Downing St has denied Theresa May is ready to pull next week’s crunch Commons vote on her Brexit Plan after senior colleagues urged her to do so and Tony Blair warned it was always best to avoid hitting a “brick wall at speed”.
The Prime Minister, who called in Cabinet ministers to No 10 for a Brexit stock-take, was described by one as being prepared to “go down in a blaze of glory” as the parliamentary arithmetic still appeared loaded heavily against her. Others were said to be frustrated by Mrs May’s non-inclusive approach.
Julian Smith, the Chief Whip, admitted that trying to convince Tory MPs to back the Brexit deal was "an uphill challenge" and admitted there was "no plan" if the Commons rejected it.
David Davis, the former Brexit Secretary, called on MPs to vote down Mrs May's Plan and "make sure the stake goes through its heart".
Today, some 30 ministers are being dispatched to the four corners of the UK to sell it as the clock ticks down to Tuesday’s moment of truth at Westminster.
David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, will host a business roundtable in Glasgow, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, will tour engineering companies in Peterborough, Chancellor Philip Hammond will visit a school in Surrey, and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, will visit a hospital in Portsmouth.
The PM said: “I’ve been speaking to factory workers in Scotland, farmers in Wales and people right across the country, answering their questions about the deal and our future.
READ MORE: MPs to vote on May's deal 'in the dark' about Scots Brexit row
“Overwhelmingly, the message I’ve heard is that people want us to get on with it. And that’s why it’s important that ministers are out speaking with communities across the UK today about how the deal works for them.”
As Mrs May continued with what was dubbed a “desperation strategy,” ITV announced it had followed the BBC in scrapping its plans for a televised head-to-head debate between the PM and Jeremy Corbyn.
The commercial network withdrew after Labour and the Conservatives had spent days rowing over the issue.
It means the party leaders’ face-off is now unlikely to happen, meaning the only pre-vote debate will be on Channel 4 on Sunday night, involving "four high-profile politicians," reflecting a range of views.
With their leader facing a devastating Commons defeat, senior colleagues urged her to pull Tuesday’s vote.
Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the party’s backbench 1922 Committee, suggested it would be "perfectly sensible" to postpone the meaningful vote unless the PM could deliver a means for the UK to unilaterally leave the Irish backstop.
The Cheshire MP said there was “no sense in proceeding and losing heavily".
At a journalists’ lunch at Westminster, Mr Blair said he too did not see the point of going down to a huge parliamentary defeat and hitting “that brick wall at speed".
But Mrs May’s spokesman brushed aside suggestions of pulling the vote and insisted: "The vote will take place on Tuesday as planned."
Earlier, the PM confirmed that she had been discussing with Tory MPs how they could be given the power to decide if the UK went into the controversial backstop or adopted the alternative of extending the 21-month transition period.
However, it appeared another desperate move to try to reduce the scale of the Tory rebellion next week.
Yet talk of extending the transition period will raise Scottish Conservative fears that this might lead to the fishing industry having to continue to comply with the hated EU’s Common Fisheries Policy during any extension.
As MPs debated the Brexit deal for a third day, Mr Hammond said it was "simply a delusion" to think a better Brexit deal could be renegotiated at the 11th hour after warning a no-deal was "too awful to contemplate".
The Chancellor faced dissent from Tory backbenchers as he warned a no-deal would see the end of frictionless trade, restrictions on EU travelling rights and large tariffs for UK exporters.
With the SNP and Labour continuing to hold talks on what alternative to the May Plan the two leading opposition parties could coalesce around, sources in both parties told The Herald that the “direction of travel” was towards a People’s Vote.
At the Westminster lunch, Mr Blair said the passing of the Grieve amendment, which opens the way for MPs to vote for an alternative way forward, meant the UK Parliament was now operating like a “Shadow Government,” having taken “effective charge of the process surrounding Brexit”.
The former Labour leader said it was impossible for Mrs May to square the circle on Brexit and so there should be a People’s Vote.
He also revealed that he was “really worried” about the consequences of Brexit for the UK.
Describing himself as a “passionate Unionist,” the former PM explained: “I don’t think necessarily in the short term but in the longer term if we pull out of Europe, it is a further, additional argument for those who make the case for Scottish independence. I don’t agree with that case but where there is a strong majority in Scotland for being part of Europe, particularly among younger people, as time goes on, it’s a risk.”
Elsewhere, Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd resigned the Liberal Democrat whip, saying he was now backing Mrs May’s Plan.
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