MPs give themselves ANOTHER holiday amid Brexit crisis
MPs give themselves ANOTHER holiday amid Brexit crisis: Westminster will head off on an 11 DAY Whitsun break at the end of the month despite pleas from EU to ‘get on with it’
- The Whitsun recess will begin on May 23 with MPs not due to return until June 4
- It means that MPs will not be in Parliament the day after the European elections
- It spares Theresa May from facing furious Tory backbenchers if party does badly
- Comes almost exactly a month after EU’s Tusk urged MPs not to ‘waste this time’
MPs will desert Westminster on an 11-day break at the end of the month despite the ongoing Brexit crisis, it was revealed today.
Commons’ Leader Andrea Leadsom confirmed that the Whitsun recess will begin on May 23 – the day of the European Elections – with MPs not due to return until June 4.
The announcement came amid an ongoing crisis over the UK’s departure from the EU and Theresa May’s premiership.
It means that MPs will not be in Parliament after the European elections, sparing Theresa May from facing furious Tory backbenchers if her party, as expected, is abandoned by voters.
Voting takes place on May 23 but the results are due to start rolling in on the Sunday night, May 26, because they cannot be announced before polls close in all EU nations, some of which are holding elections later than the UK.
With a fresh attempt to get a Brexit deal through the Commons slated to take place before May 23 – and almost certain to fail yet again – it would also potentially see Mrs May get breathing space from calls for her to resign as Tory leader immediately.
And it was made almost exactly a month after European Council President Donald Tusk urged MPs not to ‘waste this time’ as Theresa May was granted a flexible six month extension to Brexit.
The Commons has risen early on several occasions since the Easter break partly due to a lack of business.
Speaking in the Commons, Mrs Leadsom announced next week’s schedule, before adding: ‘Subject to the progress of business, the House will rise for the Whitsun recess at the close of business on Thursday May 23 and return on Tuesday June 4.’
She added that Britain’s failure to leave the EU almost three years after the referendum was ‘utterly unacceptable’.
Andrea Leadsom told the Commons: ‘Subject to the progress of business, the House will rise for the Whitsun recess at the close of business on Thursday May 23 and return on Tuesday June 4’
Mrs Leadsom made no mention of key Brexit legislation as she announced the business for next week, adding that the Government hoped cross-party agreement could be achieved to implement the Withdrawal Agreement.
Mrs Leadsom added it was ‘absolutely essential’ that Brexit was delivered although failed to say if the Withdrawal Agreement would come back to Parliament for a fourth time next week after being pressed by Labour.
MPs are scheduled to consider the Non-Domestic Rating (Preparation for Digital Services) Bill on Monday, a debate on prisons and probation plus a debate on health on Tuesday, a debate on serious violence on Wednesday, and debates on the definition of Islamophobia and the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia on Thursday.
Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz said there had been speculation in the media that Prime Minister Theresa May would introduce the Withdrawal Agreement Bill next Thursday, asking Mrs Leadsom to clarify as ‘we need that certainty’.
But the minister avoided answering, saying it was ‘subject to the talks with the opposition benches’, adding: ‘So I’m sure she’ll be able to get an update from her own side.
‘It is the Government’s intention to seek cross-party agreement to get a Bill that the whole House supports, it is absolutely essential that we leave the European Union, and three years on it’s utterly unacceptable that we haven’t done so yet.’
SNP Commons leader Pete Wishart said MPs deserved an answer to when they would get to vote again on the EU Withdrawal Agreement.
He added: ‘When are they going to bring it back and what form will it be? This purgatory just cannot go on any longer.
‘Nothing is being done, important Bills need to be brought back to this House and we need to get back to work.
‘We rose early on two days this week and this place is quickly becoming an international laughing stock.’
Asked whether it was right for MPs to take a break when Brexit legislation still needs to be pushed through Parliament, a Downing Street spokeswoman told reporters: ‘Recesses are obviously agreed by the House.
‘This particular recess occurs every year.
‘We have discussions with the opposition which are continuing and, subject to progress, we hope we are able to bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill before recess.’
Some Tories believe a heavy defeat in the Commons for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill would signal that the Prime Minister has no chance of getting Brexit done at all and should hand over to someone else.
