Former education secretary Justine Greening has dealt a blow to Theresa May’s efforts to win support for her Brexit plan, saying it offered the “worst of both worlds” and called for a second referendum.
Ms Greening becomes the first of the prime minister’s former cabinet ministers to call for another referendum on membership of the European Union.
“Having read the detail, this deal is a fudge I can’t support. It’s the worst of both worlds,” she wrote in an article for The Times.
“The only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians, away from the backroom deals, and give it back to the people,” the article says.
But instead of being given a choice of either leaving the EU or remaining in it, she said a second referendum should not be a “divisive, binary choice”, but instead should include three options: Theresa May’s current plan, remaining in the EU, or leaving with no deal.
She also said the voting system should include first and second preference votes.
Ms Greening is understood to have the support of other Remain-voting Conservatives, including former home secretary Amber Rudd, according to The Times. Former attorney-general Dominic Grieve is also expected to give qualified support to Ms Greening this week.
It comes as Ms May faces a showdown with Conservative Brexit rebels who want her to ditch her plans for future relations with the EU, and after the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis over the issue.
On Sunday Mr Davis accused the prime minister of “astonishing dishonesty” over Brexit.
Ahead of a challenging week for Ms May, the possibility of further resignations looms. Junior minister Robert Couts resigned on Sunday, and Brexiteers have indicated more would follow over the PM’s plans set out in her white paper.
Tory rebels have also claimed they now have the 48 letters required to trigger the process for a vote of no confidence in Ms May.
But even if they do have the letters, it is not clear enough MPs would vote against the prime minister. A failure to bring her down would leave her immune to further challenges for a year under party rules.
