Yahoo News Theresa May's Brexit can get through Parliament, insists Michael Gove
Michael Gove has said he believes the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal will survive.
The Environment Secretary did not say how Theresa May’s proposal will get through Parliament but praised her ‘determination and focus’.
Speaking at the Journalist’s Charity Scotland lunch in Glasgow on Friday Mr Gove was asked if the deal can pass.
He said: ‘Yes I think it can. The Prime Minister has been conducting negotiations on behalf of the country with the tenacity, determination and focus on the national interest that has always characterised her approach.
‘And absolutely we will have an opportunity to hear from the Prime Minister when she is speaking in the House of Commons next week and I know that she will have the enthusiastic support of the Cabinet for the course that she is on.’
Asked how the deal can be passed, given the arithmetic of the Commons has not changed since the Prime Minister decided not to go ahead with Tuesday’s meaningful vote in the face of opposition, he said: ‘We’ll see.’
Mrs May was in Brussels on Friday to try and get concessions from the EU – despite leaders there ruling out renegotiation.
She admitted having a ‘robust discussion’ with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who wanted more clarity from the UK after what he called a ‘nebulous and imprecise’ debate.
That prompted a tense exchange between himself and Mrs May, which was captured on video.
Lip readers said a clearly angry May said: ‘What did you call me? You called me nebulous.’
To which Juncker replied: ‘No I didn’t, no I didn’t.’
The Prime Minister said later that she had been ‘crystal clear’.
