Brexit plan is on life-support machine... pulling the plug is not far

OUR embattled Prime Minister spent another two hours plus at the Commons despatch box yesterday being duffed up not only by the Socialist Opposition but by her own MPS too.

On a human level, many voters have some sympathy with the bruised and battered Tory leader. But when a premier has to rely on sympathy, one knows their days are numbered.

As indeed is Mrs May’s Brexit plan. One insider suggested it was on a life-support machine and that it was only a matter of time before some kind soul pulled the plug.

Yet still she goes on seeking those “further political and legal assurances” from Brussels, which, we are told, has stopped talking to London.

Today, the Cabinet meets to up the no-deal preparations. Some £4 billion has been allocated for a scenario Mrs May herself has deemed “chaotic”.

Her loyal lieutenant David Mundell has branded a no-deal “catastrophic”.

It is quite something to see Cabinet ministers line up to effectively admit Mrs May’s plan is dead and we should now start thinking about “indicative votes” on the various Brexit options.

When asked if the PM was still in control of the withdrawal process, No 10 confidently declared: “Yes.”

When asked to explain, a spokesman said: “You heard Cabinet colleagues shouting that in response to questions from the Leader of the Opposition. The Cabinet is backing the PM. That’s very clear from the comments they have all been making and it’s something on which they all agree.”

But it now looks increasingly like the Cabinet is split into three camps, with some supporting a “managed no-deal”, others backing giving Parliament control through the indicative votes process and Mrs

May in a corner still supporting her own plan.

Despite the political roasting the PM will have to endure this week, she will, it seems, survive until Christmas. But the reckoning will come in the New Year.

As one former minister suggested, it would take a “Christmas miracle” to get her deal through the House with 117 of her own MPS having no confidence in her. The pulling of the plug is not far off.