File photo: Steve Baker, a Minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union
British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party faces a "catastrophic split" if she persists with her so-called Chequers proposals on Brexit and 80 or more of her lawmakers are prepared to vote against the proposals, a former junior minister said.
Steve Baker, a former junior Brexit minister who resigned over May's Brexit proposals, told the Press Association that he was not advocating a change of leader but warned May faced a massive problem at the Sept. 30-Oct. 3 party conference.
"If we come out of conference with her hoping to get Chequers through on the back of Labour votes, I think the EU negotiators would probably understand that if that were done, the Tory party would suffer the catastrophic split which thus far we have managed to avoid," Baker was quoted as saying.
A new poll among the members of Britain’s biggest three trade unions showed that two-third of members support a second Brexit referendum.The survey conducted by YouGov for the People’s Vote campaign among 2,700 members of Unite, Unison and GMB also showed that the majority of members back remaining in the EU.According to the poll, members of the U.K.’s biggest trade union, Unite, support a referendum on Britain’s final Brexit deal by 59 percent to 33 percent.The Unite members also support staying in the EU by 61 percent to 35 percent, the poll found.GMB’s members also support a second vote by 56 percent to 33 percent and 55 percent of them want the country to stay in the EU.More than one-third Unison members also back another referendum and 61 percent of them would see the U.K. remain as a EU member.The majority of members believe Brexit will worsen job opportunities in the country and want to prioritize trade over controlling immigration.The poll results are published a day before the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which is to start in Manchester on Monday.Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, said on Sunday that unless Prime Minister Theresa May reached with the EU a deal that would protect jobs and workers’ rights, the conference would support the People’s Vote Campaign.The People’s Vote Campaign aims to introduce a second referendum on the final Brexit deal that is to be shaped through ongoing negotiations between the U.K. and the EU.Speaking to BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, Ogrady said she wants “to serve notice to the prime minister today that if we don’t get the deal that working people need, the TUC will be throwing our full weight behind the campaign for a popular vote so that people get a say on whether that deal is good enough.”May, in numerous of occasions, has ruled out a second referendum on Brexit, saying that the British public has made its mind and her government aimed delivering the Brexit.The U.K. is set to leave the bloc on March 29, 2019.
UK Trade unions back second Brexit referendum
Former British foreign minister Boris Johnson has said Prime Minister Theresa May "wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution and handed the detonator" to the European Union with her Brexit plans, in comments that drew strong criticism.In a column in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Johnson described May's so-called Chequers plan to leave the EU as "a humiliation" that opens "ourselves to perpetual political blackmail".Johnson is the bookmakers' favourite to succeed May and is seen as someone who would press for a clean break from the EU after being the figurehead of the "Leave" campaign in 2016."We have wrapped a suicide vest around the British constitution – and handed the detonator to (EU chief negotiator) Michel Barnier," Johnson wrote.His words - particularly the reference to a suicide vest - drew condemnation from members of the governing Conservative Party on both sides of the deeply divisive Brexit debate.Alan Duncan, a minister at the Foreign Office, saying it marked "one of the most disgusting moments in modern British politics"."For Boris to say that the PM's view is like that of a suicide bomber is too much," he said on Twitter."I'm sorry, but this is the political end of Boris Johnson. If it isn't now, I will make sure it is later."Johnson resigned as foreign secretary over the Chequers plan, named after May's country residence where the government agreed her Brexit proposals in July.He argued that the plan, under which Britain would keep close trade ties with the EU, meant agreeing to the bloc's rules with no say."It means we are a vassal state," he said in the column.Since stepping down Johnson has written several newspaper columns been urging Conservatives to put pressure on May to "chuck" the proposals at the party's conference later this month.Johnson's column appeared a day after he and his wife Marina Wheeler announced they had separated and planned to divorce. 
May's Brexit plans like wrapping 'suicide vest' around UK, says Johnson
Britain must focus on moving forward with Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to leave the European Union, housing minister James Brokenshire said on Sunday, after her proposals were criticised by her former foreign minister."We just need to be very focused on actually moving forward with the Chequers plan. That is the plan that provides the solutions. That's where our focus is," Brokenshire told Sky television. 
Britain must focus on moving ahead with May's Brexit plan: minister
Ireland has not received any indications that there have been "dramatic moves" by either side towards progress in Brexit talks, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Thursday."We don't have any indications yet of any particular dramatic moves,” Varadkar told reporters when asked about a Bloomberg report on Wednesday that the British and German governments had abandoned key Brexit demands.Varadkar said he was not aware of the detail of the report but that there had been "a fair bit of kite flying and a fair bit of posturing" on Brexit over the last couple of weeks.UK sets out plans for visas for non-EU migrant farm workers post-BrexitMerkel says EU, Britain must negotiate Brexit to ensure close tiesUK PM May says still working towards October Brexit deal deadline
Irish PM says no 'dramatic moves' to report in Brexit talks