UK PM closes Conservative party conference with speech focusing on Brexit and the EU

Theresa May will wrap up a four-day Conservative Party conference in Birmingham today by delivering a keynote speech.

The focus of Mrs May’s address will be on Brexit, with the prime minister finding herself in an extraordinarily difficult situation. Indeed, her Chequers plan for Brexit is being attacked on all sides, with elements of her own party fighting against it, Brussels having rejected it and Labour vowing to shoot any plan down if it reaches parliamentary vote.

The PM will likely use today’s speech to issue a rallying cry to her party for support of the Chequers plan, although that could fall on deaf ears after Boris Johnson and other supporters of a “hard Brexit” issued their own plan for leaving the EU. Mr Johnson’s idea for Brexit would see the UK renege on an agreement with the EU last December to avoid a hard Irish border and instead aim for a free trade deal with Brussels.

With Johnson’s idea untenable for all parties and her own plan lacking support, the prime minister may have to come up with a plan B, or risk leaving the EU next March with no deal at all.

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