It has been announced that the Queen has approved the appointment of Dominic Raab as the new UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.
This appointment follows the recent resignation of David Davis.
Prior to his new appointment, Raab – a Member of Parliament (MP) for Esher and Walton – held the role of Minister of State for Housing at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
It is understood that Raab will now take over the Brexit negotiations with the European chief negotiator for the UK Exiting the European Union, Michel Barnier.
Earlier today, Davis’ resignation letter – which was sent to Prime Minister Theresa May – outlined that he had disagreed with certain policy lines on a “significant number of occasions” in recent months.
Continuing, Davis stated that he persevered because he thought that it was “still possible to deliver on the mandate of the referendum” as well as on the manifesto commitment to “leave the customs union and the single market”.
“I am afraid that I think the current trend of policy and tactics is making that look less and less likely,” Davis said in his letter.
He is of the opinion that the general direction of policy at the moment will leave the UK in “a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one”.
Calls for May to resign
Following today’s developments, leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and MEP Gerard Batten has called for Prime Minister May to resign.
In an open letter, he said: “Given your previous pro-EU convictions, few of us on the ‘Leave’ side had any faith in your commitment to deliver what had been entrusted to you.
“Your ‘Chequers Agreement’ sadly proves that you have no intention of delivering a genuine exit from the European Union. And indeed, three of your own ministers have already resigned – with perhaps more to follow.
Therefore, I call on you to resign as Prime Minister without further delay and allow a genuine ‘Leaver’ to take control of the process. Your leadership is a shambles, and worse a disaster for the country and its future.
“Please do the only decent and honourable thing and resign,” the letter concludes.
