British Prime Minister Theresa May was dealt a severe blow on Thursday when her Brexit secretary and another minister quit, striking at the heart of a draft divorce deal with the EU she is battling to sell to her party, parliament and the country.
Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms of the draft agreement, Brexit minister Dominic Raab and work and pensions minister Esther McVey quit, saying they could not support it.
Their departure, and the resignation of a junior minister, shakes May’s divided government. Raab is the second Brexit secretary to quit over May’s plans to leave the European Union, the biggest shift in British policy in more than 40 years.
By leaving now, some suggested that Raab could be positioning himself as a possible successor to May.
“Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election,” Raab said.
“This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” Raab said. “I cannot support the proposed deal.”
Less than five months until Britain leaves the EU on March 29, the resignations put May’s Brexit strategy in doubt.
EU leaders are ready to meet on Nov. 25 to sign off on the divorce deal, or Withdrawal Agreement, but the drama is in London with some lawmakers openly questioning whether the government will be intact by the end of the month.