(Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy is in disarray after she infuriated pro-European Tories by bowing to pressure from their euroskeptic colleagues to re-write her plans.
May’s majority was cut to just three votes after she adopted Brexiteer amendments to a key piece of customs legislation, and the proposals were narrowly voted through the House of Commons late Monday. A tenth member of her government is reported to have quit in order to vote against her and she needed the backing of three rebels from the opposition Labour Party to win.
May’s team is split down the middle over how to handle the biggest issue facing the U.K. -- negotiating the terms of its withdrawal from the European Union. Time is running out with just three months left before a self imposed October deadline to secure an exit deal ahead of the country’s formal departure on March 29 next year.
The rebellions are “a prelude to the big -- and real -- battle coming in the winter when the PM comes back with her deal and we know what the choice is. And whether she can continue,” Tory lawmaker George Freeman, who used to head May’s policy board, said in a posting on Instagram. “Brexit is coming home to roost. And it won’t be easy or pleasant.”
Walking a Fine Line
As rumors of plots against her swirl around Parliament, May is proposing to send its members away on vacation early, an idea that provoked ridicule from critics who said she was afraid of her own colleagues.
At the same time as she plans a strategy to negotiate with the EU, May must weave a path between pro- and anti-Brexit lawmakers in her party to avoid being defeated or even ousted. She spent the past week fighting to contain the fall-out from her decision to stick close to European market regulations for trade in goods and agricultural products.
Two pro-Brexit cabinet ministers -- Boris Johnson and David Davis -- were among the senior figures to quit in protest, claiming that May is failing to deliver the clean break from the EU that the public voted for in the 2016 referendum.
Pendulum Swings Back
On Monday, the Brexit backers stepped up their campaign to force May to take a harder line. Instead of fighting them, she chose to accept their proposals for changes to her blueprint -- in the form of parliamentary amendments -- after claims that she’d face a revolt from as many as 100 pro-Brexit Tories if she refused.
As the pendulum swung, with Brexit campaigners happy again, their pro-EU rivals became furious. According to the BBC, one pro-European minister -- Guto Bebb -- even resigned his post as defense minister to vote against May’s new policy.
Government officials could not immediately confirm Bebb’s decision, but if the reports are correct, he would be the tenth minister to stand down in protest at her Brexit plan since she finalized it at a cabinet meeting July 6. And the first to do so in the cause of a softer split from the EU.
Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan told an event in central London that she is “very, very angry” about the government backing down to Conservative euroskeptics.
Potential Flashpoints
Tory Anna Soubry earlier accused her pro-Brexit colleagues of sacrificing jobs in the interests of Brexit at any cost. “What they have said in those private conversations is that the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs will be worth it to regain our country’s sovereignty,” she said. “You tell that to the people of my constituency.”
A head of steam is building among anti-Brexit Tories and it could take as few as seven rebels to defeat the government if all opposition parties vote against May too. Tuesday will see more votes on her Brexit plans, this time on her Trade Bill.
Among the potential flashpoints are anti-government amendments designed to keep the U.K. inside a formal customs union with the EU.
In another potentially contentious vote Tuesday, members of Parliament will be asked to choose whether to end their summer business early, breaking up for the long vacation on July 19, instead of July 24 as scheduled.
