Theresa May will today convene a marathon five-hour crisis Cabinet meeting to break the Brexit deadlock after she was thrown a lifeline when MPs again rejected all the alternative options before them.

It comes amid growing speculation that the Prime Minister will use the threat of a general election to persuade her party to back the withdrawal agreement she has negotiated with the EU. 

For the second week running the Commons was unable to find consensus and the Prime Minister will have to judge whether its failure to do so helps her cause and if it is feasible to put her Brexit plan before MPs for a fourth time this week.

Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, tweeted: "Now, please, can we all just vote for the deal and deliver Brexit."

With just 10 days to go to the new exit day of April 12, a meeting of the political Cabinet, without civil servants present, will meet on Tuesday morning for three hours followed by a full Cabinet for a further two hours. Mrs May is expected to make a statement afterwards.

At Westminster, there was a sense of alarm and frustration among MPs at yet another failure to agree on an alternative to the PM’s plan.

In Brussels, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chief co-ordinator, reacted in despair to the MPs’ votes, tweeting: "The House of Commons again votes against all options. A hard Brexit becomes nearly inevitable. On Wednesday, the UK has a last chance to break the deadlock or face the abyss.”

But Tory Brexiteer Mark Francois claimed the “attempted coup” against the Government to prevent Brexit had failed.

"The simple fact is Tory backbenchers, having realised what was going on rallied and defeated all the non-Brexit options and as a result we're now on track to leave the EU in 11 days’ time, in accordance with the wishes of the 17.4 million."

On Monday night, the Commons rejected by just three votes – 276 to 273 - the option, promoted by Ken Clarke, the former Conservative Chancellor, of a customs union.

The proposal for a Norway-style soft Brexit, dubbed Common Market 2.0, which involved Britain staying in the single market with a customs arrangement with the EU, failed by 21 votes – 282 to 261 – despite Labour and the SNP formally swinging behind it.

Its sponsor, Tory backbencher Nicolas Boles, told MPs, with a quivering voice, that he had failed; largely because his party refused to compromise and, in a dramatic moment, declared: “I can no longer sit for this party,” and walked out of the chamber to applause from the SNP benches. He later confirmed he had resigned the Conservative whip.

A motion to have a confirmatory referendum on whichever deal received a majority, tabled by Labour’s Peter Kyle, was rejected by another narrow majority, of 12, by 292 votes to 280.

The fourth motion, promoted by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry, which sought to scrap Brexit altogether if the EU failed to grant an extension and MPs voted against a no-deal outcome. It lost by 101 votes; 292 to 191.

After the votes, Jeremy Corbyn said it was "disappointing" that once again none of the options had won a majority but, to cries of opposition from the Tory benches, suggested MPs should have another chance to consider them on Wednesday.

"The margin of defeat for one of the options tonight was very narrow indeed and the Prime Minister's deal has been rejected by very large margins on three occasions,” the Labour leader told MPs.

"If it is good enough for the Prime Minister to have three chances at her deal, then I suggest that possible the House should have a chance to consider again the options we had before us today in a debate on Wednesday so the House can succeed where the Prime Minister has failed in presenting a credible economic relationship with Europe for the future that prevents us crashing out with no deal."

Ian Blackford for the SNP also expressed disappointment at the votes but insisted it would be an “outrage” if the Government sought to bring back its deal for a fourth time.

"It really is about time that the Government accepted reality,” declared the party leader, stressing that sovereignty rested with the people of Scotland, not with Westminster. “The day is coming where we will determine our own future and it will be as an independent country," he added.

But Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, told MPs: "This House has continuously rejected leaving without a deal just as it has rejected not leaving at all. Therefore, the only option is to find a way through which allows the UK to leave with a deal.

"The Government continues to believe that the best course of action is to do so as soon as possible.”

He added: "If the House is able to pass a deal this week it may still be possible to avoid holding European Elections. Cabinet will meet in the morning to consider the results of tonight's vote and how we should proceed."

The indicative votes process took place in the Commons as in its parallel chamber, Westminster Hall, MPs debated three public petitions relating to Brexit, including the record-breaking call for Article 50 to be revoked, which attracted six million signatures.

During the Brexit debate – interrupted by a protest by semi-naked climate change protesters - Stephen Gethins, the SNP's Europe spokesman, said Parliament was facing a "tragedy of epic proportions" and there were no winners.

The North East Fife MP complained that the indicative vote process was "all about us trying to make something less, rather than better".

He added: "We are focused on least worst options and damage limitations. We shouldn't be doing that and it is time to put this Brexit nightmare behind us."

His Nationalist colleague Ms Cherry added: "Is it not in the interests of Scotland for the Scottish economy to go down the tube with a no-deal Brexit. It's not in the interests of the English, Welsh and Northern Irish economies to go that way. If we crash out with no-deal, it will be the jobs of ordinary decent working people that go first."

Mr Clarke, the veteran Tory, said his customs union plan was aimed at minimising the effects of leaving the EU, and described it as a “fall-back position” should the more ambitions Common Market 2.0 be unsuccessful. If two more MPs had voted for it, it would have got through.

Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer advised MPs, particularly his party colleagues, to consider "supporting options other than their own preferred option to break the deadlock".

Underlying the urgency and lack of clarity about the way forward, Andrea Leadsom, the Commons Leader, wrote to MPs to tell them the Commons would be sitting in the week commencing April 8 with a decision on whether it will sit in the week beginning April 15 to be “taken as soon as possible”. Westminster’s Easter recess had due to begin this Friday.

During the Brexit debate, 12 semi-naked climate change protesters stood up in the public gallery with messages written on their bodies; some pressed their bottoms against the glass which separates the gallery from the chamber.

Several doorkeepers attempted to remove the protesters but they remained in position for several minutes.

Speaker John Bercow maintained the Brexit debate would continue despite the demonstration.

Several of the protesters appeared to have glued their hands to the glass at the front of the gallery to prevent their removal. But all of them were removed after 30 minutes or so.

One of the protesters noted: "This is not my first protest but it is the first time I've been naked in public.”

Extinction Rebellion, which describes itself as a non-violent direct action and civil disobedience group, claimed responsibility for the protest. Police arrested 12 people on suspicion of outraging public decency.

In other developments:

*Juergen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, warned Britain used to be a "beacon for stability" but was now becoming a "laughing stock" because of Brexit;

*Michael Roth, the German Deputy Foreign Minister, lashed out at Brexit, saying: "Brexit is a big sh**show, I say that now very undiplomatically," arguing politicians "born with silver spoons in their mouths, who went to private schools and elite universities" would not be the ones to suffer the consequences of Brexit and

*Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, urged MPs to make clear what they wanted, saying: "A sphinx is an open book in direct comparison with the British Parliament. We must get the sphinx to talk now. Enough of the long silence."