JEREMY Corbyn and Theresa May are coming under renewed pressure to put an agreed Brexit deal to the public.
Talks between Labour and the Tories resume today, with both parties committing themselves to finding an agreement to break the Brexit deadlock.
There were reports over the weekend that the Prime Minister was set to back down over Labour demands on a customs union, on goods and and on workers’ rights.
The Sunday Times reported that the Prime Minister’s team would offer Labour a “comprehensive but temporary” customs union which would last until the next general election.
READ MORE: Michael Russell: Is Jeremy Corbyn prepared to sacrifice Scotland for Brexit?
They’d also offer to align the UK with single market rules on a wider range of goods, and to enshrine in law that UK workers’ rights after Brexit will mirror those which currently apply in the EU.
If the reports are accurate the deal will spark fury among Tory Brexiteers.
Yesterday, leading Brexiteer Steve Baker said the deal would “destroy” the Tories at the next election.
“And the next election would happen imminently,” he added. “How does anyone suppose that it would or could not?
“In such circumstances I would not be surprised if we were out-polled by the Brexit Party. I would be surprised to see even a majority of my current parliamentary colleagues back on the green benches after such an election.”
He warned that unless the Tories backed a hard Brexit they would “deservedly” face “political oblivion.”
It’s thought at least 100 of her MPs could vote against the deal. The only way for May to get it passed will be with the support of Labour MPs.
But Corbyn faces a struggle convincing his MPs to back the agreement unless he gets a commitment to a second referendum.
The People’s Vote estimate that around two-thirds of Labour MPs, including several shadow cabinet ministers, would refuse to back a deal without a referendum attached.
Yesterday, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, acknowledged the difficulty, telling the BBC’s Marr show that “to get any deal over the line you’ve got to recognise there will be a large number of MPs in parliament who actually do support a public vote”.
Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader, told the BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics that “the Labour party membership and vast numbers of my colleagues in parliament don’t want us to just sign off on a Tory Brexit”.
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins said it would be “unforgivable” if any “backroom deal” negotiated between the government and opposition was not put to the people: “People across Scotland and the UK are rightly frustrated at the failure of both the Tories and Labour to end the bitter civil wars consuming both parties and to put the national interest first.
READ MORE: Brexit has destroyed the notion that Scotland is in a partnership of equals – that lie is no more
“With Brexit talks between Labour and the Tories resuming this week, it would be unforgivable if any backroom deal bypassed the public through a second EU referendum, and instead simply consigned Scotland to a cliff-edge and catastrophic Brexit outcome.”
It also emerged that May had carried out “scenario planning” last week to prepare for a potential vote in Parliament on having a second referendum.
According to the Telegraph, the Tory leader and her aides discussed giving the electorate a three-way vote.
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