LONDON — A no-deal Brexit must be taken off the table and a compromise package agreed by MPs within weeks to stem “mounting alarm” from international companies, according to U.K. Business Secretary Greg Clark.
Writing for POLITICO, Clark — one of Theresa May’s most powerful Cabinet ministers — says “hundreds of millions of pounds” are now being diverted by companies into no-deal planning, undermining investment in the U.K. economy.
“We can’t go on like this,” he warns.
Clark’s intervention comes after MPs inflicted a second defeat on the prime minister in 24 hours Wednesday. They voted through a controversial amendment that grabs more control over the Brexit process by forcing the prime minister to reveal her Plan B within three days should the House of Commons vote down her deal on Tuesday. With over 100 of her own backbenchers saying they can’t support the deal, that defeat now looks all but certain.
The Plan B will take the form of a motion that MPs will be able to amend, giving parliament the tool to set out the type of Brexit it could accept. MPs could also test whether there was a majority for conditions to be attached to any agreement, such as a second referendum.
“Debates in parliament are monitored closely, and with mounting alarm, in boardrooms around the world” — Greg Clark
Writing exclusively for POLITICO, Clark says the impasse cannot go on much longer, setting a deadline of the end of the month to find a compromise. He calls on MPs to “move quickly and act responsibly to establish what will, and will not, command support.”
In an explosive intervention, which appears to flatly contradict the prime minister’s continued insistence that “no deal is better than a bad deal,” the business secretary adds: “Parliament can establish that it wants no deal to be ruled out. Most MPs, across the house, including many in government, would not countenance leaving on March 29 with no agreement. Once that was clearly demonstrated, then parliament could make a clearer choice of how to proceed. It is not sufficient to record a disapproval of no deal — a further step would need to be taken to prevent it happening by default.”
“This is a time for parliament to come together and work intensively to establish an agreement that can command majority support,” he wrote.
While Clark supports the prime minister’s Brexit deal, his comments suggest that even Cabinet ministers now accept it will be voted down next week.
Clark’s intervention comes after MPs inflicted a second defeat on the prime minister in 24 hours | Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images
The proposal will spark fears among Brexiteers that the government could move to soften the prime minister’s deal with Brussels even further in an attempt to win Labour MPs’ support. In the House of Commons Wednesday, Conservative grandee Oliver Letwin suggested such an offer could be a permanent EU-U.K. customs union — fiercely opposed by Tory Euroskeptics — and a much more tightly bound relationship with the single market.
Clark believes that the failure to agree a deal is now beginning to badly damage Britain’s reputation.
“In recent weeks, confidence from investors has been shaken,” he wrote. “Debates in parliament are monitored closely, and with mounting alarm, in boardrooms around the world.
“The dire prospect that we could tolerate trading with our largest and closest market on WTO terms — the most rudimentary that exist between any nations on earth — is bewildering to them.
“And when hundreds of millions of pounds are having to be diverted by companies from productive investments into defending themselves against the risk of no deal — through piling up stocks, renting warehouses and planning shutdowns of production — investors have every right to object.”
“The vote that the Government has just lost does not affect Brexit” — Jacob Rees-Mogg
Clark’s intervention is likely to spark fury from Euroskeptic Conservative MPs, the majority of whom fiercely oppose the prime minister’s deal.
On Twitter Wednesday night, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Brexiteer caucus in parliament, insisted Brexit could not be stopped unless the government changes course to actively stop it. “The vote that the Government has just lost does not affect Brexit. It merely requires a motion to be tabled not even debated.”
However, as a result of the amendment put down by Tory backbencher Dominic Grieve, which was passed Wednesday, those MPs opposed to no deal now have a mechanism to try to force the government’s hand by voting down May’s deal and then seeking to amend any Plan B proposal she puts before the House.
Dominic Grieve addresses a pro-remain rally, November 14 | Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Grieve said the time pressure facing parliament means it is sensible to fast-track the process. “I realize there are a few of my colleagues who believe that if the government’s deal is rejected we should simply do nothing and leave the EU on March 29 with no deal at all and with all, to my mind, the calamitous consequences that would follow on from it,” he told the BBC.
“I disagree with that, and so I think do the vast majority of members of parliament. The only way we can move forward if the government’s deal is not acceptable to parliament is for parliament to engage with government and find a solution, which is what I am trying to do.”
Despite the extra time, Labour’s Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer said the U.K. would now inevitably have to ask for more time before leaving the EU.
He said: “There is a question of extension of Article 50 and that may well be inevitable now given the position that we are in.”
This article is part of POLITICO’s Brexit Pro service, which dives deep into Britain’s impending departure from the European Union. For a complimentary trial, email pro@politico.eu mentioning Brexit.