PM PLEA TO THE PEOPLE: BACK MY BREXIT

THERESA MAY today makes an extraordinary plea directly to the British people to back her Brexit deal.

The Prime Minister has published an impassioned letter in which she promises to campaign with her ‘heart and soul’ to persuade MPs to vote for the deal in next month’s crunch Commons showdown, which will determine her political future.

But even as Mrs May arrived in Brussels last night for a summit intended to seal the deal, she was engulfed by a fresh storm over the future of Gibraltar after the British were forced to give Spain a veto over the territory’s inclusion in any future UK-EU trade deal.

It led incandescent Tory MPs to warn that Mrs May’s already shaky grip on No10 could be fatally weakened if she had diluted Britain’s

‘Selling out Gibraltar is beyond the pale’

commitment to the Rock. On another day of drama in Mrs May’s Brexit battle:

Cabinet Ministers said ‘no deal’ was dead amid warnings that Chancellor Philip Hammond would quit if Mrs May tried to leave the EU without an emergency customs union plan in place;

Mrs May faced a fresh Cabinet split over plans to cut immigration, with Mr Hammond and Home Secretary Sajid Javid warning her of the economic impact of stopping unskilled migrants coming from Europe;

The Mail on Sunday learned that Environment Secretary Michael Gove decided against quitting the Cabinet in protest at Mrs May’s deal after reading ‘apocalyptic’ warnings about the effect of ‘no deal’ on the UK’s water supply;

Brexiteers descended into open warfare after a leading member of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group (ERG) described a fellow Eurosceptic of being an ‘utter cock’ for accepting a knighthood.

Arlene Foster doubled down on her threats to scupper the DUP’s agreement to prop up the Tories, as Boris Johnson taunted Mrs May by addressing the Northern Irish party.

It was revealed that Mrs May’s aides are considering a live public debate between the Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn in a bid to sell her deal directly to voters and humiliscope’ ate the Labour leader’s lack of Brexit credibility.

Mrs May uses today’s letter to the nation to promise that the deal she has negotiated with Brussels would lead to a ‘brighter future’, saying Brexit day ‘must mark the point when we put aside the labels of “Leave” and “Remain” for good and come together again as one people.’

She also says she will be ‘campaigning with my heart and soul’ to win the MPs’ vote on the deal, pencilled in for December 11 or 12, which will determine her political future.

Mrs May also says that she is ‘determined to deliver a Brexit deal that works for every part of our country’ as well as territories such as Gibraltar.

But some Tory MPs reacted with fury after the British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, wrote to the Spanish to concede that Gibraltar would not necessarily be covered by a future trade deal with the EU.

He said the Withdrawal Agreement imposes no obligations regarding the ‘territorial of future agreements. The development means any deals between Brussels and the UK involving Gibraltar would require Spain’s agreement.

The move was designed to save today’s EU summit, after Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez threatened to veto the Brexit deal due to be signed off by European leaders. Mr Sánchez claimed the UK would now have to open talks on the ‘joint sovereignty’ of the Rock.

He claimed: ‘The European Council and the European Commission have backed Spain’s position, and backed it as never before.’

Spain’s Europe Minister Josep Borrell Fontelles risked further inflaming tensions by claiming last night’s agreement was the most important change since the Utrecht Treaty of 1713, which handed sovereignty of the Rock to the British.

Last night, Romford MP Andrew Rosindell said: ‘The Prime Minister has to show that she will be utterly true to her words that there will be no compromise on Britain’s right to defend and negotiate on behalf of Gibraltar. She must vow that Spanish attempts to use this constitutional weapon to try somehow to divide the Rock and the UK will not work.’

Mr Rosindell directly warned Mrs May’s future could hinge on the issue, saying: ‘If there is any sign of any backtracking or watering down on this issue, that alone will inspire huge numbers of people to lose confidence in her leadership.’

Former Deputy Commons Speaker Nigel Evans added: ‘To sell out 17.5million people [who voted to leave the EU] with her Brexit deal is one thing, to go against the wishes of the DUP who keep us in power is another. But to sell out the utterly patriotic British people who live on Gibraltar is simply beyond the pale.’

The Tory MP added: ‘Theresa May is dining in Brussels with people who are delighted with her deal – in fact they could have written it themselves.

‘But on Monday she will return to a very different atmosphere in Westminster – one of betrayal.’

Following talks with EU president Jean-Claude Juncker ahead of today’s summit, Mrs May insisted that she would continue to ‘negotiate on behalf of the whole UK family’ and told reporters she would ‘always stand up for Gibraltar’.

But she avoided questions over the fact that the Rock risks ending up with a separate trade deal to the UK mainland.

Mrs May said: ‘The UK’s position on Gibraltar has not changed and will not change.’