to ask for further concessions, ahead of the scheduled EU summit at the end of the week, insisting there would be little political benefit. | |
| Instead the whipping offensive, which will involve the prime minister making multiple calls to colleagues in the coming days, is likely to focus on the risk to hard Brexiters of a defeated deal leading to a Norway-style agreement or a second referendum.Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Brexit secretary Steve Barclay insisted the vote would happen on Tuesday. “The vote is going ahead,” he said. “That’s because it is a good deal, it’s the only deal and it’s important we don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” | |
| Barclay said he would continue making the case for the deal up until the vote and said there would be no more negotiations with Brussels. “The risk for those who say simply go back and ask again, the risk is that isn’t necessarily a one-way street,” he said. “The French, the Spanish and others will turn round, if we seek to reopen the negotiation, and ask for more.” | |
| Meanwhile, McVey did not rule out running for the leadership herself, saying she would do so “if people asked me”. But she said she was “looking for a person who can unite the party behind the Brexit deal” and said Brexiters should get behind one candidate, although she did not name anybody in particular. | |
| “At the moment I’m looking at who is in papers, who we can get behind, but it shouldn’t be about the personality, it should be about the country and this deal.” | “At the moment I’m looking at who is in papers, who we can get behind, but it shouldn’t be about the personality, it should be about the country and this deal.” |
| McVey resigned last month a day after a stormy five-hour cabinet meeting that had been asked to sign off the legally binding withdrawal agreement negotiated with Brussels. She told Sophy Ridge on Sky News she had demanded a vote in cabinet “on the most crucial issue of a generation”. | McVey resigned last month a day after a stormy five-hour cabinet meeting that had been asked to sign off the legally binding withdrawal agreement negotiated with Brussels. She told Sophy Ridge on Sky News she had demanded a vote in cabinet “on the most crucial issue of a generation”. |
| The former minister denied she had a “meltdown”, as had been suggested by leaks from the cabinet meeting, and said she was a “straight talker”, adding: “If there was a meltdown it was from people not wanting to put their names to a vote.” | The former minister denied she had a “meltdown”, as had been suggested by leaks from the cabinet meeting, and said she was a “straight talker”, adding: “If there was a meltdown it was from people not wanting to put their names to a vote.” |
| The shadow Cabinet Office minister, Jon Trickett, refused to confirm that Labour would table a confidence motion in the prime minister if she loses the Brexit vote, saying: “Let’s see what happens”. | The shadow Cabinet Office minister, Jon Trickett, refused to confirm that Labour would table a confidence motion in the prime minister if she loses the Brexit vote, saying: “Let’s see what happens”. |
| He told Ridge on Sunday: “If you can tell me whether she will still be prime minister on Tuesday evening, then perhaps I can tell you what exactly we will do next.” | He told Ridge on Sunday: “If you can tell me whether she will still be prime minister on Tuesday evening, then perhaps I can tell you what exactly we will do next.” |
| Labour’s policy is to call for a general election, but if that is not possible then all options – including a second referendum – remain open. | Labour’s policy is to call for a general election, but if that is not possible then all options – including a second referendum – remain open. |
| Trickett said passing legislation and organising another referendum may take until May or June 2019, after the UK’s scheduled exit from the EU on 29 March. | Trickett said passing legislation and organising another referendum may take until May or June 2019, after the UK’s scheduled exit from the EU on 29 March. |
| And he warned: “If people feel that the privileged political elite has decided by subterfuge to find a way of reversing the previous referendum, that would cause us some difficulty, and rightly so.” | And he warned: “If people feel that the privileged political elite has decided by subterfuge to find a way of reversing the previous referendum, that would cause us some difficulty, and rightly so.” |
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