Emma Reynolds: May's take it or leave it Brexit deal is baloney
Theresa May has been accused of attempting to bluff her way through Brexit by engineering a ‘take it or leave it’ deal with the EU.
Labour MP Emma Reynolds, a member of the cross party Brexit Select Committee, said the Prime Minister was talking 'baloney' by insisting the only options on the table were the deal she has agreed with the EU, or a ‘no deal’ scenario.
She claimed Mrs May was making a desperate, last ditch attempt to force her much-criticised deal through Parliament by attempting to ‘blackmail’ MPs into voting for it.
Take our Brexit survey here:
It came as the Prime Minister set off on a tour of the UK in a bid to persuade the public to back her agreement with the EU.
However, she faces a seemingly impossible task to get her deal through Parliament, with the latest estimates suggesting MPs will vote against it by a margin of three to two.
Wolverhampton North East MP Ms Reynolds said: "All the talk of this being a case of 'back the Prime Minister's deal or there will be no deal at all' is a total bluff.
"There is no way that Theresa May and the vast majority of her ministers would allow us to leave the EU without a deal, as they know full well how catastrophic that would be for this country.
"At any rate, there is no majority in Parliament for a 'no deal' scenario.
"I will not be blackmailed into voting for the Prime Minister's deal when there are clearly other options available.
"A Norway type deal is a possibility, as is a public vote if the deal does not get through the Commons. The idea she is trying to push – that her deal is effectively 'take it or leave it' – is frankly baloney."
Ms Reynolds has also warned that patients will 'very likely' have to wait longer for access to new medicines after Brexit if cooperation with the European Medicines Agency ends.
The Government has insisted there will be no delay in access to medicines.
The Prime Minister's deal has received widespread opposition from MPs of all parties.
Labour's official line is to oppose it, while the DUP – which props up Mrs May's administration – is also against it, as are the SNP and the Lib Dems.
The number of Tories against the deal is now approaching 100, with Brexiteers including Sir Bill Cash describing it as having failed the will of the British people, and some blue Remainers such as Anna Soubry intent on pushing for a second referendum.
Lichfield Conservative MP Michael Fabricant has said that if the UK leaves the EU under Theresa May's deal then his party will be out of Government for at least a decade.
