Tory MPs launch new pressure group to force Theresa May to put ‘flesh on the bones’ of her deal to leave EU
The Prime Minister faces rebellion as Tories set up Leave Means Leave to demand Britain pulls out of the single market
TORIES have set up a second pressure group to force Theresa May to deliver a “hard” Brexit.
They have launched Leave Means Leave to demand Britain pulls out of the single market, claws back its own law-making powers and seizes control of its borders.
Chief organiser Richard Tice, one of the leading figures behind the Leave EU campaign in the referendum, said: “No deal is better than a bad deal.”
The group has won the support of leading Tories, including Dominic Raab, the former justice minister, and the former defence minister, Sir Gerald Howarth, who chairs the Thatcherite Tory group, Conservative Way Forward.
The campaign comes at a critical time for Mrs May and her ministers, who are wrestling with the complex process of drawing up the government’s priorities for what Britain’s future relationship with the EU should be.
The Prime Minister has so far declined to give any details of what she will seek to achieve in exit talks with the EU, or exactly when she will begin the formal negotiations.
In private, Tory MPs are growing impatient for her to spell out details and want her to put "flesh on the bones" of her "Brexit means Brexit" pledge at the Conservative party conference next month.
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The new group, which has the support of at least six Conservative MPs so far, will add to the impression that concerns are growing among Mrs May’s colleagues over whether she will deliver full Brexit or some kind of compromise.
Last week, John Whittingdale, the former cabinet minister, demanded that Mrs May trigger the formal “Article 50” process for withdrawing from the EU within “weeks” in order to kill off attempts to keep Britain in the EU.
Leave Means Leave backed Mr Whittingdale in calling for Brexit sooner rather than later.
Mrs May has said she will wait until next year before triggering Article 50 of the European treaties, which would launch the formal two year process for negotiating the terms of Brexit.