My way or no way on Brexit deal, Theresa May insists

In further extracts from her interview, Mrs May was pushed on whether or not she had ruled out giving a special immigration arrangement for EU citizens and replied: "What we will be doing is putting forward a set of rules for people from the European Union and people from outside the European Union."

She went on: "Parliament will vote for a deal because people will see the importance of a deal that maintains a good trading relationship with the EU but also maintains good co-operation in other areas but gives us the freedom to take the benefits and opportunities of Brexit."

The PM cast doubt on whether or not the EU would offer a better deal if MPs were to reject her final proposal, adding: "I believe we'll get a good deal; we'll bring that back from the EU negotiations, put that to Parliament.

“The alternative to that will be not having a deal because a) I don't think the negotiations will have that deal, and b) we're leaving on March 29 2019."

But Sir Nick Clegg, the former Deputy PM, accused Mrs May of presenting Britain with a "con trick" choice on Brexit.

He explained: "It is a deep disservice to our democratic traditions to have a Prime Minister now saying: 'You've got no choices left, it's my fudge or the abyss'; that is not true. We always have more choices if only we are prepared to take them.

"Of all the con tricks we have been subject to in this whole sorry Brexit saga - from the lies in the referendum to the so-called virtues of what is nothing more than an inelegant fudge in Chequers - the worst is now to come,” declared the former Liberal Democrat leader, who will be back in the spotlight today as he addresses a fringe event at the party’s annual conference in Brighton.

Mr Clegg said: "We're now going to be told: 'It's my way or no way'; it's either the Chequers fudge or a sort of cataclysmic cliff-edge.

"The idea that the only thing this country should accept is a fudge or the abyss is not only an insult to the intelligence of British voters but it's simply not true."

Sir Nick insisted that his experience as an MEP taught him that Britain would be given more time by the EU to reflect on what it wanted to happen ahead of the slated withdrawal date of next March.

“The clock is ticking but the clock can definitely be changed,” he declared. “One thing that is very elastic in Brussels is time. They've got a name for it. It's called 'stop the clock' and it is provided for in the EU treaties."

The former DPM said the UK could tell Brussels: "’I'm sorry, we've got a bit stuck here, we need more time to straighten ourselves out and decide what we want to do next.’"

He called for a pause in the withdrawal process so that the UK could hold a "People's Vote" on Brexit.

Sir Nick was scathing about the current Brexit situation, saying: "It's the equivalent of leaving your home, locking your front door, chucking your key away and having absolutely no idea where you are going next."

The former party leader, who lost his Sheffield seat at the 2017 General Election, said he had been holding talks with European leaders on the Brexit situation to ensure the UK had more choices on what to do about its relationship with the EU.

In her BBC interview broadcast tonight, Mrs May also said she gets “irritated” by the debate about her leadership and criticised Boris Johnson’s controversial “suicide vest” comment.

Britain is heading full throttle for a total write-off of Brexit if it continues with Theresa May's disastrous plans for the Irish border, Boris Johnson has claimed.

The former Foreign Secretary launched another broadside against the PM’s Chequers Plan, saying the Irish border backstop deadlock was being used to force the UK into becoming a vassal state and that the talks were on course to end in a "spectacular political car crash".

Mr Johnson argued that the EU’s fall-back position for the Irish border would mean Northern Ireland being "annexed" by Brussels.

Alternative plans set out by Mrs May would "effectively" keep Britain in the bloc, he declared.

However, the PM has said the counter-proposal to her Chequers plan is "still a hard border" and hers is the only way that does not "carve up the United Kingdom".

His comments came as reports suggested the EU was preparing to accept the use of technology to avoid the need for new border infrastructure.

Mr Johnson has backed proposals by the pro-Brexit European Research Group that physical checks can be done away from the border, without keeping the UK or Northern Ireland tied to EU customs rules.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said: "If the Brexit negotiations continue on this path they will end, I am afraid, in a spectacular political car crash.

"If we are to get out of this mess and get the great British motor back on track, then we need to understand the Irish backstop and how it is being used to coerce the UK into becoming a vassal state of Brussels.”

The former Cabinet minister claimed the EU's backstop would leave a border down the Irish sea while the UK's proposal left it "volunteering" to "remain effectively in the customs union and large parts of the single market until Brussels says otherwise".

Both versions of the backstop were “disastrous," argued Mr Johnson. "One threatens the Union; the other version - and its close cousin, Chequers - keep us effectively in the EU, as humiliated rules-takers.

"We need to challenge the assumptions of both these Irish backstops, or we are heading full throttle for the ditch with a total write-off of Brexit.

"We are straining at the gnat of the Irish border problem - in fact we haven't even tried to chew the gnat - and we are swallowing the camel of EU membership in all but name," he added.