Frustrated Cabinet ministers demanded Theresa May come up with an 11th hour plan to save her Brexit deal yesterday as crisis talks discussed likely defeat on Tuesday.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd was among those who asked the PM ‘what do you want to do’, it was claimed today.
Pressure is mounting rapidly on Mrs May ahead of Tuesday’s showdown, amid claims she should try and call off the vote or go back to Brussels before it happens.
Graham Brady, the chairman of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee, has led calls for a delay.
But Downing Street is making no move in either direction and instead sending 30 ministers on the road to stump for the deal around the country today.
The Prime Minister may not even be able to call off the main vote as it would require winning a procedural vote in the House. She was defeated three times on Tuesday.
Brussels is maintaining there is no prospect of re-opening the divorce deal, leaving Government whips scrambling to find support among MPs.
A new amendment has been tabled by Tory loyalists overnight setting out a plan for Parliament to vote on whether to enter the backstop or extend transition in 2020.
But it has already been rejected by the DUP as ‘tinkering’ because the withdrawal treaty insists any decision must be approved by Brussels, whatever MPs say.
Eurosceptics said Mrs May should take her demands over the backstop straight to Dublin after leaked papers said no deal would be worse for Ireland.
The idea of threatening Ireland was branded ‘morally reprehensible’ by Remain supporters given the history of violence on the border.
In other developments, it was claimed today senior allies of Mrs May have urged her to consider a new referendum on her deal or remaining in the EU – something the PM has repeatedly rejected.
Frustrated Cabinet ministers demanded Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street last night) come up with an 11th hour plan to save her Brexit deal yesterday as crisis talks discussed likely defeat on Tuesday
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured in Downing Street yesterday) was among those who asked the PM ‘what do you want to do’, it was claimed today
Last night, Mrs May held around an hour of talks with ministers including Philip Hammond, Ms Rudd, Sajid Javid, Liam Fox, David Lidington, David Gauke, Andrea Leadsom, Michael Gove and Stephen Barclay.
The Telegraph said today she gave only ‘non committal’ response to pleas for a choice among four possibilities, including delaying the vote.
Chief whip Julian Smith apparently admitted a defeat by up to 200 votes was not impossible. Many expect the defeat to run to at least three figures without a new plan.
The Cabinet is divided over what to do. One camp, including Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, are advocating delay to the vote.
Also in favour of a postponement is Sir Graham, who is in charge of calling any confidence vote in the PM, who told Sky News: ‘I don’t think there is any point in ploughing ahead and losing the vote heavily.’
Others, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, say everything necessary must be done to prevent no deal.
Sources told MailOnline last night’s meeting was ‘taking stock’ of the situation.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said today that Downing Street had been ‘very clear’ that the Brexit vote would not be delayed.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Mr Hancock told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘I think that we should make the argument, make the case and persuade people. That’s what you have parliamentary debate for.’
He added: ‘I don’t know how likely ‘no deal’ is. It is what happens automatically unless Parliament passes something else.
‘I very strongly feel that the best thing for the country, not just for the health service but for the country as a whole, is for Theresa May’s deal to pass.’
As wrangling over the vote continues, BuzzFeed News said No 10 aides have raised the prospect of a new Brexit referendum as a way to save the deal.
Mrs May has angrily rejected the idea, sources told the site, because it fails to respect the 2016 vote.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove (left) and Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom (right) were among the ministers at the meeting in No10 yesterday
Ministers will fan out across the country today to sell the deal.
Mr Hammond will visit a Chertsey school, while Mr Hancock will head to a hospital in Portsmouth where he will announce almost £1 billion of funding for health facilities across England.
No deal would be WORSE for Ireland than the UK and mean food shortages
A no deal Brexit would be worse for Ireland than the UK, Government papers claim fuelling demands for Theresa May to tell Dublin to drop the border backstop (file image)
A no deal Brexit would be worse for Ireland than the UK, Government papers claim fuelling demands for Theresa May to tell Dublin to drop the border backstop.
Leaked papers suggest Ireland would face foot shortages and a 7 per cent plunge in GDP if there was a sudden no deal in March.
It compares to a 5 per cent drop in the UK – with the gap fuelled by Ireland being a more open economy than Britain.
The bleak picture has prompted Cabinet ministers and leading Brexiteers to plead with Mrs May to exploit Dublin’s position before Tuesday’s vote, The Times reported.
Remainers said it was ‘morally reprehensible’ to threaten Ireland given the bloody history of the Troubles.
Priti Patel, the former cabinet minister, told the Times: ‘This paper appears to show the government were well aware Ireland will face significant issues in a no-deal scenario.
‘Why hasn’t this point been pressed home during the negotiations? There is still time to go back to Brussels and get a better deal.’
Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, Mrs May’s de facto deputy, will meet small business leaders in Belfast and Scotland Secretary David Mundell will speak to employers in Glasgow.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, meanwhile, will visit engineering companies in Peterborough and the East Midlands.
Mrs May said: ‘We have delivered a deal that honours the vote of the British people.
‘I’ve been speaking to factory workers in Scotland, farmers in Wales and people right across the country, answering their questions about the deal and our future.
‘Overwhelmingly, the message I’ve heard is that people want us to get on with it.
‘And that’s why it’s important that ministers are out speaking with communities across the UK today about how the deal works for them.
In interview yesterday on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mrs May said her fear was that ‘Parliament in some way frustrates Brexit’.
The premier also confirmed that she is looking at ways to sweeten her blueprint for mutinous MPs – suggesting there could be a parliamentary ‘lock’ on the Irish border backstop arrangements coming into force.
A new amendment to Tuesday’s vote was tabled by Tory loyalists overnight setting out a series of Commons votes on using the backstop.
The plan, from Hugo Swire and Richard Graham, says Parliament should vote in March 2020 on the state of plans to avoid a hard border and whether or not Britain should trigger a transition period extension in June 2020.
The idea is to persuade Brexiteers Britain cannot be forced into the backstop and will not be left inside it forever – despite legal advice saying this could happen.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said the plan was just ‘tinkering’ and did not change the main problem that Brussels has the power to veto whatever decision Britain makes.
She said: ‘The legally binding international Withdrawal Treaty would remain fundamentally flawed as evidenced by the Attorney General’s legal advice.’
Nikki da Costa, the former No 10 director of legislative affairs who quit over the deal, suggested the amendment was a Downing Street plant.
She told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I know a government amendment when I see one.’
A new amendment to Tuesday’s vote was tabled by Tory loyalists overnight setting out a series of Commons vote on using the backstop
Nikki da Costa, the former No 10 director of legislative affairs who quit over the deal, suggested the amendment was a Downing Street plant
Mrs May will head to Brussels on December 13, two days after the crunch Commons vote.
If she loses the vote, EU leaders would offer her the chance to extend the Article 50 process to avoid a no-deal Brexit, reported The Telegraph.
But Downing Street has ruled this out.
The EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier insisted that the agreement with Theresa May was the only deal on offer and there was no scope for change.
In a speech at the European Committee of the Regions, he said: ‘I must say once again, today, calmly and clearly: It is the only and the best possible agreement.’
He added that Brexit was a ‘lose-lose’ situation and the deal was an exercise in ‘damage limitation’.
On the issue of the Irish backstop, Mr Barnier said: ‘It is a legally operational form of insurance that will ensure that we never see the return of a hard border, that we have north-south co-operation on the island of Ireland and that we protect the integrity of the single market.
‘The backstop is not there in order to be used, necessarily. We will do our utmost to avoid ever having to use it.’