The Prime Minister has been warned that winning the Brexit vote is going to be as difficult as beating Barcelona after going three goals behind
THERESA May has been warned that winning the Brexit vote will be as hard as beating Barcelona after going three goals behind.
The titanic battle she faces was spelled out by MPs hauled into Downing Street for a briefing on the deal.
Brexiteers bluntly told aides her deal is doomed with 90 Tories vowing to oppose it in the Commons next month.
The PM’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell told one rebel: “You may be 1-0 up but it’s only half-time and we’ll scorch it in the second half.”
Ex-minister Iain Duncan Smith hit back: “No, you are 3-0 down, you’ve had some of your best players sent off - and you’ve just realised you’re playing Barcelona.”
Brexit-backers called in for arm-twisting sessions have warned things will get Messi when it goes to a vote unless Mrs May changes tack.
Best for Britain champion Layla Moran retorted: “If the government think they are playing Barcelona then the government must be Notts County. They are leaky and bottom of the league.
“This Brexit deal is a bad deal and no matter how you voted in 2016, leave or remain, you did not vote for this shambles.”
REMAINERS hold the key to the PM getting approval for her Brexit deal, a poll suggests.
Only a fifth of people - 22 per cent - say they support Mrs May’s plan, compared with 29 per cent who prefer no deal and 36 per cent who want to stay in the EU.
But when told that reversing Brexit is not possible, it becomes the favourite choice, with 36 per cent backing, compared with 29 per cent for no Brexit.
ICM research manager Alex Turk said: “This poll gives some clues as to how this could be turned around.
“When we asked the 36 per cent who chose no Brexit which of the two remaining options they would prefer, those expressing a view break by more than two-to-one in favour of May’s deal.
“This could be enough to tip the balance of public opinion in favour of May’s deal in a two-horse race between her deal and no deal.
“It’s perhaps the latest irony in the Brexit process that May is needing support from Remainers to back her Brexit deal.”
