Theresa May will return from the Easter break on Tuesday, seeking to breathe fresh life into talks with the opposition Labour party as both sides search for a Brexit breakthrough that can avert the need to hold “unwanted” European elections.
With time fast running out to secure a deal before the European poll on May 23, the prime minister is also likely to come under growing pressure from her own MPs to stand down if she fails to find a way to break the stalemate.
But nearly three weeks after the talks with Labour began, there has been scant evidence of any progress. Labour, which wants the UK to retain close alignment with the single market and a permanent customs union, has been left frustrated over what it says is the Conservatives’ failure to offer any new concessions.
Although smaller “working groups” have continued to meet over the past week, and documents and emails have been exchanged, the party’s leaders have not met since the start of April.
Downing Street said on Sunday that Mrs May would be personally involved in the talks this week which are also likely to involve the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the chancellor Philip Hammond, his opposite number John McDonnell and other senior cabinet and shadow cabinet figures.
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Labour was unable to confirm Mr Corbyn’s participation in the talks with the government this week, but one opposition party official said Mr McDonnell had plans to discuss Brexit with Mr Hammond after prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.
Officials played down the suggestion that Mrs May might return from the Easter holidays, partly spent walking with her husband Philip in Snowdonia, with a new offer to Labour to end the impasse. The prime minister holidayed in the same Welsh spot in 2017 before returning to call an ill-fated general election which left the Conservatives without an overall majority and reliant on support from the DUP.
“Speed is of the essence here if we are to get something agreed and through both houses,” said a government official. “We want to avoid the European elections so we need a resolution as soon as possible.”
Even if an agreement is reached by the end of this week — an outcome considered unlikely by most political commentators — the government would have just 18 working days to pass all the necessary legislation. If no deal with Labour can be reached, Mrs May has vowed to give parliament a binding vote on alternative Brexit options.
Many Labour MPs nevertheless remain hostile to the talks and are now pushing for a new referendum, something Mrs May has repeatedly ruled out.
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On Sunday Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, warned the party it could no longer “sit on the fence” about whether to support a second vote, adding that Labour risked losing European parliamentary seats to Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party which is actively targeting Labour supporters.
But recent polling suggests it is the Conservatives who stand to be hit hardest by Mr Farage in the fast-approaching European elections. A YouGov poll last week put the Tories on 17 per cent, Labour on 22 per cent and the Brexit party on 23 per cent while another, published in the Mail on Sunday, found 40 per cent of Conservative councillors were planning to vote for Mr Farage’s party.
“A lot of Conservatives are disgusted with what the party has done,” Mr Farage told the Press Association on Sunday.
Faced with a collapse in grassroots support over EU leaders’ decision to grant a Brexit extension until October 31, a growing number of Mrs May’s backbench Tory MPs may push for her to stand down now, rather than wait to see if she can secure her EU withdrawal deal.
