Public campaign launched as PM faces possible Commons defeat after 20 Tories say they may back Labour motion on issue

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A new coalition of pro-European groups is planning to throw its weight behind efforts to force the government to explain how it intends to take Britain out of the European Union.

The What’s the Plan? campaign launches as Theresa May faces intense pressure within parliament to publish its intentions. At least 20 Tories said they were minded to back a Labour motion on the issue.

The government has so far insisted it would be a bad negotiating strategy to reveal its demands before negotiations that are likely to begin next spring.



But the five campaign groups – Britain for Europe, CommonGround, the European Movement, Scientists for EU and Open Britain – argue that basic questions about market access, migration, borders and any transitional phase should be discussed before formal notification to leave is given under article 50.

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“Voters deserve to know and deserve to hear directly from the government, not through notes caught on camera or leaked memos,” said a spokesman for the new group. “This is far wider than negotiations with the EU. We want to know what is the government’s plan for the UK.”

Campaigners hope that by mobilising public support for the publication of a Brexit green paper they can demonstrate that the issue is more than just a Westminster preoccupation.

The prime minister, who could face an embarrassing defeat in parliament on Wednesday while she is on a trade trip to Bahrain, is likely to try to avoid a defeat either by allowing the Labour motion to pass or for them to offer their own alternative.

Anna Soubry, a key Conservative backbencher who is ready to vote with Labour if there is no compromise, is pushing for the government to publish a white paper before triggering article 50.



In its public petition, the What’s the Plan campaign makes a similar demand for broad government objectives to be published two months beforehand “so parliament and voters can debate it properly”.

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“The leave campaign did not produce a manifesto,” says the petition. “No plan has yet been published by the government. The resulting uncertainty is damaging the economy and preventing the country from uniting behind the result of the referendum.

“The government must now spell out its priorities for change in the UK post Brexit and its negotiating aims with our EU partners,” it adds. “Millions of people’s lives and business decisions are on hold waiting for a plan.”

The MP Norman Lamb, a supporter of Open Britain, also backed the public campaign push. “The government has to come clean about its plan for Brexit. It just isn’t good enough for them to rush headlong into triggering article 50 without letting the British people know the plan,” he said.

“Brexit was supposed to be about taking back control so the voters will not tolerate a behind-closed-doors stitch-up that places all control with the prime minister and a small number of her advisers.”