By Ben Kerrigan-
Dominic Raab claim Britain is being blackmailed into an unacceptable Brexit deal is worrying, and calls for wider scrutiny of the deal.
Raab quit his job as Brexit Secretary, saying he could not agree to plans to create a UK-wide backstop to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland without reassurances Britain could independently leave the arrangement. His leaving Cabinet triggered an avalanche of resignations from both the Government and the Brexit department.
The former Brexit Secretary was speaking to The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday when he said bullying and blackmail tactics were being used to coerce Britain into a situation that could be damaging for the country. Mr Raab who condemned the deal as one doomed to defeat said he felt the deal- which was the product of blackmail and bullying, amounted to the damaging of public trust in the British Democracy. He said : “I take my responsibility and as a Cabinet as well, we have a system of Cabinet Government.
He said the deal was doomed to defeat in the House of Commons unless she changed course, describing it as having “two major and fatal flaws”.
“The first is that the terms being offered by the E threaten the integrity of the United Kingdom and the second is that they would lead to an indefinite if not permanent situation where we’re locked into a regime with no say over the rules being applied, with no exit mechanism,” he told the BBC.
“I think that would be damaging for the economy but devastating for public trust in our democracy.”
He said he held the prime minister in “high esteem” and “should continue”, but warned: “I do think we need to change course on Brexit.”
“But I do think we are being bullied, I do think we are being subject to what is pretty close to blackmail, frankly.
“I do think there’s a point to which, it probably should have been done before, where we just say sorry, this is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We cannot accept those dictated terms.”
A 585 page documents detailing the Brexit deal is still being read by MPs and members of the media, as every detail will be important in terms of all its implications. It will take a while to go through it, but Raab who contributed to the document knows its full contents, and has already taken the radical step of resigning. The alarm he is raising is cause for concern. Some parliamentary insiders believe his departure was a secret plot to position himself for future leadership, but ambitions to take over from Theresa May would not be enough for him to resign to suddenly.
SUPPORT
Raab cannot confidently say he would have enough support to win a future contest for leadership, even if one was called. There is also the necessary requirement for 48 letters from Mps expressing a vote of no confidence before any leadership contest can threaten Ms May’s position. There is no sign of that happening yet, and the prime minister is not sitting around waiting for a contest to be be called, but is fighting hard to keep her post by providing certain assurances to back benchers that the Brexit deal provided is not necessarily permanent.
Whether they believe her or plot to overthrow her is yet to be seen.