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While the government's Brexit "defeat" was noted by some of the Conservative MPs, former Cabinet minister Boris Johnson suggested what Mrs. May needs to be doing is heading back to Brussels and doing "what they have been expecting all along — and that is finally show some steel and determination."
UK lawmakers heard confirmations of a delay in the "meaningful vote" on the Brexit deal, initially planned for December 11, following days of deal discussions in the House of Commons.
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While the government' "defeat" was noted by some of the Conservative MPs, Mr. Johnson suggested earlier the MPs should "throw out" the deal.
"…if and when the deal is voted down, it should be clear to the Government what needs to be done; and some options should be immediately ruled out," Johnson wrote in his weekly column.
He proposed to reject the ‘Norway' option for Britain and disregard the scenario of a second ‘People's Vote' referendum on the nature of the deal.
"Leaving aside the likely outcome of such a second poll (and I see no reason why Leave should not win again), it would be infamous and pathetic of MPs to go back to the people before the political class had even succeeded in delivering on the first referendum result. It would so shake trust in politicians that the Government would suffer massively, and deservedly, in the next general election," the Conservative MP argued.
The trust in British politicians by other British politicians has seen better time amid bitter bickering and parliament infighting over the nation's future relationship with the EU. An array of resignations — including Mr. Johnson from the Cabinet — internal Tory disagreements and overall opposing sentiment in the House of Commons in regards to the Brexit deal on the table, have all shaken the stability of Downing Street, the economy and the clarity of the plan moving forward.
Mr. Johnson, who recently admitted to a "deep sense of personal responsibility" for Brexit, remained adamant Britain needs to "massively to step up our preparations for leaving without an agreement."
"We want to bin the backstop; we need to address the by no means insoluble questions raised by the Irish border during the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement to the end of 2020, which has always been the logical place for those discussions to take place; we need to withhold at least half the £39bn until the FTA is done; and we need massively to step up our preparations for leaving without an agreement — not that we expect that we will have to do so, but because we know that the best way to ensure a great deal is to prepare for no deal. If we take this approach, then MPs will actually be siding with their constituents, and not frustrating them," Boris Johnson said.
