Secret 'Plan B' for Brexit

Theresa May meeting Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on Saturday. Photo / AP

Cabinet ministers and EU diplomats are secretly drawing up "Plan B" proposals for Brexit based on a growing assumption that Theresa May's deal will be blocked by Parliament.

Senior figures on both side of the Channel are urgently plotting alternatives to the agreement struck by the Prime Minister after 91 Conservative MPs indicated that they would oppose it in the Commons.

The disclosure comes as EU leaders meet in Brussels to approve the Withdrawal Agreement and "political declaration" outlining the proposed future relationship between the UK and the bloc after Brexit.

Mrs May arrived at the European Commission's Berlaymont headquarters on Saturday evening ahead of the specially-convened meeting of the European Council.

Earlier Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council said he would recommend to EU leaders that they approved the deal.

He added:

As a motto for tomorrow, the words of Freddie Mercury, who passed away exactly 27 years ago: "Friends will be friends, right till the end".

— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 24, 2018

Now, in an open letter to the country, Mrs May insists her deal honours the result of the referendum and says she will be "campaigning with my heart and soul" to win the Commons vote next month.

But sources said several senior ministers were talking up one "Plan B" idea of a Norway-style relationship with Brussels, under which the UK would have a more certain "exit mechanism" from the EU's rules but would be unable to end the free movement of workers from the Continent.

Under the Norway option, the UK would remain a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), without full EU membership.

A Government document leaked to The Telegraph reveals that economic modelling by the Treasury designed to allow MPs to compare Mrs May's deal to a no-deal exit would also include an "EEA-like scenario" – in a further sign that the arrangement is being considered seriously in Whitehall.

The leaked document states that the proposed Treasury modelling is designed to "support any 'meaningful vote' in Parliament on the final deal".

Tory MPs fear a series of exaggerated claims about the impact of an exit without a deal. In Belfast, a senior insider in the Democratic Unionist Party, which has threatened to pull its support for Mrs May's administration if she presses ahead with her deal, said the party had also held discussions with Cabinet ministers about "a Plan B".

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is said to be among ministers who have discussed the Norway idea in recent weeks – although an ally insisted he was squarely behind Mrs May's plan.

Separately, senior EU figures are war-gaming a scenario under which Brussels could agree to extend Article 50, the mechanism under which the UK will leave the bloc next March.

Diplomats believe that a reprieve could allow time for various possible outcomes, such as a new prime minister, a general election, a negotiation over a Norway-style Brexit, or a second referendum.

- The Telegraph