Menu
Thu, 28 March 2024

Newsletter sign-up

Subscribe now
The House Live All
Mission possible: Delivering tomorrow’s homes today Partner content
Economy
Communities
Why the community-owned business model works for rural settlements Partner content
By Plunkett UK
Communities
Communities
Press releases

Theresa May forced to ditch 'major' Commons statement after Brexit talks collapse

2 min read

Theresa May has been forced to scrap plans for a major Commons statement on Brexit after yesterday's talks in Brussels ended without a deal.


Parliamentary managers had set aside several hours for the Prime Minister to update MPs on how her negotiations with Jean-Claude Juncker, Michel Barnier and Donald Tusk had gone.

But after the talks broke up after the DUP pulled the plug on a potential agreement on the Irish border, Mrs May had to ditch her plans.

Instead, she is expected to be locked in talks with senior ministers and DUP bosses in a desperate bid to salvage her Brexit strategy.

A Westminster source told PoliticsHome: "The Government is in a really terrible position. They are clearly in a blind panic. Number 10's public line is that they are consulting people, so why not actually come and consult MPs.

"Everyone was expecting a big statement. They clearly took the DUP for granted and that could be a very big miscalculation indeed."

Instead of grilling the Prime Minister on Brexit, MPs will instead take part in a Labour debate on Universal Credit.

Mrs May yesterday insisted that she remained "confident" that sufficient progress on the Irish border, citizens' rights and the Brexit divorce will have been made by the end of the week to allow negotiations to move on to trade in the New Year.

She said: "We’ve been negotiating hard and a lot of progress has been made and on many of the issues there is a common understanding and it's clear, crucially, that we want to move forward together.

"But on a couple of issues some differences do remain which require further negotiation and consultation, and those will continue but we will reconvene before the end of the week and I’m also confident that we will conclude this positively."

PoliticsHome Newsletters

PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe

Podcast
Engineering a Better World

The Engineering a Better World podcast series from The House magazine and the IET is back for series two! New host Jonn Elledge discusses with parliamentarians and industry experts how technology and engineering can provide policy solutions to our changing world.

NEW SERIES - Listen now

Partner content
Connecting Communities

Connecting Communities is an initiative aimed at empowering and strengthening community ties across the UK. Launched in partnership with The National Lottery, it aims to promote dialogue and support Parliamentarians working to nurture a more connected society.

Find out more