Remainer ministers plot to get Theresa May to adopt a SOFTER plan B Brexit if her deal is torpedoed
REMAINER ministers are in a new 'gang of 5' plot to force Theresa May to adopt a SOFTER Brexit, it's been revealed.
The Prime Minister is facing a fresh cabinet mutiny after her top team began secret talks with the DUP to draw up an alternative Brexit blueprint in the event her deal is rejected by MPs in the Commons.
Philip Hammond could quit the Cabinet and take at least four ministers with him if Mrs May tries to move towards preparing for No Deal, Downing Street was warned last night.
The Chancellor and key Remainer allies Amber Rudd, Greg Clark, David Gauke and David Lidington were all tipped as being part of a new gang who are planning a new drive to fight a hard Brexit - if Mrs May's deal got thrown out, the
All five could be put on resignation watch if Mrs May says she will then plan for No Deal.
An ally of Mr Hammond said: "Philip would feel that the damage this would do to the country would be just too great. He wouldn’t want to be part of implementing this. Philip would say, “I have done my bit to avoid it.”
They went on: "I just can’t see him sticking around to help make no deal possible. There would be such social unrest, with serious job losses in some regions."
The Sun revealed earlier this month how Brexiteer backers in the Cabinet were preparing for the possibility of No Deal Brexit and a way to avoid financial disaster if that happened.
They included plans for a series of side deals to make sure we didn't leave with absolutely nothing, or a possible extension of our EU membership to get ready for a sharp exit.
But the Remainers want to force their own plans on the PM.
Mr Hammond held a meeting earlier this month where ministers agreed they couldn't serve in a Government that was aiming for No Deal.
It could include a permanent customs arrangement – which would enrage Eurosceptic Tory MPs.
One senior Tory told the Sunday Times: “If she said she’d go for mitigated no deal, she would lose most of her cabinet.
"And this time she wouldn’t be losing Esther McVey and Dominic Raab, she’d be losing her most senior ministers. Hammond, Rudd, Lidington, Gauke and Clark would all resign."
The news comes as Mrs May is in Brussels to watch EU leaders sign off our Brexit divorce deal.
Now she faces the fight of her careers to get it through Parliament, even though around 100 of her own backbenchers are set to vote it down.
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Yesterday the Chancellor said the UK faced "economic chaos" if MPs blocked the Prime Minister's compromise and raised fears of "very serious consequences" - including job losses.
He flew to Northern Ireland for the DUP's annual conference this weekend, but his warnings were dismissed as the latest round of Project Fear.
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