‘I will vote down Brexit plan’

Theresa May has been warned her Brexit deal faces rejection in Britain’s Parliament after the Tories’ most influential backbench Eurosceptic said he would be joining Labour in voting against the ‘‘defeatist’’ proposal.

Writing in today’s Daily Telegraph, Jacob Rees-Mogg says he will oppose the prime minister’s ‘‘misfounded’’ Cabinet agreement and suggests other Conservative Eurosceptic MPs will do the same.

Rees-Mogg, who leads a 60-strong group of Tory Brexit- eers, says that ‘‘if the proposals are as they currently appear, I will vote against them and others may well do the same’’.

Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group of backbench Tory Eurosceptics, says the Chequers deal is ‘‘the ultimate statement of managing decline’’.

‘‘It focuses on avoiding risk, not on the world of opportunity outside the European Union (EU). Pragmatism has come to mean defeatism.’’

His warning comes as May prepares to address the parliamentary party in a plea for support by saying they must set aside ‘‘once and for all’’ their ences over Europe.

But as many as six Tories who are dismayed by the ‘‘soft’’ Brexit she has proposed are reported to be preparing to submit letters to the party expressing a lack of faith in the prime minister.

Having persuaded her Cabinet to back her Brexit vision, May must win the support of her party, Parliament and Brussels, starting with tonight’s meeting of all 316 Tory MPs.

Also writing in today’s Telegraph, May insists the Chequers deal ‘‘honours the result’’ of the EU referendum and allows Britain to ‘‘take back control’’ of its differ- borders, money and laws.

She admits the deal is ‘‘a significant evolution of the United Kingdom’s negotiating position’’ but insists it was ‘‘necessary to move the negotiations forward’’.

In a message to her MPs ahead of tonight’s meeting, she writes: ‘‘Now is the time to set aside once and for all the divisions of the past and to unite as one nation to achieve agreement with the EU.’’

Rees-Mogg’s comments come after Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said May’s plans were ‘‘unworkable’’ and a ‘‘fudge’’ which would not be supported by Labour. – Telegraph Group

‘‘Now is the time to set aside once and for all the divisions of the past and to unite as one nation to achieve agreement with the EU.’’ Prime Minister Theresa May