Theresa May: No place in politics for threats of violence and intimidation

Theresa May has insisted there "can never be a place for the threats of violence and intimidation" made against Tory MPs targeted for abuse by Brexit supporters.

The Prime Minister said British politics "must be better than that" as she updated MPs on the progress being made towards the UK quitting the EU.

Conservative MPs who helped inflict the Government's first defeat on the EU Withdrawal Bill last week have faced death threats.

Former minister Anna Soubry said she had been told she should be "hung in public", while Dominic Grieve, Sarah Wollaston and Ken Clarke have also received threats against their lives.

In a Commons statement, May said: "We are dealing with questions of great significance to our country’s future, so it is natural that there are many strongly held views on all sides of this Chamber.

"And it is right and proper that we should debate them - and do so with all the passion and conviction that makes our democracy what it is.

"But there can never be a place for the threats of violence and intimidation against some Members that we have seen in recent days. Our politics must be better than that."

Meanwhile, May also insisted that the UK will leave the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy on the day it quits the EU.

In what appeared to be a victory for Environment Secretary Michael Gove, the Prime Minister said: "We will be leaving the Common Fisheries Policy on 29 March, 2019, and the CAP. The arrangements that pertain to fisheries during that implementation period will of course be part of the negotiations.

"Leaving the CFP and leaving the CAP give us the opportunity to actually introduce arrangements that work for the United Kingdom."

But former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: "The Government is going to sacrifice the family farm and cripple British farming, if they switch off the Common Agricultural Policy without a plan to replace it. 

"This is putting ideology first and our farmers last. How can we leave the CAP while following EU rules through any transition? Britain has a strong and proud farming heritage and the Government will be putting that at risk. The government is going to sacrifice the family farm and cripple British farming, if they switch off the Common Agricultural Policy without a plan to replace it."

"This is putting ideology first and our farmers last. How can we leave the CAP while following EU rules through any transition? 

“Britain has a strong and proud farming heritage and the government, will be putting that at risk.”