Theresa May is preparing to fast-track a series of votes to reverse major government defeats in the House of Lords on the EU Withdrawal Bill, it emerged yesterday.
Sources say the Bill could return to the House of Commons as early as May 23 in an attempt to remove amendments that conflict with the prime minister’s Brexit policy.
May is keen to complete the votes well before a crucial EU summit on June 28 and 29 to show other leaders of the bloc that she is in control.
Peers inflicted defeats in four areas on Tuesday — taking to 14 the number of significant changes during the Bill’s passage through the upper chamber.
After a rebellion by both main parties against their leaders’ lines, peers voted for the UK to remain in the European Economic Area (EEA), which would mean keeping single market rules and free movement of people.
Peers also backed continued participation in EU agencies, removed the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, and strengthened scrutiny of secondary legislation made by ministers.
Earlier defeats included a vote for staying in the customs union, which ministers might decline to reverse. Tory tensions have increased over May’s plans for a “customs partnership” — which would mean UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU — after Boris Johnson branded the proposal “crazy”.
Remain-backer Kenneth Clarke accused the foreign secretary of being “totally irresponsible” and of trying to win support for a leadership bid.
“Normally he would have been sacked,” said the former chancellor. It was reported yesterday that May had “admonished” Johnson. A spokesman declined to say whether the PM had spoken privately with the foreign secretary about his comments.
But asked whether May continued to have full confidence in Johnson as foreign secretary, the PM’s spokesman said: “Yes.”
Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn has torn into May’s stalling on the EU customs union, suggesting during prime minister’s questions that Cabinet ministers were deliberately undermining her preferred option.
Corbyn said both of May’s options for a future customs arrangement with the EU were implausible, citing Boris Johnson’s Daily Mail interview where he called the partnership model “crazy”.
He also quoted the former UK representative in Brussels Sir Ivan Rogers on the alternative model preferred by Brexiters for a technological solution for customs checks on the Northern Irish border, saying it was a “fantasy island unicorn model”. 
“They have two options, neither of which are workable,” Corbyn said. The government, he said, had “wasted weeks working up proposals that the EU said was unworkable, that her own foreign secretary described as crazy”.