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The day after Jo Johnson, the pro-remain brother of former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, resigned from the government and called for a second referendum on Brexit, former education secretary Justine Greening launched an attack on the prime minister, saying her plans would leave the country in the “worst of all worlds”.
Piling yet more pressure on May, Greening – who resigned from the cabinet in January – backed the former transport minister’s call for another public vote and said MPs should reject the prime minister’s deal. Greening told the Observer: “The parliamentary deadlock has been clear for some time. It’s crucial now for parliament to vote down this plan, because it is the biggest giveaway of sovereignty in modern times.
“Instead, the government and parliament must recognise we should give people a final say on Brexit. Only they can break the deadlock and choose from the practical options for Britain’s future now on the table.”
Greening added: “Like many of us, Jo Johnson is a pragmatist on Britain’s relationship with the EU. But Conservative MPs can increasingly see that this sovereignty giveaway from No 10 leaves our country with less say over rules that govern our lives … That is not in the national interest, it’s the worst of all worlds and it resolves nothing.”
Her intervention – just days before May hopes to win agreement for her plans in her deeply divided cabinet – shows how Tories on both sides of the Brexit divide are finding common cause, protesting that her blueprint would leave the UK tied to the EU’s economic systems but with no say over the rules that govern them. As a result, they say that rather than seizing back control from Brussels, it would do the reverse and leave the UK with less power.
A letter to the prime minister, organised by the StandUp4Brexit campaign and circulated among Tory party constituency chairs, seen by the Observer, states that May’s proposals represent a “significant blow to our sovereignty”. [...]