‘This is the deal that I think works for the UK’
Theresa May has slapped down suggestions that she should try to renegotiate her Brexit deal with the EU, saying that her counterparts in Brussels would be unwilling to accept any changes to the agreement as it currently stands.
During a BBC Radio 5Live phone-in, she described the deal as one that “works for the UK” and warned MPs against voting down her proposals in parliament as it would create “more division and uncertainty”.
She said: “I believe if we were to go back to the European Union and say: Well people didn’t like that deal, can we have another one? … I don’t think they’re going to come to us and say: We’ll give you a better deal.”
She added: “In parliament, there’s a lot of focus on who’s going to vote for the deal or not, and outside I think people are thinking: Actually, let’s make sure we can get this through and get on with delivering.
“If this deal doesn’t go through we are back at square one.”
May urged the some 80 Conservative MPs threatening to vote the down the deal, as well as Labour MPs who look likely to vote against the agreement, to read the public mood and back her Brexit plan.
“In a sense, I think there’s two conversations going on at the moment,” she said. “In parliament there’s a lot of focus on who’s going to vote for the deal or not, and outside I think people are thinking: ‘Actually, let’s make sure we can get this through and get on with delivering’.
“My job is to persuade people. I believe this is the right deal for the UK. My job is to persuade people in parliament of that view.
“And I think the job of an MP is actually, when they come to look at voting for this deal, to say to themselves, ‘Does it deliver on what people voted for?’ – I believe it does – and secondly, ‘What do we need to focus on for our constituents, for people up and down the country?’”
Her remarks come after the European Union Commission agreed on the draft text for the future relationship between the UK and EU after Brexit on Thursday. The deal now needs to be agreed by parliament and the other EU member states before it can be put into action.
We’re getting reaction from today’s Theresa May interview with Emma Barnett…
Caller Julia asks @tonylivesey “why it’s undemocratic to have a second referendum” given that the PM “called a general election within two years of the previous one”.
🎙️https://t.co/sLekdfXlwR pic.twitter.com/hS4Sue2Lp3
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) November 23, 2018
