May faces Brexit storm
MPs vote on custom laws as call grow for new referendum
British Prime Minister Theresa May drew fire from all sides yesterday over her Brexit strategy as a former minister described it as a "fudge" and called for a second EU referendum while eurosceptics readied a parliamentary challenge.
Former education secretary Justine Greening, who opposed Brexit, said May's plan to follow European Union rules on trade in goods without being able to influence them was "the worst of both worlds".
Noting the deep divisions in government and parliament on the way forward, Greening said voters must decide -- becoming the most senior member of May's Conservative party to back the idea.
"The only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians, away from the backroom deals, and give it back to the people," she wrote in an article in The Times.
May has repeatedly ruled out a second referendum, after Britons voted by 52-48 percent for Brexit in 2016, but Greening's support for a so-called People's Vote will give the campaign a huge boost.
Her intervention is also another blow for May's compromise plan for close ties with the EU, which had already come under fire from Conservatives who want a clean break with the bloc.
Two top ministers, Boris Johnson and David Davis, quit in protest last week followed by a string of junior walkouts, including another on Monday.
Eurosceptics will have a chance to show their strength in the House of Commons later yesterday by voting on amendments to a bill setting up May's new customs regime after Brexit.
Downing Street declined to say if it would accept some of the changes put forward by Jacob Rees-Mogg and other hardline Brexiteer MPs, in a bid to get them to drop one in particular that would have the effect of wrecking May's plan.
If no compromise is struck, there is a risk the eurosceptics could vote against the bill in its entirety. If opposition parties join them, May would have a major crisis on her hands.
At the same time, the prime minister is also testing her plan with the EU, as Brexit negotiations resumed in Brussels yesterday.
Pro-Europeans also dislike May's plan, particular her goal to have looser ties with the EU for Britain's dominant services sector.
Today, MPs will vote on the Trade Bill -- the one May's government is most worried about.