Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting is due to take place at the Prime Minister’s country retreat Chequers and working on the UK’s divorce from Brussels will be at the top of the agenda.
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Senior ministers are discussing a department-by-department plan of action for the coming months, but there appears to be a debilitating lack of consensus among the cabinet.
“We must continue to be very clear that ‘Brexit means Brexit, ‘ that we’re going to make a success of it”, she said.
“The Prime Minister has also been clear that there must be no attempts for us to remain inside the European Union, no attempts to rejoin it through a back-door mechanism and no second referendum”.
“This really is a very significant moment for the country, as we look ahead to the next steps that we need to take”.
The unusual cabinet meeting raised plenty of Westminster eyebrows, with the Scottish National Party (SNP) European Affairs spokesman accusing May’s regime of “breathtaking complacency”.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, the Tory peer said: ‘It seems unlikely that Theresa May has any legal need to ask parliament to approve the invoking of Article 50, which is a matter of royal prerogative to be exercised by ministers.
“It is bad in principle, because a defeat for the terms of exit, after lengthy negotiations, would presumably come after the time permitted for such negotiations by Treaty, and when the time to seek any other terms would have expired”.
Number 10 has insisted there is “no legal obligation” for Mrs May to consult Parliament before invoking the Article.
“A long period of uncertainty is bad for the economy, bad for British business, and therefore the sooner this is sorted out the better”, Lord Lawson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Parliament will be involved, it will have a say, opinions will be aired, but I would just say that the referendum bill was passed by a majority of six to one in the Commons and that that PM has been clear that the will of the people who voted to leave the European Union must be respected”.
But other senior ministers including Brexit Secretary David Davis and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox favour totally pulling out of the single market to gain full control of United Kingdom borders.
The shape of the deal could impact on significant areas including the future of the City of London, worldwide trade, the status of European Union immigrants in Britain and British immigrants to other European Union countries.
She (Munich: SOQ.MU – news) will expect the cabinet to overcome any divisions on whether Britain should leave the EU’s single market to ensure control over immigration, or find some kind of a compromise.
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The spokesman also effectively ruled out the prospect of MPs being given a vote on the Brexit deal or the timing of Article 50, which is the formal trigger for the two-year exit negotiations to begin. Civil servants and ministers are now working on the basis of three broad scenarios for Brexit with differing levels of access to the single market and acceptance of free movement.
