Theresa May faces ‘inevitable’ defeat in parliament unless her deal changes, Brexiters warn
Two leading Brexiters have warned Theresa May that she faces an "inevitable" defeat in the parliament unless she wins significant changes to the withdrawal agreement.
Nigel Dodds, the Westminster leader of the DUP which props up Theresa May's minority government, and Tory MP Steve Baker also warned that a delay to UK's departure from the EU would do "incalculable" damage to public trust in politics.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Dodds and Baker, who is the deputy chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) said any "extended uncertainty" around Brexit would be a "political calamity" and that the UK must leave the EU on the scheduled date of 29 March.
A delay to Brexit would mean "democracy would be effectively dead", they said.
Read more: May calls on EU for 'one last push' to get a Brexit deal
They warned that the extended deadline would mean "a costly delay for businesses which have prepared to exit on 29 March".
Their intervention comes as MPs prepare to vote on May's deal on Tuesday, two months after her deal was roundly rejected by 230 votes in January.
The pair said that unless the Prime Minister secured changes to the deal, it would be "defeated firmly" again on Tuesday.
Read more: May presses EU to commit to Brexit backstop changes
Many MPs are opposed to the Irish backstop, the insurance policy designed to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland by keeping the UK in a customs union with the EU. Brexiters are concerned that the UK could remain trapped in the arrangement indefinitely.
Attorney general Geoffrey Cox has been trying to negotiate legal changes to the backstop with Brussels, including a time limit and unilateral exit mechanism that would allow the UK to leave without the approval of the EU.
Meanwhile, former Brexit secretary David Davis told the BBC that Britain could get its "Trump moment" if politicians did not deliver on the results of the referendum.
He said parliament faced a choice between no deal by accident or no Brexit.
"The House will have to choose between something that might have a risk of some short-term but manageable economic turbulence or something that for certain will be a democratic disaster – namely not delivering on the referendum," he said. "That's the balance we're between."
Asked what he meant by a "democratic disaster", Davis said: "Britain will get its Trump moment. British people who voted for this and a large number of Remainers who didn't vote for it but still think it should be carried through because they believe in democracy, will see a government, a parliament walking away from a question that they themselves put to the people. That will undermine belief in democracy in this country and certainly belief in the established political parties."
His concerns were echoed by Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, who said not delivering on Brexit would be "devastating" for the Conservative party.