Brexit is 'screwed' and 'a shambles': Critics round on Theresa May after David Davis's U-turn on vote for MPs

'Screwed and shambolic': Theresa May's government faced criticism over Brexit
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Eleanor Rose26 October 2017

Critics slammed the "chaos" and "shambles" at the heart of Theresa May's government after Brexit Secretary David Davis U-turned on claims MPs may not be able to vote on Brexit until after the country left the EU.

Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister had "full confidence" in her Brexit Secretary after his department issued a clarification to insist that ministers "expect and intend" MPs to be given a vote before the March 2019 departure date.

But, on a difficult day for Mrs May, the EU's former ambassador to the EU also said Britain could be "screwed" in negotiations because the Prime Minister triggered Article 50 without first agreeing the sequence of talks.

Sir Ivan Rogers, who resigned in January, said that starting the countdown to Brexit had allowed the EU to dictate the "rules of the game", while the remaining 27 member states would now "squeeze as hard as possible" over the UK's "divorce bill".

Mr Davis said earlier Wednesday that he expected negotiations to go on until the last minute of the final day before the UK leaves, leaving Parliament no time to have a say until the agreement was already secured.

But Mrs May later appeared to contradict Mr Davis, telling MPs she was "confident" a deal would be secured in time for it to go before MPs.

Officials in the Department for Exiting the European Union then issued a statement clarifying the Brexit Secretary's comments, claiming they were in response to "hypothetical scenarios".

A spokesman for Mr Davis said: "We are working to reach an agreement on the final deal in good time before we leave the EU in March 2019.

"Once the deal is agreed we will meet our long-standing commitment to a vote in both Houses and we expect and intend this to be before the vote in the European Parliament and therefore before we leave."

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the contradictory statements from Mrs May and Mr Davis had added to the "confusion and chaos over the Government's approach to the Brexit negotiations".

Pat McFadden, a Labour supporter of the pro-EU Open Britain campaign said: "This U-turn exposes another self-created shambles in Government over Brexit."

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