May faces renewed threat to leadership after commons fiasco
Speculation increases over no confidence vote
PM's plea for backstop renegotiation rejected
EU leaders start preparations for no-deal Brexit
UK Prime Minister Theresa May's leadership was under renewed threat on Tuesday as angry Tory MPs reportedly prepared to table a no-confidence vote after she pulled the vote on her Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Guarded reports emerged that the 48 letter threshold to trigger the no-confidence ballot had been reached as May spent the day trying to convince EU leaders that they should make new concessions in order for her to get her deal through parliament.
But the decision to pull the vote at the last minute after insisting it would go ahead appeared to have galvanised her critics in the Conservative Party.
May, of course, has been in this position before, with rebels claiming to have the numbers to force the issue proving to be no more substantial than the hot air carrying their ambitions. Most Westminster observers were unwilling to state categorically that a challenge was on the cards.
Meanwhile, May toured European capitals like a child presenting a parent with a new toy broken on Christmas morning. She gained plenty of sympathy but also stern reminder that there would be no renegotiation or quick fixes.
For their part, EU leaders intensified preparations for Britain crashing out of the bloc with no agreement.
May met with the Netherland's Mark Rutte and Germany's Angela Merkel before an early-evening meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker who said earlier on Tuesday there was “no room whatsoever for further renegotiation”.
Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told the Irish Dail, or parliament, that May could still stop a no-deal scenario by revoking article 50 and reversing Brexit.
“The option is there to revoke article 50, the option is there to extend article 50 and, where there may not be a majority for anything or at least any deal at the moment in the House of Commons, I do believe there’s a majority that the UK should not be plunged into a no-deal scenario.”
Sinn Féin president Mary-Lou McDonald ratcheted up the pressure when she told May the backstop was “non-negotiable” and demanded an Irish unity referendum in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
McDonald and Sinn Fein Dail MP Pearse Doherty both spoke to May for about 20 minutes on Tuesday.
"We raised concerns that we are facing into a no deal or a crash Brexit which would be a disaster for Ireland. And we reminded Mrs May that, in those circumstances, a unity referendum must be called as a matter of urgency."
"As I told the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) today, Irish unity is the ultimate contingency to protect our interests in the event of a crash Brexit.
Earlier in Dublin McDonald had warned May that any backstop rejig would be "very very misguided".
"Be very clear, if there is a clash, the damage arising from that will not be fleeting. It will be long term. I have said to Mrs May many many times in our meetings that in the event of a crash that certainly the issue of a referendum on unity would advance very quickly.
"I've put it to her they couldn't expect that in a crash scenario that Ireland would endure so much damage and simply be prepared to soak that up - that would not be an acceptable position."
In Brussels, Juncker told the European Parliament on Tuesday morning, described Brexit as the "surprise guest" at the upcoming EU summit.
"I’m surprised because we had reached an agreement on the 25th November together with the government of the United Kingdom. Notwithstanding that, it would appear that there are problems right at the end of the road."
“But of course, if used intelligently, there is enough room to give further clarification and further interpretation without opening the withdrawal agreement,” he told MEPs to applause on Tuesday. “This will not happen. Everyone has to know that the withdrawal agreement will not be re-opened.”
May on Monday postponed the Commons vote on her Brexit deal after she realised that concerns over the Northern Ireland backstop would translate into a career-ending and crushing defeat.
MPs on both sides of the Brexit debate fear that the backstop, designed to prevent a hard border with Ireland in the event of no trade agreement being reached, could trap the UK in a customs union without any means of leaving it.