Ousted minister Amber Rudd restored as UK PM defies Brexit pressure
British Prime Minister Theresa May has reappointed one of her staunchest allies to a vacant cabinet post amid growing outcry over her European Union divorce deal.
May appointed Amber Rudd, the former home secretary, to the post of work and pensions minister, on Friday.
The reappointment of Amber, who resigned seven months ago over an immigration scandal, sparked anger among Labour Party politicians who believe the premier is adamantly seeking to protect her allies in the Conservative Party amid a backlash over her controversial Brexit agreement she signed with the EU last week.
Rudd replaces Eshter McVey, who resigned Thursday along with Brexit minister Dominic Raab hours after May made an announcement about the draft Brexit deal.
Both ministers reiterated in their resignation letters that the deal would harm Britain’s interests once it leaves the EU in March.
May also appointed Stephen Barclay, a junior health minister, as the new Brexit minister, although the prime minister's office reiterated that Barclay will be assigned with domestic responsibilities of Brexit and May would personally manage the ending days of negotiations with the EU.
The EU will convene a summit on November 25 to ratify the draft Brexit deal and a political declaration that will be negotiated between London and Brussels in the coming days.
Many expect that the UK leader will fail to gain approval by the British Parliament for the Brexit deal that would come out of the EU summit.
A total of 20 members of the British government have resigned since May became prime minister after the Brexit referendum in June 2016.
Almost all those cabinet members were at odds with May’s Brexit policy, saying it would tie Britain to the EU for an indefinite period of time with London having no say in EU decisions.
May has vowed to defend the deal and go with it through the parliament, where she would need 320 votes from 650 lawmakers to have the agreement ratified.
Several Conservative lawmakers and the opposition Labour Party have vowed to vote down the deal for their own reasons.
Labour reacted to May’s decision to restore Rudd to the Cabinet.
The party said the appointment of Rudd, who resigned after it became clear that her department had been purging thousands of black Caribbean migrants who had come to Britain decades ago, would create further mess in the government.
“Let’s hope she shows more concern for the victims of this department’s unfairness and cruelty than she did at the Home Office,” said Labour’s Diane Abbott, who acts as shadow home secretary, on Saturday.
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