Stephen Barclay has warned the future prime minister will have heavy opposition in Parliament (Image: Getty)
The Brexit secretary said the future Tory leader - either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt - should expect similar opposition to that experienced by Theresa May when she tried unsuccessfully to pass her deal three times. He told politico.eu: “I think whoever takes over will quickly see that the numbers in parliament are unchanged and that it is in a parliament that is split and in a country that is split it is an extremely difficult challenge.” Mr Barclay, who was appointed Brexit secretary last November after Dominic Raab resigned in protest over the prime minister’s deal, said Britian has found itself up against a brick wall with the EU and Dublin when it comes to the main sticking point of the agreement - the backstop.
He said: “I still think she was right to seek to compromise and to try and build consensus, I think the difficulty we have had and that the prime minister has had is that the EU and particularly the Irish government to date have been unwilling to move in terms of the indefinite nature of the backstop.”
His warning comes as a no-deal Brexit looks increasingly likely as both Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt have refused to take the option off the table.
Mrs May, whom Mr Barclay has commended for her
