May warns Brexiteers: parliament will not allow no deal

At the Chequers gathering yesterday, Theresa May warned any Brexiteers who dream of “no deal” that Parliament will not allow it.

Brussels doesn’t appear to be quite so sure – as this stark statement today from the EU makes clear  – and it does require Brussels to make a judgement that a plausible plan is in play with a plausible vehicle for delivery.

Mrs May gave no commitment to bring back the Meaningful Vote but two participants say they came back thinking the chances of it passing were marginally higher at the end of the meeting than at the start. Both sources emphasised that wasn’t saying much. There was still absolutely no guarantee the vote would go ahead, one source at the meeting said.

The encouragement, such as it was for Theresa May, came from the fact that pretty much everyone in the room (Steve Baker seems to have been the exception) engaged with the possibility of themselves voting for the deal subject to certain conditions. That’s not to say that Boris Johnson, for instance, pledged to give his support but he discussed scenarios in which he might.

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