The post you are reporting:
Courtesy of the Times.
Three former cabinet ministers are attempting to unite warring Conservative MPs behind a “sensible Brexit” compromise. Amber Rudd, Damian Green and Justine Greening held a private meeting with Theresa May yesterday at which they told her that there was a large majority in the parliamentary party in favour of a compromise with the EU. It followed a series of informal consultations with backbench MPs on both sides of the Brexit divide in an attempt to build a consensus on a “pragmatic approach” to the negotiations in Brussels. The trio told Mrs May to ignore the noisy protests on both extremes of the party and pursue a policy that kept the UK closely aligned to the single market and customs union.
“That’s where the vast majority of the party is,” Ms Rudd, the former home secretary, told The Times. “We just haven’t been as shouty. We wanted to tell the prime minister what lots of MPs are telling us: Ms Rudd ruled out remaining in the customs union but said: “Whatever customs union alternative we go for we have to give ourselves sufficient time to deliver it. What is practical must be the guiding principle while protecting the Good Friday agreement.” The three former cabinet ministers are understood to be concerned that the Tory Party’s public debate on Brexit has been dominated by hardline Brexiteers and Remainers.
They insist that neither position is backed by the “vast majority” of MPs who want both to fulfil the terms of the referendum while keeping close economic links with the EU.
Ms Rudd, Ms Greening, the former education secretary, and Mr Green, the former deputy prime minister, have also held talks with Brexiteers in an attempt to broker a compromise that would preserve Mrs May’s red lines of leaving the customs union and single market. Under their proposals, the UK would legally commit to remaining aligned with single market rules on goods in order to preserve trade. They also support a government pledge to stay in a customs union for a limited time while new arrangements to avoid disruption at the border are put in place.
One Conservative MP said the three former ministers had been increasingly active in recent weeks to build support for their agenda. “Justine has been having endless cups of tea with the Brexiteers trying to broker a compromise,” they said. “All three of them have the advantage of having been in government until recently and they understand the complexities of what the government is trying to do. The more voices arguing for compromise the better.” One pro-European Tory said they doubted that the trio would be able to find common ground with Brexiteer backbenchers such as the former cabinet minister John Redwood. “I think some on that side of the party don’t want any kind of deal at all and will vote against whatever the prime minister comes back with,” they said.
Downing Street played down the significance of the meeting, saying that Mrs May met regularly with all sections of the parliamentary party and that the meeting had been agreed “some time ago”.