UK: Tory vice chairs quit over May’s Brexit plan

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON

Amid controversy and Cabinet defections over the government’s Brexit path, two vice chairs of the ruling Conservatives jumped ship on Monday.

“It is with regret that I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign as a Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party following the collective agreement by Cabinet on the Chequers Brexit deal,” Maria Caufield said in her letter of resignation to Prime Minister Theresa May.

“I cannot support the direction of travel in the Brexit negotiations,” she added.

Ben Bradly’s letter of resignation struck a similar tone, saying: “I have come to the conclusion that I cannot in good faith be a spokesman for the party or for Government on this issue” of the government’s Brexit position.

May was thought to have united her Cabinet last week over the Chequers plan, which would see the U.K. leave the single market but follow a “common rule book” for trade with the EU.

The plan, however, seems to have sown discord among her Cabinet, with senior figures such as David Davis, the chief Brexit negotiator, and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, resigning in protest.

The resignations have plunged her government into a crisis that could challenge her leadership and result in a no-confidence vote in parliament.