UK Brexit Secretary David Davis Resigns in Wake of Cabinet’s Adoption of May’s Plan
Environment Secretary Michael Gove is reported to be the favorite to replace David Davis as Brexit Secretary.
The UK’s Brexit Secretary David Davis has resigned from the British government just 48 hours after Prime Minister Theresa May got the Cabinet to back her Brexit plan.
At the end of last week, May secured the support of what has been described by observers as a “divided Cabinet” for her plan which stipulates “a free trade for goods” of the UK and the EU, while excluding the vast British services sectors.
There have been reports that Brexit Secretary David Davis had warned May that the EU was certain to reject her plan.
David Davis’ resignation was announced late on Sunday night, with junior minister Steven Baker quitting shortly after him, BBC News reports.
David Davis was appointed Brexit Secretary back in 2016 after the UK’s “Brexit referendum”, and has been in charge of negotiating the British withdrawal from the Union with the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.
Davis is said to have found his position in May’s Cabinet untenable since the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan provides for looser ties with the EU than he desired. He did not comment immediately on his resignation.
According to the BBC, his decision to quit came after a meeting at Downing Street 10 on Sunday that made him “furious”.
“DD decided he couldn’t sell out his own country,” tweeted Daily Express correspondent Sarah O’Grady, the wife of David Davis’ special adviser Stewart Jackson.
“The PM’s proposals for a Brexit in name only are not acceptable,” said Brexiteer Conservative MP Peter Bone who welcomed Davis’ resignation as a “principled and brave decision.”
David Davis’ resignation comes hours before Theresa May addresses the British House of Commons on Monday where she will seek to convince the MPs that her plan adopted by her Cabinet at Chequers on Friday is the right strategy for Brexit.
May is reported to have adopted a rather staunch stance on her plan, with The Times reporting, without citing sources, that she told senior allies she would fire Foreign Secretary Borish Johnson in the event that he might try “to undermine the peace deal”.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove is reported to be the favorite to replace David Davis as Brexit Secretary in the May Cabinet.
(Banner image: 10Downing Street on Twitter)