BORIS JOHNSON lead a REVOLT against Theresa May in a Cabinet Meeting yesterday over her plans for “regulatory alignment” (effectively meaning strictly following the EU’s rules) between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
Mrs May had NOT told her Cabinet about her controversial offer in Brussels on Monday or won its sign off for it.
According to The Sun, Mr Johnson told Mrs May that he “would worry if regulatory alignment bound us into the EU”.
A senior Whitehall source told The Sun: “Cabinet is in the dark about what the PM is doing now, which is a very strange state of affairs to be in”.
There was also a Brexiteer revolt within The Conservative Party late last night as Brexiteer MPs opposed Mrs May’s plans to break the deadlock between Ireland and the UK and accused her of pushing through a “soft Brexit” via the back door.
Brexit secretary David Davis yesterday told MPs that the whole of the UK would follow the proposed plan for Nothern Ireland instead of NI having a separate settlement.
The Brexit Secretary said it would mean “mechanisms such as mutual recognition” instead, adding: “It’s not harmonisation, it’s not being in the single market, it’s not having absolutely the same rules.
“It’s this house exercising its democratic right to choose our own laws in such a way to maximise our ability to sell abroad.”
But Mr Davis refused a demand from Tory MP and favourite to replace Mrs May, Jacob Rees-Mogg when he asked the Government to make regulatory divergence a Brexit red line.
Mr Davis responded to Mogg and said: “The red line for me is delivering the best Brexit for Britain”.
But in another blow to the PM, a former Tory leader has tonight called on her to drop the plan – and walk away from talks if the EU insisted on it.
Iain Duncan-Smith said: “We cannot sign up to regulatory alignment. It means we can’t do trade deals”
“These are demands that are designed to box us in. We have to say to them, ‘not good enough’. We simply can’t pay this price.”
Philip Hammond also vowed to get a deal that would be “more ambitious than any existing free trade agreement” that reflects our decades-long “common regulatory” alignment.
In a pledge to London’s financial industry, Mr Hammond said the Government will protect the sector’s ability to “operate as a single marketplace.”
DUP: BLAME GREEN FOR BREXIT SHAMBLES
DAMIAN GREEN was accused yesterday of the breakdown between the DUP and Theresa May which sent May and the EU’s plans for “regulatory alignment” between the Ireland and the Northern Ireland out of the window.
DUP figures told The Telegraph that it was Mr Green’s fault for the breakdown as Mr Green is the chairman of a key Coordination Committee which is meant to ensure that the 10 DUP MPs who hold up Theresa May’s weak government are briefed on upcoming Government plans.
However senior DUP sources were appalled that Mr Green made no attempt to brief them on the text of the Brexit deal before they were sent it on Monday.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkir said the ball was now in London’s court and said he would not budge on the plans for Ireland and Nothern Ireland which “were agreed to and then rejected.”