Unless May is able to claw back enough support among MPs for her compromise plan, it is likely the impasse will only be resolved if either the U.K. crashes out with no deal at all, a solution favored by some hardline Brexiteers, there is a second referendum, which a small number of pro-EU MPs publicly endorse, or the prime minister can find a way to ask Brussels for more time.
In a bid to see off a Brexiteer uprising, No. 10 Downing Street accepted four “wrecking” amendments laid by hardline Euroskeptics in Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group of Tory MPs, all designed to undermine the prime minister’s new Brexit proposal agreed at Chequers, but insisted the new amendments did not undermine government policy. Defense Minister Guto Bebb quit after voting against one of the key changes, defying official government policy. [...]
In a major test of parliamentary strength for both sides of the Brexit debate, the government saw off the pro-EU rebels’ bid to remove the Euroskeptic clause banning any future customs arrangement with the EU which sees the U.K. collecting tariffs for Brussels without the EU doing the same for Britain in reverse. [...]
The fact May felt compelled to accept all four amendments proposed by Brexiteers exposes the precariousness of her situation in parliament as she battles to find a compromise Brexit deal with Brussels acceptable to both wings of the Conservative Party. Experts said the clause effectively killed off the prime minister’s proposed “customs facilitation agreement” — the center-piece of her Chequers plan for a compromise customs model designed to keep the Irish border open while also allowing the rest of the U.K. to strike free trade deals with new countries.
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