Brexit: Ministers 'up for the fight' to rule out no deal, senior Tory tells May

Government forced to pay Eurotunnel £33m over Grayling's no-deal Brexit ferry farce

Brexit: What will happen in 2019?

Ministers are “up for the fight” to prevent the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal, a senior Tory has warned the prime minister, saying a disorderly exit is “not something we can contemplate”.

Tobias Ellwood, the defence minister, said he would fight to prevent a no-deal Brexit taking place – either on 29 March or after an extension.

His warning came after it was revealed the Government had paid £33m to Eurotunnel to settle a legal action over the award of contracts to ferry firms, including one that had no ships.

Eurotunnel had accused ministers of awarding the contracts through a “secretive and flawed procurement process”.

“We’re going to stay, we want to be the party, we don’t want to be pushed out in any sense,” Mr Ellwood told the BBC’s Nick Robinson in a podcast.

“This moderate view that we’re trying to defend has to be where we go in the future or we will not win the next general election.”

Meanwhile, opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal appeared to be starting to soften.

Top Brexiteer Dominic Raab signalled his position was moving, saying Eurosceptics were not “dogmatic” over the divisive Irish backstop. He added: “The substance rather than the vehicle and means is what matters. We need to see substantial legally binding changes.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers, also suggested he could be happy with an appendix to Ms May’s deal.

The comments offer a glimmer of hope to the prime minister ahead of a critical vote on her deal on 12 March, and come after she opened the door to a short delay to Britain’s departure from the EU.

To read how events developed on Friday, please see what was our live coverage below.

[1 March 2019 15:13 · Shehab.Khan]

Mr Ellwood said:

‘’Everybody is the wiser of the consequences of no-deal. Therefore and I hope it’s very clear that if it was the ERG’s intent to take us to no-deal, we will stop that – whenever. No-deal is not good for Britain. It will damage Britain in so many ways. The Article 50 letter says let’s have a deep and working relationship with the EU.

"No-deal is not something we can contemplate. (Nick will you quit your jobs?) We’re going to stay, we want to be the party and we don’t want to be pushed out in any sense. This moderate view that we’re trying to defend has to be where we go into the future or we will not win the next general election.”

"We are in unchartered territory if we cross the 31st March without a deal and if we are then to seek some form of consensus in Parliament that honours the referendum result then you are probably looking at an even softer form of Brexit than we have currently got. (Nick – with some form customs union?) Potentially.”

[1 March 2019 15:32 · Shehab.Khan]

Britain could face an EU legal challenge if it seeks to delay Brexit because of the impact on EU legislative elections, a legal opinion produced for Germany's Bundestag said, potentially making it difficult for Berlin to back anything but a short extension.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that if Britain needed more time to sort out its departure from the European Union, she would not refuse.

But a non-binding legal opinion, written by experts in the German lower house's Europe department as an aid for lawmakers, may raise doubts about whether Berlin could back the longer delay which pro-EU campaigners would need to stage a referendum on halting Brexit.

"In all scenarios, legal provisions appear worth considering to protect the legitimacy of the European Parliament and its decisions from the political and legal risks that may be associated with an extended deadline," the opinion read.

[1 March 2019 15:48 · Shehab.Khan]

The Independent's political columnist, Andrew Grice, reckons there could potentially be 70 more Labour defections: 

[1 March 2019 16:14 · Jane Dalton]

As many as a quarter of voters are ready to consider backing the new breakaway group of independent MPs, according to a new poll.

The survey suggested The Independent Group (TIG) is more of a threat to Labour than the Tories, with almost a third (32 per cent) of those identifying as Labour supporters saying they could back the new group.

The findings of the poll, by Hanbury Strategy for the Politico website, were released as former Labour frontbencher Chuka Umunna was named as the grouping's chief spokesman.

In an indication the 11-strong group expects further defections, ex-Tory MP Sarah Wollaston has been given responsibility for "new colleagues".

Mr Umunna's role as "group spokesperson" suggests he will play a crucial role as TIG seeks to build its profile.

Some 32 per cent of Labour supporters said they would be "likely" or "very likely" to back a TIG candidate if one stood in their constituency, against 29 per cent who said they would be "unlikely" or "very unlikely" to do so.

[1 March 2019 17:20 · Jane Dalton]

A Brexit delay of longer than two months could be illegal unless the UK elects new MEPs, lawyers are warning, appearing to torpedo Theresa May's strategy. The legal opinion comes from the German Bundestag.

[1 March 2019 18:00 · Jane Dalton]

Labour has claimed transport secretary Chris Grayling's political gaffes have cost the economy and taxpayers more than £2.7bn during his time in government. 

The analysis comes after it emerged the government had paid Eurotunnel a £33m fee after it handed out lucrative contracts to increase cross-Channel capacity in the event of a no-deal Brexit to three firms – including one company that did not have any ships.