Brexit: Tory MPs at odds over competing ‘Super Tuesday’ amendments

Tory MPs remain divided on the issue of Brexit ahead of a series of Commons votes which could help shape the next phase of talks with the EU,

Conservative MP and Chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), Jacob Rees-Mogg. Picture: AFP/Getty Images

At a meeting of Tory MPs in Westminster on Monday, Mrs May called on them to get behind an amendment tabled by influential chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady calling for “alternative arrangements” to the backstop.

Conservative MPs were informed that they would be whipped to vote for the amendment - assuming it is selected by Commons Speaker John Bercow.

Her hopes of gaining a Commons majority for the plan received an initial setback after Jacob-Rees-Mogg, the leader of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), said they were not prepared to support it and it did not change anything.

However, he suggested that he could be prepared to support it if the amendment had official Government backing.

“Let’s see what the Prime Minister says at the despatch box today and what the Brady amendment really means,” he told the BBC.

“If the Brady amendment is a Government amendment, effectively, that means the Withdrawal Agreement will be reopened; that’s very different from a worthy backbench motion that doesn’t do anything.

“So let’s just wait and see on that.”

The ERG’s rejection had come after former foreign secretary Boris Johnson appeared to suggest he could back Sir Graham’s amendment - although he was later reported to have been involved in a series of sharp exchanges with Mrs May on the issue at Monday’s meeting.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, however, insisted that backing the amendment would strengthen the Prime Minister’s hand when it came to reopening negotiations on the backstop - intended to ensure there is no return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

“I think we should send the Prime Minister back to Brussels with a strong mandate to be able to say if you compromise with us on this one issue, on the backstop, we would be able to a get an agreement - an agreement that is almost there,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Both the EU and the Irish government have been adamant that there can be no question of reopening the Withdrawal Agreement.

Ireland’s European Affairs Minister, Helen McEntee, said: “There can be no change to the backstop. It was negotiated over 18 months with the UK and by the UK. A bit of realism is needed at this stage.”

Former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said discussions had been taking place for “some days” between herself, health minister Stephen Hammond, and Solicitor General Robert Buckland on one side and Mr Rees-Mogg and Steve Baker from the ERG on the other.

Their plan involved a “recasting” of the Northern Ireland backstop as “free trade agreement-lite” with a commitment on all sides there should be no hard border on the island of Ireland and an extended transition period to December 2021.

Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith, from the Brexiteer side, said the plan represented the “best hope” for the Conservatives.

“I really urge the Government to embrace this because what this will tell the European Union is that now, I believe, a majority of Parliament, particularly in the governing party, have agreed there are compromises to be made,” he said.

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson said: “If the Prime Minister indicates in the debate that she will be pressing Brussels to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement to make changes to the backstop, I will gladly support the Brady amendment.

“But what we need is to achieve something legally binding - and that means part of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“We can’t have some codicil or letter or joint declaration. We need to go back into the text of the treaty and solve the problem. That is the way to unite Remainers and Leavers in the Conservative party and across the country.”

DUP leader Arlene Foster gave her party’s support to the Malthouse Compromise.

“We believe it can unify a number of strands in the Brexit debate including the views of Remainers and Leavers,” she said.

“It also gives a feasible alternative to the backstop proposed by the European Union which would split the United Kingdom or keep the entire United Kingdom in the customs union and single market.

“Importantly, this proposal would also offer a route towards negotiating a future trade relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

“If the Prime Minister is seeking to find a united front, both between elements in her own party and the DUP, in the negotiations which she will enter with the European Union, then this is a proposition which she should not turn her back on.

“There is no better time to advance this alternative given the confusion and disarray which is now manifesting itself in Brussels. This has been displayed both by the contradictory EU statements and the panic-stricken behaviour of the Irish government.”