Theresa May risks Conservative wrath as European election leaflet targets Brexit deal rebels

‘Cabinet must take its head out of the sand. The deal was dead months ago’

Ashley Cowburn
Political Correspondent
Friday 10 May 2019 16:25 BST
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David Lidington confirms UK will hold European elections later this month, as MPs run out of time to agree a Brexit deal

Theresa May has risked angering Tory MPs by using the party’s official leaflet for the European elections to target those who voted down her Brexit agreement.

One senior MP told The Independent the material had made the election about whether or not to reject the prime minister’s UK-EU agreement, despite it being “dead months ago”.

It comes amid fears within Conservative quarters that the party faces a bleak set of results in the looming elections after refusing to even publish a manifesto or launch an official campaign ahead of the vote on 23 May.

Recent polls have suggested the Tories are trailing far behind both Labour and the newly-formed Brexit Party under the stewardship of the former Ukip leader, Nigel Farage.

But the party’s flyer for the European elections includes a link to a website directing individuals towards MPs who voted down the prime minister’s Brexit deal, which includes 34 Conservatives.

The free mailshot targets voters across the country ahead of 23 May and urges individuals to “find out if your Member of Parliament has backed the Brexit deal yet”.

The website suggests recipients should “tell your MP to back the deal”, adding: “If a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) back a deal in time, we could cancel the elections and get on with leaving the European Union – and all the other important issues facing our country.”

But targeting Tories who voted against Ms May’s deal could infuriate MPs – already frustrated with the party’s leadership – even further.

Steve Baker – a former Brexit minister and member of the European Research Group (ERG) of hardline Tory Eurosceptics – told The Independent: “Every email we receive will be an opportunity to explain why we were right to defeat this bad deal for the UK.”

A second Brexiteer MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, told The Times the leaflet failed to include the pledge to leave the customs unions “to ensure we can have an independent trade policy”.

“This leaflet seems to contradict what I and Conservative colleagues were elected on in 2017,” she said, amid fears among Brexiteer Tory MPs the government could agree to a customs union in the cross-party talks with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party.

Another Remain-backing MP added: “With this election leaflet, the cabinet have made the EU election about whether people reject her deal, as parliament already has. They’ll shortly get their answer.

“In their cabinet bunker they won’t listen to parliament, so will they listen to people? MPs voted down this worst of all worlds deal because their communities don’t support it.

“That’s the reality – cabinet must take its head out of the sand. The deal was dead months ago.”

Their remarks came as the Brexit Party leader Mr Farage said that if the organisation comes out top in the European elections, it will leave Labour and Conservative MPs fearful for their Commons seats.

Asked what a Brexit Party victory would mean, he said: “It puts a no-deal Brexit back on the table. Parliament has taken it off the table. Our voters say, ‘Put it back on the table’ and, if we win, we will demand representation, with the government, at the next stage of negotiations.

“We have deadline now of 31 October and we want to make sure, our voters want to make sure, that, actually, no deal is being seriously thought about.”

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