JACOB Rees-Mogg Tory MP for North East Somerset yesterday warned that ‘Brexit is being watered down to the extent where you couldn’t really tell that it is still there.’ Rees Mogg added: ‘What the government did at Chequers was get together a group of people who all stuck to what they’d said before the referendum.’
He added: ‘So the prime minister faces a pretty clear choice: either she changes what was decided at Chequers, moulds it, in your words, or she tries to get it through on Labour votes. That’s her choice. ‘And I notice that her chief of staff is going to see Labour MPs, indicating that they are flirting with trying to get it through on Labour votes and this is really unwise, dangerous territory, for a Conservative leader to think that she can get her major policy through on the back of opposition votes.’
He continued: ‘Leaders who depend on the opposition find that they are like the Gingerbread Man crossing the river on the back of a fox.’ Asked by the BBC: ‘Are you saying that if that was to happen and the government is reliant on opposition MPs to get the Chequers plan through, that that would lead to a situation where the prime minister was brought down?’ Rees Mogg replied: ‘No I’m not saying that I am simply saying it is the most divisive approach that could be taken to the Conservative Party. It would be very bad for holding the party together and therefore it would be extremely unwise.
‘It would be failing to realise that actually governments must operate on the basis of the support from their own side, that’s where their majority comes from and that’s where confidence comes from and therefore to do it on opposition votes simply divides the party.’
