Eurosceptic minister resigns over Brexit delay threat

A Eurosceptic environment minister resigned from the UK government on Thursday over Theresa May’s decision to allow Brexit to be delayed if MPs fail to back the prime minister’s revised deal.

George Eustice said the move would lead to the EU “dictating terms of any extension requested and final humiliation for our country”.

Mrs May avoided the resignations of Europhile ministers earlier this week by conceding that Britain might have to seek “a short, limited” delay to Brexit, rather than leave on March 29 without a deal.

She told the Commons on Tuesday that if MPs reject a second “meaningful vote” on her revised exit deal, a separate vote would take place by March 14 on whether the Commons wished to seek what Mrs May has called a “short, limited extension” to the Article 50 exit process.

In his letter of resignation to Mrs May, Mr Eustice said: “We cannot negotiate a successful Brexit unless we are prepared to walk through the (exit) door, adding it would be “dangerous” to go to Brussels “cap in hand at the eleventh hour and beg for an extension”.

He added that he wanted to be “free to participate in the critical debate that will take place in the weeks ahead”.

In her reply, Mrs May thanked him for his service and said: “I agree with you that parliament must now come together and honour the referendum result by voting for a deal which will give businesses and citizens the certainty they need and deserve.”

On Wednesday night more than 100 Conservative MPs expressed their dismay at Mrs May’s concession when they refused to vote for a parliamentary amendment tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper — which restated the prime minister’s plan to consult MPs on a no-deal Brexit or delaying departure if her own deal is rejected.

Twenty Tories voted against the government-backed amendment, while more than 80 abstained.

Mr Eustice added in his letter: “It is with tremendous sadness that I have decided to resign from the government following the decision this week to allow the postponement of our exit from the EU.”

“I have stuck with the government through a series of rather undignified retreats. However, I fear that developments this week will lead to a sequence of events culminating in the EU dictating the terms of any extension requested and the final humiliation of our country.”

Mrs May has said any extension of Article 50 and subsequent Brexit delay would not go beyond the end of June and “would almost certainly be a one-off”.

However, MPs could amend the motion to seek a much longer delay to Britain’s departure and some in Brussels have said the EU would prefer a delay that lasts more than a year.