BREXIT BATTLES
May faces double assault on Brexit plans as dozens of angry Tories prepare to unveil challenge while Eurocrats say they’re ‘dead in water’
Dominic Raab is today holding further talks with Michel Barnier in Brussels
THERESA May faces fresh pressure from both sides of the Brexit debate - as her own MPs prepare to set out an alternative plan.
Dozens of Tory backbenchers will this weekend unveil the details of the loose trade deal they want to strike with Brussels.
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And Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is meeting EU envoy Michel Barnier - who reportedly called the PM's Chequers plans "dead in the water".
Leading Brexiteers including Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis have for weeks been campaigning to kill off Chequers, complaining that it would leave the UK accepting European law while having no say.
Today Boris was spotted having lunch with Chief Whip Julian Smith in an apparent attempt to win him back onside.
But over the next few days he and his allies will cause more grief for the Government by putting flesh on the bones of an alternative Brexit plan.
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The backbenchers - numbering as many as 60 - want Britain and the EU to strike a bare-bones trade deal which leaves the UK free to set our own regulations on goods and services.
And they insist it would be better to quit the EU with no deal at all than to remain locked in to existing structures.
that from Sunday onwards, the group will publish a string of detailed proposals covering various policy areas.
Among the topics set to be covered are the economy, immigration, farming and Northern Ireland.
In another headache for Mrs May, ex-Brexit Secretary Mr Davis revealed today he is to speak at a rally alongside Nigel Farage and Labour MP Kate Hoey.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg says Boris Johnson should be the next PM as he takes aim at Theresa May over Brexit
The event in Bolton later this month is being organised by Leave Means Leave, a pressure group which has ramped up its activity in recent weeks.
Mr Davis said: "The Government's Chequers proposal doesn't meet the requirements of the referendum. We may be out of Europe but we would still be run by Europe.
"We must pursue a Canada-style deal which the EU has already made clear they are agreeable to."
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Mr Raab is today holding a fresh round of talks with Mr Barnier in Brussels in a bid to force through the Chequers proposals.
In a committee hearing yesterday, Labour MP Stephen Kinnock told Mr Raab that Mr Barnier had declared the plans "dead in the water".
But in some public comments the Brussels envoy has praised Chequers as a starting point for further talks.
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