Davis sent a bluntly worded resignation letter to the prime minister, saying he would not be a “reluctant conscript” to the plan agreed at Chequers, which he said was “certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense”.
Davis has told friends he cannot live with the soft Brexit stance agreed between ministers on Friday, which proposes a “UK-EU free trade area”, governed by a “common rule book”.
Davis is said to have been “livid” about hostile briefing from senior figures in Downing Street about how Brexiters would be treated at Chequers – including suggestions they would be given the number of a local taxi firm if they chose to resign.
May will now have to confront furious pro-Brexit MPs in parliament on Monday, knowing she has lost the backing of one of the leavers’ champions in government.
Downing Street was publicly bullish on Monday, with a source saying the mini-reshuffle to replace Davis and Baker would begin from 9am. The source said: “We have a plan agreed at Chequers, as the PM says in her letter to David Davis, and we are moving forward.”
The prime minister is facing a growing backlash from the pro-Brexit wing of her party, with MPs warning they are prepared to trigger a leadership contest.
If at least 48 MPs send letters to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee, he would have to call a vote of no confidence – though many of May’s supporters in the parliamentary party believe she could win it. [...]
Davis had clashed with May on several occasions in recent weeks, including over when the long-awaited white paper setting out the government’s Brexit position should be published.
He would prefer a much looser, Canada-style relationship with the EU27 after Brexit — a proposal rejected by the cabinet on Friday.
In her reply to Davis’s resignation letter, the prime minister emphasised he had quit “when we are only eight months from the date set in law” for the UK to leave the EU. She rejected his characterisation that the policy agreed at Chequers on Friday would not bring powers back from Brussels to Britain.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the powerful European Research Group faction, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Davis’s resignation should force May to reconsider her approach. “Without his imprimatur, it will be very difficult for them [May’s Brexit proposals] to get the support of Conservative MPs and therefore the prime minister would be well advised to reconsider them,” he said.
He told Reuters the resignation was “crucially important” because it showed the extent of concerns about the Chequers agreement. “If the Brexit secretary could not support them they cannot genuinely be delivering Brexit,” he said. [...]
Full article on The Guardian
Related article on Bloomberg: Brexit Resignations Create New Uncertainty for U.K. Business
Carolyn Fairbairn, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, called the weekend resignations of Brexit Secretary David Davis and his deputy, Steve Baker, a “blow.” The departures came just days after May said she had secured cabinet backing for a plan to keep close ties to the European Union.
“One of the things that business welcomed on Friday was finally cabinet unity,” Fairbairn said on BBC Radio on Monday. “It’s all going to be about what happens next, because actually there were real rays of light in the conclusion from Friday.”
May on Monday named Housing Secretary Dominic Raab, a Brexit backer, to replace Davis as Brexit secretary.
New Turmoil
While business has favored greater alignment with the EU, Davis’s resignation could destabilize May’s government, creating new turmoil for companies trying to figure out how to deal with Brexit. Before May announced cabinet agreement, companies ranging from Airbus SE to Jaguar Land Rover to BMW AG warned of the consequences of leaving the EU with no deal or one that’s unfriendly to global businesses.
Dutch health-technology company Royal Philips NV also said over the weekend that it may move manufacturing out of the U.K., where it employs 1,500 people, in the event of a hard Brexit. [...]
Investment Drops
In a sign of the fallout, investment from abroad in Britain’s financial-services firms fell 26 percent last year, EY said in a report released Monday. During the same period, Germany experienced a 64 percent increase, while the figure for France more than doubled. [...]
Full article on Bloomberg
Related article on The Guardian: Boris Johnson quits as foreign secretary over May's Brexit plans
Related article on Financial Times: Two Conservative vice-chairs quit over ‘Chequers compromise’
© The Guardian
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article