Shock as UK Brexit minister David Davis and deputy quit, rocking PM Theresa May’s divided government
The resignations of David Davis and Steve Baker come two days after May angered Brexit-backing lawmakers by announcing plans they fear will keep Britain too close to the EU
British Prime Minister Theresa May was thrown into a major crisis after two key members of her government quit in protest at her plans for a soft exit from the European Union.
Brexit Secretary David Davis and his deputy Steve Baker resigned on Sunday in a double-blow to May’s negotiating strategy and her grip on power.
“The general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one,” Davis wrote in his resignation letter to May, which was released by her office. May’s plan to adopt EU regulations for all goods and agri-food after Brexit “hands control of large swathes of our economy to the EU and is certainly not returning control of our laws in any real sense,” he said.
The resignations of Davis and Baker came just two days after the premier secured the backing of her cabinet for a plan to keep close ties to the European Union after leaving the bloc. Davis and Baker, both long-standing Eurosceptics, decided they could not support the policy, a person familiar with the matter said.
The general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one
In her reply, May said she was “sorry” Davis had decided to quit. “I do not agree with your characterisation of the policy we agreed at cabinet on Friday,” she said. “Parliament will decide whether or not to back the deal the Government negotiates, but that deal will undoubtedly mean the returning of powers from Brussels to the United Kingdom.”