The United Kingdom’s Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey, have resigned along with two junior ministers over the draft European Union (EU) withdrawal agreement.
The move comes as a huge blow to British Prime Minister Theresa May. Raab was appointed the Brexit secretary only in July after David Davis resigned in protest against “a business-friendly” deal to leave the EU.
The two junior ministers who also resigned on Thursday are Suella Braverman and Shailesh Vara.
“I regret to say that, following the Cabinet meeting yesterday on the Brexit deal, I must resign,” Raab said. May’s plan threatened the integrity of the UK, he said.
“I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election. This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” he said in his resignation letter, published on his Twitter account. McVey, a Brexit hardliner, was the second senior minister to quit over May’s draft agreement.
“The deal you put before the cabinet yesterday does not honour the result of the referendum,” she told the prime minister in her resignation. EU leaders will meet on November 25 to endorse the divorce deal that has been stalled over lack of consensus.
