Battle to beat down Tory Brexit rebels continues as Fox takes up the stick

Updated

Liam Fox will take a swipe at Tory opponents of Theresa May’s Brexit deal on Friday, accusing them of not facing up to the fact she has had to make tough choices.

The International Trade Secretary will visit the south west as he becomes the latest Cabinet minister to come out to bat for the Prime Minister ahead of the meaningful vote on December 11.

While the Prime Minister is almost 7,000 miles away in Buenos Aires at the G20 with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the number of Tory MPs who will not back her Withdrawal Agreement has reportedly reached 100, putting its success in serious jeopardy.

It also comes as the Conservatives and Labour, divided over Brexit, also find themselves unable to come to an agreement over the hotly anticipated televised debate on Brexit.

Downing Street are said to prefer a proposal put forward by the BBC for a December 9 tete-a-tete between the PM and Jeremy Corbyn, with Labour favouring a rival one-on-one offer from ITV.

Meanwhile a multitude of other groups and parties are continuing to sound off they should also be allowed to take part, with campaigners for a second referendum even saying they were complaining to Ofcom.

Dr Fox, an ardent Brexiteer, will tell an audience at Portbury Royal Docks near Bristol that while the deal hammered out with Brussels will not please everyone it provides a “firm and stable base” on which to leave the European Union.

He is also due to outline Britain’s future global trading role, saying it is “time to raise our sights, and acknowledge that there is a world beyond Europe, and a time beyond Brexit”.

Dr Fox is expected to say: “The withdrawal agreement and the political declaration will not please everyone, and we have had some tough choices to make.

“Choices which many in Parliament, on both sides of the House, are yet to face up to.

“But the deal we’ve reached will give us a firm and stable base on which to leave the EU and build this country’s global future, a future that still encompasses Europe, of course, but also the wide fast-growing markets beyond, with all the opportunity that entails.”

Prime Minister’s Questions
Prime Minister’s Questions

Dr Fox was reported to be among a group of five Cabinet ministers seeking to tweak Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement before MPs vote on December 11.

In his speech he is also due to make an appeal for unity and a healing of political divisions over the referendum result, adding: “In politics we cannot always have the luxury of doing what we want for ourselves, but we have an abiding duty to do what is right for our country.”

Days after cross-government economic analysis suggested future growth after Brexit will be slower than if the UK stayed in the EU, he is due to strike an upbeat tone about jobs and exports.

He is expected to say: “At the time of the referendum, we were told that just voting to leave the EU would cause such an economic shock that we’d lose half a million jobs, our investors would desert us, and we would require an emergency budget to deal with the ensuing fiscal imbalance.

“What’s happened since? We’ve added over 700,000 jobs to the economy, with more people finding work than at any time in the past 40 years.

“This upward trajectory shows no signs of slowing.”

Tomorrow @LiamFox will speak in the South West laying out the international trade case for the Brexit deal. #FreeTradeUK

Here's the Brexit deal explainer 👇 https://t.co/HmGuWNViue

— Department for International Trade (@tradegovuk) November 29, 2018

He is due to add: “Now is the time to raise our sights, and acknowledge that there is a world beyond Europe, and a time beyond Brexit.

“The Government has made clear that we want to take a balanced approach to the question of our future trading prospects.

“We need to maximise our access to the EU market but without damaging our potential to benefit from emerging trade opportunities in other parts of the world.”

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