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Theresa May will on Friday attempt to pass half of her Brexit deal through parliament amid signs that she is heading for another significant defeat against an expected backdrop of “Brexit day” protests at Westminster.
The UK prime minister will seek approval for her withdrawal deal in a vote at 2.30pm, with international trade secretary Liam Fox claiming that Britain’s “political structures are at risk” if MPs continued to block Brexit, which was scheduled to have taken effect at 11pm GMT on Friday.
Mrs May hopes that holding a vote on what had long been scheduled to be Brexit day will put pressure on Conservative Eurosceptics and Labour MPs representing Leave areas to support her withdrawal deal, opening the way to Britain leaving the EU on a revised date of May 22.
In a parliamentary manoeuvre that has angered Labour, Mrs May has split the vote on her deal, which has already been defeated twice in the House of Commons. MPs will be asked to approve the 585-page EU divorce treaty, covering citizen’s rights, the £39bn divorce bill and the Irish border, but not the 26-page non-binding declaration on future relations.
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader, said his party would not support a “blindfold Brexit” where MPs were asked to vote for an exit deal with no idea of what the future would look like. Crucially Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party, whose 10 MPs give Mrs May her parliamentary majority, says it will also oppose the move.
The DUP says it cannot accept the so-called “backstop” to prevent a hard Irish border, a major feature of the withdrawal agreement. This provision could keep Northern Ireland — but not the rest of the UK — within the EU’s single market for goods.
Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, told the Commons: “We as a party cannot put our hand to an agreement which would have Northern Ireland treated differently.”
But in a boost for Mrs May Dominic Raab, the Eurosceptic former Brexit secretary, announced he would vote for the withdrawal agreement on Friday.
“I’m afraid we need to proceed with some realism,” he said, adding there is “a significant risk of losing Brexit altogether”.
Mr Raab said he could not countenance a delay to Brexit beyond May 22 or the prospect of the UK taking part in European Parliament elections scheduled that month. “I will vote for the motion”, he said.
If the withdrawal deal is rejected again, Britain would leave the EU on April 12 without a deal unless Mrs May can persuade the 27 other EU leaders to grant a further extension in the Article 50 exit process; this would, however, require the UK to take part in next month’s European Parliament elections.
“It’s really the last chance to vote for Brexit as we understood it,” said Mr Fox, warning that if MPs reject the withdrawal agreement on Friday it could lead to a lengthy delay or a much softer Brexit.
Mrs May lost the last attempt to pass her Brexit deal by 149 votes; that deficit is expected to be much smaller on Friday because some Eurosceptic Tory MPs have reluctantly announced they will back the prime minister, who has offered her resignation this summer if it passes.
But with Labour, DUP and other opposition parties still opposing the deal, the prime minister faces another defeat and the increased likelihood that she will have to seek a longer delay to Brexit. Some politicians speculate a general election is inevitable.
Nigel Farage, former leader of the UK Independence party, is expected to be among those protesting outside Westminster as the vote takes place.
Mr Fox said MPs who continued to block Brexit were putting at risk people’s faith in democracy. “Who are the masters and who are the servants in the democratic process?” he told the BBC’s Today programme. “I think our current political structures are at risk. A chasm of distrust would open up between voters and our political system.”
Keir Starmer, shadow Brexit secretary, said Mrs May herself had said the withdrawal treaty and the document setting out future UK-EU trade and security relations were inseparable.
Jon Lansman, founder of the pro-Corbyn Momentum group, said: “Any Labour MP who votes today with the Tories to leave the EU with absolutely no idea where we are heading does not deserve to be a Labour MP.”
