A minister said today he would want Article 50 to be revoked if the Prime Minister’s deal fails again to end the “utter paralysis” over Brexit.
Foreign Office minister Mark Field warned that the European Union was running out of patience with Parliament over its repeated voting down of Theresa May’s proposal.
Speaking to the Evening Standard today, he said that he would prefer to revoke Article 50 rather than back a second referendum, should there be votes on a range of Brexit options and ministers are given a free choice.
He is believed to be the first minister to come out in favour of revoking Article 50, the legal process for withdrawal from the EU, if certain circumstances play out.
He said: “There is a risk of there being utter paralysis. Hopefully we will get the withdrawal agreement through and we will be on our way to leaving the EU in May. That’s the ideal. But if it loses and we are in paralysis and there’s a free vote given on indicative votes then I’m more attracted to revoking Article 50.” He said he understood his view, which he claimed he has held for many months, was likely to be unusual among ministers and the Cabinet.
“The one thing that is very evident is that the EU is losing patience,” he continued. “We are taking up a lot of their time. They think ‘why doesn’t the UK work out exactly what it wants’, rather than a withdrawal agreement that loses several times in Parliament.”
Almost one in five people in his Cities of London and Westminster constituency — 22,000 — are listed as having signed the Revoke Article 50 petition on the Government’s website, which today hit 5.4 million backers.
On Saturday more than a million people are estimated to have marched in central London on the Put It To The People rally, calling for a second referendum.
