Poll shows a collapse in confidence in Theresa May’s ability to negotiate a good Brexit deal as nearly half of Brits think they will be worse off after exit
- Ipsos Moris poll found that just 19% of Brits are confident PM will get a good deal
- And 49% think the EU negotiations are going more badly than they expected
- Theresa May is facing her Tory backbenchers at a showdown meeting tonight
There has been a collapse in confidence in Theresa May’s ability to negotiate a good Brexit deal, a poll out today suggests.
The survey found that nearly half (43 per cent) think they will be personally worse off after Brexit.
While less than a fifth (19 per cent) of people are now confident that the PM will be able to thrash out a good agreement.
And nearly half (49 per cent) think the crunch negotiations with Brussels are going more badly than they expected.
The findings of the Ipsos Mori poll, published in today’s Evening Standard, pile yet more pressure on the PM as she struggles to thrash out a Brexit deal.
She is facing a mutiny from her own Tory backbenchers over proposals to extend the Brexit transition period amid warnings it would leave the UK having to swallow EU rules while having no say in them.
Mrs May is bracing for a dangerous meeting of the Tory 1922 Committee in Parliament tonight.
The survey found that less than a fifth (19 per cent) of people are now confident that the PM will be able to thrash out an agreement
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Today’s poll shows that confidence in Mrs May’s ability to get a good Brexit deal has more than halves from 44 per cent in March 2017, to just 19 per cent in October 2018.
And the country is feeling gloomier about its economic prospects than it has at any time since 2011.
Britain draws up plans to buy or lease a flotilla of lorry FERRIES to fight a no deal blockade
There are fears that if there is a sudden no deal Brexit traffic through the Channel Tunnel would collapse for months.
Britain has drawn up a contingency plan to buy or lease a flotilla of lorry ferries to ensure food and medicine can still get past a no deal blockade of the Channel.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the extraordinary backup plan.
There are fears that if there is a sudden no deal Brexit traffic through the Channel Tunnel would collapse for months. Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington said the normal Dover-Calais route could be at 12 per cent capacity for six months.
Mr Grayling told ministers the scheme is called Government Owned or Operated Logistics and would move goods via the Ports of London, Tilbury and Liverpool.
The chilling reports, revealed today by ITV’s Robert Peston, come amid claims French President Emmaneul Macron would deliberately block imports in no deal.
Some 61 per cent of Britons now believing that the economy will get worse in the year ahead, and just 14 per cent thinking things will improve.
The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt today also poured scorn on the hopes a deal in an intervention today.
He told MEPs: ‘We are now in a battle of the figures. Mrs May says 95% has been agreed, Michel Barnier says 90 per cent has been agreed. I know Britain has always had difficulties with the metric system.
‘If it is 90 per cent or 95 per cent or 99 per cent, if there is no solution for the Irish border, for our Parliament it is 0% that is agreed at the moment.
‘We need agreement on the Irish border. The Good Friday Agreement must be protected.’
The stakes were raised ahead of tonight’s meeting after leaked documents revealed Cabinet ministers have been advised Britain could be left in Brexit limbo for years.
The documents say there could be a ‘long running’ transition period that is renewed annually – potentially leaving Britain in the Brexit departure lounge for years.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox warned reportedly warned Cabinet extension risked Britain being stuck in ‘Dante’s first circle of hell’, better known as limbo.
The leak dramatically raises the stakes for the Prime Minister as she braces for the crunch meeting.
Mrs May was warned to ‘bring her own noose’ to the ‘show trial’ meeting of the 1922 Committee – but Tory sources insist she is attending voluntarily and hope it will turn out to be a show of strength.
Rumours are swirling in Westminster that the chairman of the 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady holds almost enough letters from Tory MPs to order a vote of no confidence. He must call a vote if 48 letters are sent.
Theresa May (pictured today in Downing Street) is bracing for a ‘show trial’ with her rebellious MPs today after leaked Cabinet papers suggest Britain could be left in Brexit limbo for years
The Prime Minister (pictured today in PMQs) is facing her Tory backbenchers for a showdown meeting tonight amid anger at her Brexit plans
Andrew Bridgen, an arch-critic of Mrs May, predicted today she would fail to reassure the party and would face a vote later this week.
Mr Bridgen told Sky News: ‘It is clear that the Prime Minister is determined to push through Chequers in the face of huge opposition from the backbenches.
‘I have put a letter (into the 1922) some time ago. I think we are close to the 48 letters.
‘We have heard stories that Theresa May would welcome a vote of no confidence and she would survive it… I don’t think No 10 want that but I think it is where we are heading this week.’
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