Plans were in place to introduce a crucial exit bill in the Commons in the scramble to secure the UK’s departure from the bloc. But the timetable was ripped up and the delay means a new wave of British MEPs are now likely to take up their seats in Brussels in July. Senior Conservative figures believe failing to put the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), which implements the exit deal, to Parliament will harm the party at the ballot box.

As well as a drubbing at local elections on Thursday, Tories are braced for near wipeout from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in the European poll next month.

A party source said: “Cabinet is changing its mind from one week to the next. The only thing that stays the same is our inability to get on with leaving.

“If we don’t introduce the WAB we can’t say we’ve tried everything before the EU elections.”

It comes as Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt warned Mrs May she will lose Tory support if she signs up to a customs union fudge in talks with Jeremy Corbyn to break the deadlock.

Downing Street is likely to pull the plug on the cross-party negotiations, which have been underway for almost a month, by the middle of next week unless significant progress has been made.

Cabinet ministers were told today the discussions with Labour were “serious and constructive”. Talks between key figures on both sides to discuss key sticking points are being lined up.

Failure to reach an agreement means the Government could trigger a round of votes on different options to end the stalemate, including a soft Brexit that would keep Britain closely shackled to Brussels.

No 10 said there needed to be “compromise on both sides” to secure a deal with Labour.

But Mr Hunt raised fears doing business with the Opposition could see Tory support for an exit deal drain away.

He said: “If we were proposing, which I very much hope we don’t, to sign up to the customs union, then I think there is a risk that you would lose more Conservative MPs than you would gain Labour MPs.”

“I think there is a great sense of urgency and that’s why we are having these cross-party talks which have been progressing,” he added.

“And the reality of Brexit is that it is the most controversial issue, certainly in my political lifetime, but we have a hung Parliament so we cannot get it through without talking to other parties.”

Mr Hunt, who backs Brexit despite voting to stay in the EU, is widely expected to fight to replace Mrs May when she steps down.

But he dismissed suggestions the Prime Minister should quit now.

“Just changing the leader doesn’t actually change the parliamentary arithmetic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“So, I think, what it would do is create a delay in the process and mean that we will have another period of time through which we have Brexit paralysis.”

After Britain’s original March Brexit was missed, Mrs May was keen to avoid the UK being forced to take part in elections to the European Parliament.

But with the vote now almost certain to go ahead on May 23, the next symbolic deadline is viewed as the end of June, to avoid the newly elected MEPs having to take up their seats.

Tory sources, however, predict withdrawal legislation will take at least five weeks to push through the Commons and probably the same amount of time in the House of Lords.

Mrs May’s official spokesman said the Cabinet had discussed the need to pass the WAB “as soon as possible” and there was an “understanding” from the Prime Minister that voters want Parliament to get on with this.

He said: “Cabinet received an update on the Brexit talks with the opposition, including the negotiations last night which were serious and constructive.

“Further talks will now be scheduled in order to bring the process toward a conclusion.

“Cabinet also discussed the need to secure safe passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill as soon as possible in order to deliver upon the result of the referendum.”

The so-called Pizza Club of Cabinet Brexiteers who back the Prime Minister’s exit deal has discussed stripping the backstop measures to prevent a hard Irish border from the legislation to secure its passage through Parliament.

Brussels has refused to budge on the insurance measure but a significant group of Conservative Eurosceptics are furiously opposed to the plan, which it fears would keep Britain tied to the EU indefinitely.

Senior ministers, however, believe the formation of a fresh European Parliament, which will sit from July, could pave the way for the most divisive element of the EU divorce deal to be renegotiated.

A new wave of MEPs could shake-up the attitude in Brussels towards modifying the backstop, they hope.

The option has been floated with a group of key backbenchers in the party and some have been open to such a move.

Other ways to break open the Brexit blockage being considered by some Eurosceptics are plans to break down the withdrawal legislation further into smaller bills.

Source: Read Full Article