Shropshire MPs rally behind Theresa May over Brexit crisis

They offered their support to the Prime Minister after the government was rocked by a spate of resignations, with supposed cabinet unity over her Brexit negotiating position in tatters.

During a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson pressed the embattled Prime Minister over when she would be prepared to abandon negotiations with the EU in favour of no-deal.

The Brexiteer asked when the “drop-dead moment” to walk away would come.

In response Mrs May said it was “not sensible to try and put a date on these matters”.

Mr Paterson is considered influential, as a former minister who wants a hard Brexit.

Other MPs in the region backed Mrs May following the resignations of Brexit Secretary David Davis, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and MP Chris Green.

Jeremy Hunt, appointed the new Foreign Secretary as the Prime Minister carried out a hurried reshuffle of her top team, vowed he would be “four square” behind her in driving through her Brexit plan.

Following Mrs May's Commons speech, Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard praised her “robust performance”. He added: “Two resignations disruptive to government – but certainly not catastrophic.”

However, one high-profile county Conservative pulled no punches in his call for Mrs May to step down.

Former Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow has threatened to leave the party if Mrs May does not step down, adding: “I think she absolutely has to go. Everything she said, including ‘Brexit means Brexit’, she has given away.

“I think her position is untenable.”

Earlier Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, Telford MP Lucy Allan, Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski, and Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies had all offered support or sympathy for the Prime Minister.

Speaking before Mr Johnson’s resignation Mr Dunne said the Prime Minister should be allowed to get on with her work.

He said: “I am not going to speculate on the leadership issue, I think the Prime Minister has crafted a delicate path to create a credible negotiating position and she needs to take that to the EU with a view to striking a deal that allows for a clean Brexit, but also an EU-UK free trade agreement, and she should be allowed to get on with it.”

Ms Allan offered her support but warned the EU may try to dilute her proposal, which would lead some MPs to see no-deal as the best solution.

She said: “My concern is that the Chequers’ proposal is an opening bid in negotiations and the EU may well try to erode the position agreed by the cabinet.

“Any attempt by the EU to whittle away at the current proposal would see a significant number of MPs conceding that no deal is better than a bad deal.”

It came after Friday’s Chequers summit, where Mrs May appeared to have finally united a divided cabinet behind her Brexit proposal.

However, the move appears to have reopened divisions within Mrs May’s cabinet and despite Mr Davis being swiftly replaced by Dominic Raab and Mr Johnson by Jeremy Hunt, with Matt Hancock taking over as Health Secretary, there are suggestions that the resignations could spark a challenge to the Prime Minister’s position.

However, county MPs Daniel Kawczynski, Philip Dunne, Lucy Allan, Mark Pritchard and Montgomeryshire Conservative Glyn Davies have all urged their party colleagues to support the leader.

Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski, who is considered one of the Conservative Party’s most ardent Brexit supporters, said he had sympathy with the Prime Minister over the difficulties she faces in uniting different views. He said: “Now that the secretary of state has resigned, clearly there will be more scrutiny on the deal.

“I am listening to what the Prime Minister will say and I have a lot of sympathy with her. She is trying to get a deal that will pass through Parliament. But there are people in Labour and the Liberal Democrats who wish to damage the sort of Brexit that many of my constituents have voted for.”

Wrekin MP, Mark Pritchard, said the government would continue its work. He said: “I am disappointed David felt that he had to leave the government. I think he has been doing an excellent job. But I think the government will continue to do what it needs to do as far as Brexit is concerned, both domestically and internationally.”

Glyn Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, said anyone considering a leadership challenge should think again. He said: “I think anyone who is thinking about a potential leadership challenge should go and buy themselves a coffee and think about new ways of supporting the prime minister.”

Former council leader threatens to quit Tories

Former Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow has threatened to leave the Conservative Party if Theresa May continues as Prime Minister.

Mr Barrow, who stepped down as leader of the authority in December 2015, tweeted his thoughts on the latest Brexit fallout in the wake of David Davis’ Sunday night resignation and before Boris Johnson stepped down from his position as Foreign Secretary. He wrote: “As an ex leader of a unitary council, area and constituency chairman if Theresa May remains then I will be leaving the Conservative Party. David might just have saved the party, let’s hope.”

The former Oswestry councillor pulled no punches in his assessment of the Prime Minister’s Chequer’s agreement. He said: “From what she has said Brexit does not mean Brexit and what we will end up with is the very worst of both worlds – still in the EU but with no vote. Why would anyone vote for that I do not know. And I think David Davis has showed authenticity and integrity that frankly the likes of Boris Johnson have not.

“If we end up with a Brexit deal as it seems we are going to I will certainly finish my association with the Tory party and I do not think I would be the only one.”

Mr Barrow also suggested that David Davis could be considered as a replacement for Theresa May. He said: “I think she absolutely has to go. Everything she said, ‘Brexit means Brexit’, ‘we must leave the customs union’, she has given away.

“The point is we voted to come out. It’s the most important decision this country has ever made, she’s promised to deliver it and she’s letting the country down. I think the electorate will get their revenge at the ballot box.”