Tory MPs were told yesterday that the Withdrawal Agreement Bill would be put to a Commons vote on June 7.
That plan was abandoned today, however, following a mutiny within Mrs May’s cabinet over her offer to facilitate a second referendum in a last-ditch bid to win cross-party support.
The collapse of the deal means that she is expected to announce her departure from No 10 tomorrow.
Last night she defied an attempt to force her from office, insisting that she would spend today campaigning in the European elections. Her allies believe, however, that she will declare that she is leaving after a meeting with Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee.
When Andrea Leadsom, who is the 36th minister to quit Mrs May’s government, resigned yesterday it highlighted the deep divisions between the PM and her cabinet. In her resignation letter Leadsom wrote: “I no longer believe that our approach will deliver on the referendum result.” She added that another Brexit vote would be “dangerously divisive”. In a swipe at the cabinet’s Remain faction, she said that Mrs May’s “tolerance” of them had “led to a complete breakdown of collective responsibility”.
