Theresa May’s warring cabinet has been urged to “get on with the job” by senior Tories as UK businesses warned their patience is reaching “breaking point” over the government’s inability to answer key questions on Brexit.
William Hague, the former Conservative leader, issued a blunt warning to Cabinet ministers not to push their demands for a clean break with the EU too far as the prime minister prepares to summon her top team to her Chequers residence on Friday.
And Penny Mordaunt, the women and equalities minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that people wants us to focus on the job and they want us to get on and put all of our energy into getting a good deal”.
Their remarks came as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) compiled a list of 23 points on which firms urgently need clarity and said the government has only begun to partially deliver on two of them.
It warned that inaction from the prime minister's team was causing a “significant slowdown in business investment” as firms hold off due to uncertainty over simple questions about their day-to-day operations once the UK leaves the EU in March next year.
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Responding to the government's LGBT+ action plan, Matthew Fell, the chief policy director at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: "Anyone who runs a business knows that a happy, diverse and inclusive workplace where people can bring their whole self is more successful.
“One bad experience, regardless of your gender identity or sexuality, is one too many and unacceptable in modern Britain.
“The results of this survey should be a wake-up call to everyone – workplaces cultures are getting better but not fast enough. The CBI will continue to promote LGBT+ rights. We will encourage businesses to educate their staff, understand the progress they are making and empower role models.”
He would not venture to say what the parameters of the discussion will be on Friday, or say which ministers have been or will be briefed in advance on the customs plan and white paper.
He did confidently say that "decisions" will be taken, though declined to say on what exactly.
With a lot pressure on May from the Brexiteer wing not to soften her stance, he told _The Independent_: "The package that we bring forward will be something that we'd hope everyone in the house and in the country can support."
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The IndependentContinuing our series to mark 70 years since the birth of the NHS, Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds looks at how its creator forged such a lasting institutionIn a podcast for the ConservativeHome website, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said:
"I am trying to support the Prime Minister's position and to remind people that any implementation deal has to get through Parliament, and if it is a bad deal, or it doesn't meet the manifesto commitments, people won't vote for it," said Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tories.
"It is a reflection of both the strength of the Prime Minister's position and the reality of what would happen if the Cabinet went away from the Prime Minister's avowed position."
Mr Rees-Mogg warned there had been a "breakdown in collective responsibility" in the Cabinet, with pro-EU ministers openly promoting solutions "against the Prime Minister's speeches, against the position formally of the Cabinet and against the manifesto".
And he said: "This is really serious, it is constitutionally unsuitable, it is damaging to the Conservative Party and most importantly it weakens us in negotiations."
This is the agenda in the Commons today:
An urgent question on Govia Thameslink and rail electrification - 12.30
An urgent question on the LBGT action plan - 1.15
A statement from Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson providing a counter-Daesh update - 2pm
A 10-minute rule motion on Pets (Theft) 2.45pm
Estimates day debates (i) Department for Education (ii) Treasury spending on grants to the devolved institutions (iii) Main estimates 2018/19 - 3pm
A motion on the appointment of trustees to the House of Commons Members Fund
A short debate on Aldi supermarket housing development in Stapleford
Theresa May vows to eradicate ‘abhorrent’ gay conversion therapy
'We've done the biggest ever LGBT survey and the number of people subjected to conversion therapy is shocking'
Conversion therapy and fear to hold hands in public show how much further we have to go, writes the women and equalities minister Penny Mordaunt
Ministers face backlash over proposals to scrap freeze on fuel duty to fund £20bn NHS boost
Tory MP said the suggestion would go down like a 'bucket of cold sick'
Windrush generation: Home Office ‘set them up to fail’, say MPs
‘Simply rebranding it the compliant environment is meaningless,’ says report
MPs 'must get Bank of England advice on predicted Brexit damage before voting on deal'
Chancellor urged to set out impact on national income, income per head, labour productivity, household incomes, employment, exports, imports and the exchange rateFormer Tory leader William Hague has issued a blunt warning to Cabinet Brexiteers not to push their demands for a clean break with the European Union too far.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said that any minister who chose that moment to quit would show they were not fit to hold high office in the first place.
Amid reports of ministers preparing possible leadership challenges, he warned that the "vast sensible middle" of the Conservative Party "deeply dislike naked manoeuvring to become the next leader".
He said: "Flouncing out, just when the going gets tough but when the EU Withdrawal Act has been successfully enacted, will look like evading responsibility for choices that were inevitable just when important progress has been made."
In his article, Lord Hague warned that the Brexiteers did not have the numbers in Parliament to force through their vision on a "hard Brexit" and urged them to think through the consequences of creating a leadership crisis.
"Everyone threatening Theresa May with chaos, revolt, resignations, and a leadership election if she doesn't do as they wish needs to think carefully about what might be the consequences of their actions," he said
"A vote of no confidence in the leadership called on this issue would in all probability rally the sensible middle to the Prime Minister.
"If ardent Brexiteers push too hard, they will end up without their main objective. If there is no agreement this week on a plan for customs arrangements, the Commons will be much more likely to vote in the near future to stay in the customs union in its entirety.
"The choice is either to back a compromise plan now or to end up with a more watered-down version of Brexit that would be forced on ministers anyway."
True financial squeeze on UK households bigger than previously thought, research suggests
Since 2008, academics at Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University have looked at what people say they need in order to have an acceptable quality of life – the ‘minimum income standard’
Boris Johnson backs Jacob Rees-Mogg on the day he threatened revolt against Theresa May
The foreign secretary said Mr Rees-Mogg is a 'principled and dedicated' politician
