UK ministers on verge of quitting as PM Theresa May faces Brexit rebellion
- Theresa May is expected to meet with her cabinet this week to set out her plans for the divorce deal
- Pressure mounts after transport minister Jo Johnson quits
Four British ministers who back remaining in the European Union are on the verge of quitting Theresa May’s government over Brexit, The Sunday Times reported, as pressures built on the prime minister from all sides.
The newspaper also said that the European Union had rejected May’s plan for an independent mechanism to oversee Britain’s departure from any temporary customs arrangement it agrees.
The newspaper sourced the development to British sources, and not sources in the EU team.
May is trying to hammer out the final details of the British divorce deal but the talks have become stuck over how the two sides can prevent a hard border from being required in Ireland.
Britain has proposed a UK-wide temporary customs arrangement with the EU to resolve the issue but Brexiteers in her party want London to have the final say on when that arrangement would end, to prevent it from being tied indefinitely to the bloc.
A senior cabinet minister was quoted in the paper as saying: “This is the moment she has to face down Brussels and make it clear to them that they need to compromise, or we will leave without a deal.”
