LONDON, November 16. /TASS/. A draft agreement on terms of United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit), approved by London and Brussels on Wednesday, unleashed a fiery political fallout and prompted two ministers and two deputy ministers to tender their resignation on Thursday.
Against this background, Euroskeptical forces of the Conservative Party are close to launch the leadership challenge procedure and pass a motion of no confidence to Prime Minister Theresa May. A number of members of parliament have notified a relevant committee about their loss of confidence.
The UK prime minister, however, reacted to those developments in a composed way, saying that she was set to finish what she had started and reiterating that the 585-page draft agreement fully corresponds to the country’s interests.
Series of resignations
Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Dominic Raab announced his resignation on Thursday, becoming the second minister to quit the UK cabinet in the past 4 months and the 18th minister or deputy minister to step down in the past year, according to Reuters.
Commenting on his resignation, Raab told Sky News that the deal was "fatally flawed."
In his resignation leter, released by the TV channel, Raab said he "cannot support the proposed deal for two reasons."
"First I believe that the regulatory regime proposed for Northern Ireland presents a very real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom," he said. "Second, I cannot support an indefinite backstop arrangement, where the EU holds a veto over our ability to exit."
"The terms of the backstop amount to a hybrid of the EU Customs Union and Single Market obligations. No democratic nation has ever signed up to be bound by such an extensive regime, imposed externally without any democratic control over the laws to be applied, nor the ability to decide to exit the arrangement," he said.
The wave of resignations has also included Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, Brexit minister Suella Braverman and Northern Ireland minister Shailesh Vara.
Leadership challenge
Those developments prompted a group of Conservative Party members, who disagree with May’s stance on Brexit, to launch a campaign to remove her from power.
Protesting against the conditions specified in the Brexit deal, several Tory backbenchers expressed their no-confidence in letters to the parliament’s Committee 1922, which has the authority to launch the formal procedure of challenging May and her government over the loss of confidence.
In order to launch the procedure, committee head Graham Brady, should receive such letters from 15% of Tory MPs, or 48 people. The number of letters exceeded 40 at the start of the week, but, according to the UK media, their number has already neared 48.
Among those who wrote the letters are leading Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg, as well as parliamentarians Henry Smith and Sheryl Murray.
Commenting on his decision, Rees-Mogg wrote that Theresa May's Brexit deal "has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the Prime Minister."
If the leadership challenge procedure is launched, May would require a simple majority in her favor to retain the post. After that, she would be immune from such procedures for at least one year. However, if 158 of 315 Tory MPs vote against her, the party will have three months to choose a new leader.
Commenting on the possibility, Rees-Mogg said the leadership challenge could be completed in weeks, "not months."
"I think it can be done quite quickly. I think the parliamentary processes can be sped up," he continued.
Opposition’s criticism
Labor party leader Jeremy Corbyn also lambasted the deal, saying that it would give the parliament a false choice "between a half-baked deal or no deal."
He also described the Brexit agreement as a huge failure, adding that Theresa May’s government "is in chaos" and the biggest threat for her now comes from her own political party.
May defiant
After a day full of criticism, May replied to the chorus of angry voices: "Am I going to see this through? Yes".
"I am going to do my job of getting the best deal for Britain and I'm going to do my job of getting a deal that is in the national interest," she told reporters, adding that the current Brexit variant was "the best deal that can be negotiated."
"Leadership is not about making simple decisions," she added. "I believe with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people."
Future of the deal
Before coming into force, the draft agreement should gain approval from the EU summit, whose session is scheduled for November 25, and then get a green light from European and UK lawmakers. The last objective seems particularly difficult to achieve, because, according to Guardian, about 84 Tory MPs are expected to vote against the document. If the Labor Party joins them and also votes against, the deal will have no chance of being put into practice.
In this case, the United Kingdom will either have to quit the European Union without the deal or hold another referendum.
Meanwhile, according to a Sky News poll released on Thursday, more than half of Britons (55%) are now against Brexit and support a second EU referendum, 35% are against and 10% are undetermined.
Just one in seven Britons (14%) think the draft Brexit deal proposed by Theresa May is better than either a "no-deal" Brexit (32%) or remaining in the EU (54%), the poll reveals.
Besides, 31% of respondents think Theresa May is the best person to lead the country through Brexit, which places her ahead of Jeremy Corbyn with 24%, Jacob Rees-Mogg (18%), Boris Johnson (17%) and Dominic Raab (10%).