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Last week, Theresa May saw off a rebellion on her own benches over parliament’s right to a “meaningful vote” on the terms of Britain’s exit, rather than a binary choice of deal or no deal. Some Brexit-supporting MPs interpreted the collapse of the revolt as a key moment that left open the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, if necessary.
As the European Council holds a key summit this week, Mrs May has said that leaving without any agreement remains an option. Liam Fox, trade secretary, said on Saturday he still believed “no deal would be better than a bad deal”.
Meanwhile EU leaders called on member states and companies last week to step up contingency preparations for a no-deal Brexit after concerns that the UK had made “no substantial progress” on the Irish border. But one former cabinet minister said that a large number of Conservatives are ready to veto any attempt at crashing out without a deal.
“There are at least 50 Conservative MPs who would be prepared to vote to stop that happening, which would be more than enough to force the government to take notice,” the former minister said.
“In the end, parliament will find a way to stop a no deal Brexit happening if that’s what it takes, including Conservative MPs like myself.” Another former minister said that there would be even more rebels in those circumstances: “You need to speculate on a larger number, including cabinet and junior ministers.” [...]
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