Esther McVey now plans for vote for Brexit deal she was against

Former Conservative employment minister Esther McVey. Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Archive/PA Images. - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

She resigned from the front benches of government so that she could vote against what she thought was a bad Brexit deal.

'The choice before us is the PM's bad deal or no Brexit'  - @EstherMcVey1 explains why she has changed her mind and will now vote for Theresa May's Brexit deal in next week's meaningful vote. #Ridge

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— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 17, 2019

Yet former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey is now set to vote for the very deal she is against, despite believing it is a ‘bad deal’.

McVey resigned in November last year over Theresa May’s Brexit plan, saying that she preferred the UK to crash out of the European Union without a deal rather than sign up to the prime minister’s terms.

But even though she told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that ‘I still believe Theresa May’s deal is a bad deal’, she has now confirmed she will vote for it.

Pressed by Ridge, who said that people would be confused that she is now backing the plan she resigned over, McVey said: ‘After the votes last week, no deal is no longer an option.

‘When I resigned, there was still a chance to get a better deal or there would be no deal.

‘However last week, the government conspired to take no deal off the table.

‘The choice is between this deal, a bad deal, or no Brexit whatsoever.

‘We’re going to have to hold our noses and vote for it.’

On the same show, Ridge also questioned international trade secretary Liam Fox why he himself had voted against the proposal to take no deal off the table.

He said it ws ‘important to send a signal that we still wanted to get an agreement to leave on time’, adding: ‘I wanted to ensure we sent a signal to voters that we wanted to honour her manifesto commitments.’

Despite several ministers voting against the government this week, Fox laughably said that ‘collective responsibility is the price we pay for having the privilege to sit around the cabinet table’.