British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU Dominic Raab yesterday conceded that Conservative Party backbenchers have become jittery about the status of the Brexit negotiations, but insisted “now is the time to play for the team” amid fresh speculation about British Prime Minister Theresa May’s leadership.
The Tories needed to “hold [their] nerve” after reports that hostile backbenchers would try to force a leadership challenge, he said.
Forty-eight lawmakers are needed to force a vote of confidence in the prime minister.
“We’re at the end stage of the negotiations: I think it’s understandable that there jitters on all sides of this debate. We need to hold our nerve; the end is in sight in terms of a good deal — the prize that we want: a good deal with the EU,” Raab said.
“Colleagues should wait and see what that looks like. It won’t be a question of a fait accompli. They’ll have their a full say on it; that’s what meaningful vote is all about. We won’t want to bring something back that we aren’t confident is a very good deal for the United Kingdom. And now is the time to play for the team,” he said.
When asked if May was hanging by a thread, Raab joked that it was “a pretty strong thread” and said there were reports “every week” that nearly 48 Tory lawmakers had written to the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee demanding a vote of confidence in May.
He set out the negotiating red lines yesterday on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One, saying that when it comes to any backstop agreement: “Northern Ireland can’t be separated from the rest of the UK in customs or regulatory terms and we cannot have a situation were we are stuck indefinite limbo.”
Hard Brexiters were particularly unhappy about suggestions that emerged from the EU summit on Wednesday that the UK could sign up to an extension of the post-Brexit transition period.
Raab said he was “open-minded about the possibility of using a short extension of the IP [implementation period] — let’s say three months” if that helped eliminate the need for a backstop in which Northern Ireland or all of the UK would remain in the EU if a free-trade deal was not concluded by the end of 2020.
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