SENIOR Conservatives have warned Theresa May that she will have to re-think her Brexit negotiating strategy following her humiliation at the ballot box.
George Osborne, the former Chancellor, said there was now no majority for a hard Brexit and no Commons majority for leaving the EU without a deal.
"The Democratic Unionist Party need a deal because they are absolutely committed not to have a hard border with the Republic of Ireland," he explained.
"Theresa May's central claim which is no deal is better than a bad deal now becomes undeliverable because the DUP will never allow no deal," Mr Osborne, who is now editor of the London Evening Standard, told the BBC’s Marr Show.
While the DUP campaigned to leave the EU in last year's referendum, it has refused to endorse the Prime Minister’s position that "no deal is better than a bad deal"; insisting that there must be no return of the "hard border" with the Irish Republic.
Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is said to have told Mrs May that she needs to put "jobs first" in negotiating a new deal with Brussels, in comments seen as a coded attack on her focus on controlling immigration.
Similarly, Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, has called for a new approach building cross-party support for an "open Brexit," which is an echo of Mr Hammond’s point of creating jobs before cutting immigration.
Anna Soubry, the former business minister, who was a high-profile Remainer, insisted the PM had to "water down" her Brexit plan to allow for single market and customs union membership. "The people have spoken and they have rejected a hard Brexit," claimed the Nottinghamshire MP.
But Sir Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, stressed that the UK Government's view on Brexit had not changed.
The Scot said it wanted maximum access to the EU single market and an "arrangement on immigration". He added that he believed there was a majority in the Commons for such an approach.
Meantime, Lord Heseltine, the former Europhile Deputy Prime Minister, warned his party that the election results showed that the Tories had to ditch Brexit or face electoral oblivion.
"Brexit is the cancer gnawing at the heart of the Conservative party. It is not about changing the leader, it is changing the policy,” he declared.
"We need a period of contemplation to think through who and what our argument will be, to stop Corbyn being PM. There is no stability, there is no united view in the present circumstances,” claimed the Tory grandee.
"If the Tory Party does not lance the boil of Brexit, then you open the door of Corbyn," he added.
Negotiations with Brussels on the UK's departure from the EU are due to start on June 19.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel