A point of significant tension at this morning’s cabinet will be over whether the PM is to allow her ministers and MPs to vote with their consciences on the indicative votes today and tomorrow to find any Brexit – or no-Brexit plan – that a majority of MPs can support AND on the statutory instrument (SI) that will delay the 29 March date in law for exiting the EU.
Apparently the whips want a free vote on the SI, so ministers – including some of them – can vote against it and keep their jobs. And more remainy ministers – led by Greg Clark, Amber Rudd and David Gauke – want a free vote on the indicative votes, so they can signal their support for a softer Brexit or a referendum without losing their jobs. How will the PM jump?
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Martin Narey
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Well the conspiracy theorists in her Government say she’ll whip on indicative votes – to maximise her chance of being proved right that there is no way through the Brexit mess that is more popular than her own unpopular deal.
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