Today’s political headlines include the stalled attempt to topple May, DUP abandoning the Government in Budget votes, Hunt condemns rebels and May’s secret plan to abandon the backstop.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Attempt to topple May stalls<\/span> DUP abandons Government in Budget votes<\/span> Rebels risk causing \u2018the most appalling chaos\u2019, Hunt says<\/span> May\u2019s \u2018secret plan\u2019 to abandon the backstop<\/span> Spain demands veto over Gibraltar<\/span> Rudd condemns UN poverty report<\/span> Hunt seeks to repay Iran \u00a3400m to free prisoner<\/span> Labour to scrap civil servant degree requirement<\/span>
\n<\/strong>The Daily Telegraph<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that Conservative Brexiteers have admitted their attempt to remove Theresa May as leader has \u2018stalled\u2019 and that \u2018bitter in-fighting\u2019 has broken out among them, with it now appearing unlikely that enough support will be received for a confidence vote in the Prime Minister before her Brexit deal is voted on next month. The paper adds that the \u2018gang of five\u2019 Brexiteer cabinet ministers has also broken up, after they were unable to reach a united position.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Times<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that the Government was abandoned by the DUP in votes on the Finance Bill last night, which the paper claims has \u2018all but killed off\u2019 the deal between the two. The DUP abstained on three votes and voted with Labour on a further one. The DUP has claimed that the deal between the two parties is not dead, although party sources linked the decision to its displeasure with May\u2019s Brexit deal, and the Government has not commented.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0says<\/a>\u00a0that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned that if rebels succeed in toppling Theresa May, they risk causing \u2018the most appalling chaos\u2019. He said that the Prime Minister had an \u2018incredibly challenging\u2019 job and was \u2018by far the best-placed person\u2019 to carry out. He said that he was in talks with European counterparts to \u2018clarify both sides\u2019 intentions\u2019 in the political declaration on the future UK-EU relationship.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Sun<\/em>\u00a0claims<\/a>\u00a0that Theresa May has a \u2018secret plan\u2019 to abandon the Irish backstop through a clause in the Withdrawal Agreement which says that \u2018alternative arrangements\u2019 can be agreed to keep the border open, such as the use of new technology. A delegation of Brexiteers including Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson, Lord Lilley and Lord Trimble discussed the plan with the Prime Minister yesterday.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Spain will reject the Brexit deal unless it is given a special veto to prevent any future UK-EU trade agreement from covering Gibraltar. Spain\u2019s Foreign Minister, Josep Borrell, said that future negotiations on Gibraltar must be \u2018separate\u2019 from those between the UK and the EU.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>According<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>, Amber Rudd, who was appearing in the Commons as Work and Pensions Secretary for the first time, has condemned a UN inquiry into poverty in the UK because of the \u2018extraordinary political nature\u2019 of its language, which she described as \u2018wholly inappropriate\u2019.\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0adds<\/a>\u00a0that Rudd used her debut to indicate that she would need more funding to fix problems with Universal Credit.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is trying to get approval to repay \u00a3400m owed to Iran for four decades in a bid to release Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, currently imprisoned in Iran. A previous attempt to do so by his predecessor Boris Johnson was blocked by Downing Street to avoid breaching sanctions or being seen to pay for a hostage\u2019s release.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The\u00a0Financial Times<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Labour\u2019s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner is to announce that the party would remove the requirement for civil servants to have higher academic qualifications unless they are genuinely relevant to the role in order to tackle \u2018snobbery\u2019 and establish a \u2018genuine parity of esteem\u2019.<\/p>\n