Former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has called upon members of parliament (MPs) to reject Prime Minister Theresa May's "appalling" Brexit plan amid a steady increase of reports that her government is close to clinching a deal with Brussels.
In one of his most vitriolic attacks on May's Brexit blueprint to date, the chief Brexiteer slammed the alleged plan to keep the entirety of the UK in a customs union as an "absolute stinker."
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Writing in one of Britain's leading tabloid newspapers, the Sun, Johnson balked that the UK will become "a vassal state, a colony" of the European Union (EU), which will see London kneel to foreign made laws "for the first time in a thousand years."
Brexit was meant to be about taking back control. Under this plan – we surrender control to Brussels. If we accept this appalling deal, we must realise it is forever – not just for Christmas.https://t.co/7ziGjnmhc2
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) 5 November 2018
Bojo's scolding intervention comes on the heels of reports which suggest that Theresa May's negotiating team are just steps away from securing a Brexit deal with the EU that will keep the UK closely within the orbit of the European customs union.
And we have people raging on Twitter telling us we will starve and have no bananas…. I’m so shocked at the state of everything in this country right now — why did we let it get so out of hand??
— Slackaly (@Notenoughlove1) 5 November 2018
Downing Street has however maintained that such reports are mere "speculation." However, Prime Minister May's close advisor and Cabinet Office Minister, David Lidington, done little to dampen such expectations on Friday, November 2 when he declared that both sides are "very close" to realizing a final deal.
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"We will be told that the UK government has triumphed. We will be told that we have protected our precious union. But we have agreed to remain a vassalage forever," warned Mr Johnson.
The ONLY way to get rid of #ChequersPlan is to get rid of @theresa_may — anything sort of this is useless verbiage. Boris needs to trigger a leadership challenge.https://t.co/AKfkBVX5Zv
— David Vance (@DVATW) 5 November 2018
"Brexit was meant to be about taking back control. Under this plan, we surrender control to Brussels. If we accept this appalling deal we must realize it forever. From social policy to the environment, from agriculture to industrial standards to immigration, when Brussels says ‘Jump', the British answer will be ‘How high?" he added.
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