Theresa May is believed to be planning a fresh attempt to get Britain of the EU before Euro elections in a fortnight amid plots to topple her as Tory leader.
A senior backbencher suggested that he expected ministers to bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill – required to ratify her deal in law – in the ‘near future’.
But some Tories have warned that the bold decision could see the Prime Minister fall into a Brexiteer trap to topple her quickly – while she plans to stay on until the autumn – according to ITV News.
They believe a heavy defeat in the Commons for the bill would signal that the Prime Minister has no chance of getting Brexit done at all and should hand over to someone else.
After a local election humiliation last week some Conservative officials believe the party could win less than 10 per cent of the vote to finish below Nigel Farage’s Brexit party, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and even Change UK, the Financial Times reported.
The chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady, who met the Prime Minister privately on Tuesday, suggested she could make a final effort to get her Brexit deal through Parliament before the European elections, when the party is expected to suffer even heavier losses.
Some Conservative officials believe the party could win less than 10 per cent of the vote in the European election, which would lead to even more calls for Mrs May to go
Sir Graham Brady, who met the Prime Minister privately on Tuesday, suggested she could make a final effort to get her Brexit deal through Parliament before the European elections
Nigel Farage meanwhile insisted that his newly formed Brexit Party was by no means a short-term political rebuttal to the established parties
Mrs May has rebuffed demands to set out a timetable for her departure from No 10 amid growing pressure from Tory MPs to make way for a new leader.
Labour has strongly suggested that the talks are nowhere near a breakthrough.
Jeremy Corbyn said he had received ‘no big offer’ today.
And in a swipe at Tory infighting he added: ‘It’s difficult negotiating with a disintegrating government with Cabinet ministers jockeying for the succession, rather than working for an agreement.’
Sir Graham Brady made clear she had not offered any further clarity about her future and that said she would meet the committee’s 18-strong executive next week amid grass roots fury over the party’s worst local elections performance in 24 years.
Sir Graham suggested she could make a final effort to get her Brexit deal through Parliament before the European elections, when the party is expected to suffer even heavier losses.
With her effective deputy David Lidington suggesting he hoped a deal could be concluded by July – meaning the UK would leave on August 1 – there is speculation she may seek to hang on until the annual party conference in the autumn.
Justice Secretary David Gauke today urged Tory MPs to back Theresa May.
He admitted the elections would be ‘difficult for the party and an opportunity to ‘give the established parties a kick’
But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think the issue here is that her going isn’t going to change the parliamentary arithmetic.’
Mr Gauke said, when the Conservatives choose their next leader, the focus should be on ‘what is the role of the UK in a post-Brexit world and who is the best candidate to defeat Jeremy Corbyn’.
He added: ‘I think it would be a mistake to have a change of leadership at this point.’
However Nigel Evans, the executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, warned she would need to give MPs some greater certainty about her future before the election.
‘August 1 is the next new date,’ he told the BBC.
‘It could be kicked down the road even further. That’s not what we want. We want some clarity from the Prime Minister.’
McVey enters the fray! Former minister and hardline Brexiteer enters race to replace Theresa May as Remainer minister David Gauke signals he will run to stop ‘populist’ Boris Johnson from getting into Number 10
Hardline Brexiteer and former Cabinet minister Esther McVey revealed she would run to replace Theresa May as the Tory leadership battle burst into life today.
The ex-Work and Pensions Secretary, who quit the Government in protest at the Prime Minister’s Brexit handling in November, confirmed she would make a bid for the top in a radio interview this morning.
It came after Cabinet minister David Gauke took a thinly-veiled swipe at rival leadership candidate Boris Johnson, warning the Tories ‘to avoid the temptation’ of becoming right-wing populists.
As ministers from across the Brexit spectrum vie to replace Theresa May when she finally quits as Tory leader, the Justice Secretary said that such a change would leave Britain poorer and more divided and put the Union at risk.
In an interview with TalkRadio Ms McVey, 51, said: ‘I’ve always said quite clearly if I got enough support from colleagues then yes I would, and now people have come forward and I have got that support.
‘So I will be going forward.’
She said the Conservative Party needed a leader who ‘believes in Brexit’, and had ‘belief in the opportunities’ it could bring.
Ms McVey said that Mrs May’s departure should be handled in a ‘dignified and graceful’ way.
‘We all know Theresa May is dutiful,’ she said. ‘She has worked for public service for many years.’
The former television journalist, who is engaged to fellow Tory backbench Brexiteer Philip Davies, 47, is seen as an outsider in the leadership race, with odds currently 66/1.
McVey, who previously had a romance with ex-minister Ed Vaizey, went public on her relationship with Mr Davies in March, in an interview that prompted speculation she was clearing a path for a leadership bid.
He has two children from a previous marriage while Ms McVey has none.
Hardline Brexiteer and former Cabinet minister Esther McVey revealed she would run to replace Theresa May as the Tory leadership battle burst into life today
Esther McVey at the Pink Ribbon Ball in 2002 while working as a TV presenter on shows like GMTV, How Do they Do That? .Today she announced she would run to be Tory leader after Theresa May
The former television journalist, who is engaged to fellow Tory backbench Brexiteer Philip Davies, 47, is seen as an outsider in the leadership race, with odds currently 66/1
Although there is no leadership contest under way, a lack of confidence in Theresa May among Conservative MPs has prompted Rory Stewart, Andrea Leadsom and Ms McVey to declare their candidacies.
A series of high-profile media appearances from Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove and Dominic Raab in the last week have also buoyed speculation that they will run.
Boris Johnson, Sajid Javid, Steve Baker and Amber Rudd have also been tipped as potential leaders.
Under current Conservative Party rules, the Prime Minister is free from an internal challenge to her leadership until December 2019, but could step down before then.
Remainer minister Mr Gauke meanwhile made a pitch to be the centre-ground candidate in any upcoming leadership fight.
In an interview with the BBC this morning said that politicians must ‘avoid giving glib answers’ to complex questions, in a concerted pitch for the middle ground.
He added: ‘We have to avoid the temptation to be a populist party.
‘That would narrow our support, narrow our base and result in policies that I don’t think would be good for the United Kingdom.’
Although he is not often mentioned in lists of potential successors to Mrs May, Mr Gauke’s comments will be seen as an intervention in the leadership contest to come after the PM steps down, as she has said she will once the first phase of Brexit is complete.
One of the Cabinet’s most prominent opponents of a no-deal Brexit, his comments are likely to be interpreted as a caution to the party not to choose a leader from among advocates of the hardest forms of EU withdrawal, like Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab.
Mr Johnson, the bookies’ favourite to succeed the Prime Minister, is the most popular Tory MP with the party’s rank-and-file and most recognisable to the general public.
But he is less popular with Tory MPs, with Remainers and moderates gearing up to provide a ‘stop Boris’ to run against him.
Under Tory rules MPs whittle leadership candidates down to a final two before a vote of the membership, so they could block the former foreign secretary from the head-to-head.
In the interview with TalkRadio Ms McVey, 51, seen as an outsider in the leadership race, said: ‘I’ve always said quite clearly if I got enough support from colleagues then yes I would, and now people have come forward and I have got that support.’
Appealing to the party to stand by the banner of ‘One Nation Conservatism’, Mr Gauke used a speech to the Onward thinktank this morning to call for for a politics which is civil, open-minded and forward-looking.
When the Conservatives choose their next leader, the focus should be on ‘what is the role of the UK in a post-Brexit world and who is the best candidate to defeat Jeremy Corbyn’, he added.
In his speech, Mr Gauke said the arguments of some Brexiteers has been ‘characterised by wishful thinking’ which has ‘not survived the collision with reality’.
Voters’ anger over the failure to deliver Brexit on time has been fuelled by some Leave supporters’ over-simplification of the difficulties involved, he said.
And he argued that the Government must put the economy at the heart of its Brexit strategy, discouraging a ‘culture war’ over relations with Europe and ensuring that the UK maintains ‘strong trading relationships with our biggest trading partner’.
In a challenge to populists’ claim to be the heirs of the most successful Tory leader of modern times, he insisted that Margaret Thatcher led her party and her country by confronting populism, not embracing it.
Mr Gauke warned that the growth of populism has driven a coarsening of political debate, with language becoming more extreme and civility dismissed as weakness.
But he said that on the key political arguments, populists are ‘just plain wrong’.
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