Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab described her 'desperate' Brexit negotiations with Jeremy Corbyn as a 'major mistake'
Theresa May has been warned that striking a deal with Jeremy Corbyn risks ‘handing the keys to Downing Street’ to an avowed Marxist – and destroying Brexit in the process.
Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab – one of the frontrunners to succeed Mrs May – describes her ‘desperate’ negotiations with Mr Corbyn as ‘a major mistake... bad for Brexit, bad for the Tory Party and potentially disastrous for the nation’.
His powerful intervention in an article for today’s Mail on Sunday – on the right of these pages – comes amid a growing revolt in the Tory party over the cross-party talks, with local associations threatening to go on strike in next month’s local elections.
Tory MPs fear Mrs May has ‘legitimised’ Mr Corbyn with the talks – and that, if he were to win power, he would be impossible to shift.
They fear he would legislate to reduce the minimum voting age to 16, warping the electoral system in his favour.
And a new poll reveals how seriously out of touch with younger people the Tories are seen to be, with the party now struggling more over age than class.
The Onward think tank, set up by former May aide Will Tanner, will tomorrow publish a report warning that the Conservatives are losing support among younger voters, with the tipping point at which people typically switch to voting Tory rising to 51 from 47 in 2017, due to falling home ownership and austerity.
Mr Raab warns: ‘If the PM bends to Mr Corbyn’s whims now, we can kiss goodbye to the opportunities Brexit offers us.’
Tory MPs fear that Mrs May has ‘legitimised’ Mr Corbyn with the talks – and that, if he were to win power, he would be impossible to shift
The former Minister, who resigned from the Cabinet last year over Mrs May’s deal, says: ‘Labour’s antics are designed not to deliver a Brexit faithful to the referendum but to create chaos – which Mr Corbyn wants to exploit to seize power.
He has a history of sympathising with the IRA, Hamas and Hezbollah, so it is no surprise Mrs May’s overtures have gone down badly with Conservatives. Our supporters are frustrated or simply giving up, with many threatening to take their vote elsewhere, to Ukip or even Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.
‘There is now a danger that Brexit could be lost and that the Government could fall – handing the keys to Downing Street to the very man the PM is depending on.’ Mr Raab adds devastatingly: ‘As Brexit Secretary... I urged her to take a firmer line with Brussels.
‘My efforts were undermined by others within Government.’
And his concerns have been echoed by grassroots Tories, with dozens of once-loyal activists sharing pictures of their cut-up membership cards on social media.
Bob Perry, deputy chair of Hornchurch and Upminster Conservative Association in East London, warned that ‘apoplectic’ party members are ready to strike to get Mrs May to step down, adding: ‘The party will be annihilated in local elections because loyal activists, understandably, want nothing more to do with the party. They will only return when she goes. By collaborating with Corbyn over Brexit, she has alienated the grassroots more than any party leader in history.’
And Dinah Glover, chairman of London East Conservatives, said: ‘This last week has been a turning point for many members who were willing to give the Prime Minister the benefit of the doubt.’
She added: ‘The membership is completely demoralised that democracy is being overturned and we are failing to deliver what we promised to the British public.’
Ed Costelloe, chairman of the Grassroots Conservatives group, accused the PM of being ‘on a different planet’, adding: ‘Theresa May has little or no reputation left and her time is nearly up.’
Three years after the nation voted decisively to leave the European Union, Brexit still hangs in the balance. In a final, desperate bid to get her EU deal through Parliament, our Prime Minister has teamed up with the Marxist Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
This is a major mistake – bad for Brexit, bad for the Tory Party and potentially disastrous for the nation. Mrs May must change course, and quickly.
Mr Corbyn, remember, has no serious interest in securing an effective Brexit. Throughout the whole process, he has zig-zagged like a drunk stumbling home from a Communist Party knees-up. Rather he will demand what amounts to a Single Market – something my party has explicitly rejected.
If the PM bends to Mr Corbyn’s whims now, we can kiss goodbye to the opportunities Brexit offers us.
Indeed, there would be no way of taking back control of our laws from Brussels and Strasbourg. We would be stuck with the freedom of movement of people, with no control of our borders.
And we would give up the right to strike global free-trade deals with fast-growing and emerging economies, which would help create more jobs here as well as cutting the cost of living.
Mr Corbyn has even held talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, and the two are actively coordinating their positions to dilute or derail Brexit.
When the PM returns to Brussels this week to seek another delay to Brexit, the EU will
