Theresa May looks to have avoided a humiliating defeat on a key area of Brexit policy after reaching a compromise with Conservative backbenchers.
The prime minister faced the prospect of losing a crunch vote on the customs union, but a number of potential pro-EU rebels, as well as leading Brexiteers, have now agreed to back a No 10 deal.
The compromise will see the government pledge to try to agree a “customs arrangement” with the EU. That appears to have been enough to convince some MPs not to back a House of Lords amendment to the EU withdrawal bill that would keep the UK in a “customs union” with the EU.
The issue looked set to be the subject of a knife-edge vote as the government attempted to overturn the Lords’ amendment when the bill returns to the Commons this week. However, ministers now believe they have won over enough rebels to successfully remove it.
The new compromise amendment has been signed by leading pro-EU Tory MPs such as Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, and Stephen Hammond. It also has the backing of prominent Brexiteers including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sir Bill Cash.
The motion was tabled by Conservative grandee Sir Oliver Letwin, who is reported to have helped broker the deal. It followed days of tense meetings between Tory whips and potential rebels.
The compromise emerged after Ms May took the unusual step of addressing her parliamentary party at a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs.
She urged MPs to get behind her, telling them voting against the government would weaken her hand in Brexit negotiations.
Speaking after the meeting, Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, said: “The government will look very carefully at what they have tabled and we will take a decision on whether or not we can support it in the usual way
“Our policy is to leave the customs union so that we can conduct our own independent trade policy, but it would be appropriate that we have an arrangement in place with the European Union.”
Robert Buckland, the solicitor general, added: “There’s ongoing work happening and I think it’s emblematic, actually, of a real sense of common purpose in the party that we all hang together or we all hang separately.
“It’s more than just about party unity – this is about the national interest.”
Pro-EU Tories are believed to be willing to delay any potential rebellion on the customs union until later votes on other government bills – namely the Trade Bill and Customs Bill – which they believe will give them another opportunity to force Ms May to change tack on the issue.
While the internal Tory row over the customs union appears to have been temporarily resolved, the threat of a humiliating government defeat on other issues remains. In particular, a number of Conservative MPs are ready to vote in support of an amendment that would ensure parliament is given a ”meaningful vote” on the final Brexit deal negotiated with Brussels.
Labour said the compromise deal on the customs union was “simply not good enough”.
Jenny Chapman, the shadow Brexit minister, added: “It is yet another fudge designed to patch over the deep divisions at the heart of the Conservative Party.
“Their failure to agree a customs proposal threatens UK jobs and industry, and this bogus amendment cannot mask that fact.
“The best way to protect jobs, the economy and to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland is for parliament to back Labour’s call for a new comprehensive customs union after Brexit.”
