Mrs May’s ‘awayday’ was a sideshow: the big Brexit crunch will be in parliament | Andrew Rawnsley

The customs union has always had majority backing in the Commons. Now Corbyn seems to be on board tooIt is many people’s idea of the most diabolical circle of hell – Dante meets David Brent – but “the awayday” is suddenly in vogue with political leaders. Theresa May summoned her senior ministers for a well-publicised eight-hour meeting at Chequers where they supposedly thrashed out an agreed position on Brexit. There was definitely a lot of thrashing about; I’m not persuaded that they have actually come to a sustainable agreement. To rather less fanfare, Jeremy Corbyn sequestered the shadow cabinet at an officially undisclosed location for their own Brexit summit. Of the two meetings, it is the one that has attracted much less media attention – the Labour gathering on Monday – which looks to be much the more significant.The undisclosed location of Labour’s gathering was, in fact, a room with a table in parliament. The “awayday” was not really away and it did not take a day. The meeting was important because, after weeks of tortuous internal debate, the official opposition is finally moving towards a new and much less ambiguous position. This is to commit to Britain remaining within a customs union with the EU after Brexit. It is a development with potentially huge consequences for the future of Brexit and the rather less important matter of the future of Mrs May. In combination with Tory rebels, the opposition will now threaten a major defeat on the government. If the government loses, that Chequers meeting will be made redundant. If defeat triggers a leadership crisis, Mrs May might also be made redundant. Continue reading…
Via: Mrs May’s ‘awayday’ was a sideshow: the big Brexit crunch will be in parliament | Andrew Rawnsley