PM May faces a revolt within

EUROSCEPTICS: ‘WE’RE COMPLETELY ON THE BRINK NOW’

‘If the Cabinet does not chuck Chequers I think we will have a vote of no confidence.’

Hardline eurosceptics in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s party are threatening a vote of no confidence in her leadership within the next couple of weeks, unless she drops her “Chequers” plans for Brexit, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday.

“If the Cabinet does not chuck Chequers I think we will have a vote of no confidence ... by this week, next week.

“We’re completely on the brink now,” an unnamed source from the European Research Group of anti-European Union (EU) lawmakers in May’s ruling Conservative party told the Telegraph.

Earlier yesterday Housing Secretary James Brokenshire called on his colleagues to rally behind May’s Brexit plan before a meeting of her top ministerial team to discuss her proposals for a deal.

May said on Monday that she believed a Brexit agreement was still achievable although European Council president Donald Tusk warned that the chances of a no-deal divorce had increased.

May is to address her 27 EU peers on Brexit at a summit in Brussels today.

May’s speech to the UK parliament on Monday has shown that reaching a deal on the country’s exit from the EU will be even harder than expected, a senior EU official said yesterday.

She urged the EU not to allow a stand-off over a “backstop” for Ireland to derail Brexit talks, saying she believed a deal was still achievable.

Her speech and subsequent answers to lawmakers’ questions are not helping the process, the official said. “They demonstrate that finding an agreement will be even more difficult than one could have expected.

A summit of EU leaders this week will decide if there is enough progress for another summit on Brexit in November, the official said.

The 27 countries remaining in the bloc after Britain’s exit at the end of March 2019 insist that the economic part of May’s plans for future relations with the EU will not work, the official said.

Meanwhile, Britain would not accept a border in the Irish Sea and any customs deal with the EU would only be temporary, the British minister of state for Brexit said yesterday.

“There could be no border in the Irish Sea. We would not allow the EU to dictate to us on that area,” Martin Callanan told reporters before a meeting of European Union affairs ministers in Luxembourg.

“Any customs arrangement that we negotiate must be temporary,” he added.