Double-dealing MPs accused of plot to ‘steal’ Brexit from the British people as top Tories say May will be forced to resign if she loses key vote

A COMMONS coup on Brexit has been blasted as a plot to “steal it from the British people” - as even Tory loyalists began to turn on Theresa May after it last night.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox lashed out at the 26 Tory rebels who allied with Labour on Tuesday night to inflict the landmark defeat on the Government.

The devastating blow for the PM saw Parliament seize back control of Brexit if her deal is voted down next Tuesday. And as the dust settled on the vote’s significance yesterday, recriminations began to fly.

Senior Tories on both sides of the Brexit divide predicted Britian’s EU departure date of March 29 will now be delayed as ministers will be forced to put together a new softer option to please Parliament.

Ministers and party grandees also told The Sun that the mood across Tory MPs was hardening significantly against the PM since the Commons bloodbath. There is a growing consensus among them that Mrs May will be forced to resign next week if she loses the landmark vote on her unpopular deal.

One loyal senior minister said last night: “The mood has turned against Theresa quite quickly. There is a feeling after Tuesday’s night disaster that she has welland truly run out of road. She’s lost control, and will have to go.”

And on yet another day of high tension in Westminster:

• THE PM was accused of lying to Parliament as newly-published documents revealed her deal risks Northern Ireland becoming a different country legally from the rest of the UK — potentially for years.
• CABINET ministers were said to be losing faith with the PM’s ongoing refusal to share any Plan B — her idea for what the Government will do if her deal falls.
• TORY Chief Whip Julian Smith held talks with leading Brexiteer rebels in a desperate attempt find a way of appeasing them.
• RISING Tory star Johnny Mercer will today deliver a fresh blow to Mrs May by rejecting her deal and branding it “a total failure of the political class.”

In another attack on Mrs May’s authority, senior Tory moderates said they will try to push through an ultra-soft Brexit if her deal collapses. Former minister Sir Oliver Letwin said there was a “cross-party majority” for Norway-style membership of the European Free Trade Area instead.

But Dr Fox leaped on that to issue a warning to Tory Brexiteers to back the PM’s deal. The Trade Secretary also said it would be “entirely be possible” for MPs to use their newly-won powers to block Brexit altogether.

Mr Fox told the Commons International Trade committee: “I think there is a real danger that the House of Commons, which is a natural remain majority, may attempt to steal Brexit from the British people, which I think would be a democratic affront”.

Leading Europhile Tory MP Dominic Grieve dismissed his warning as “far fetched”.

Mr Grieve – who had orchestrated the coup – hit back to tell BBC Radio 5Live: “Maybe that he’s concerned that the vision of Brexit he had is slipping away and appears to command less public support”.

Philip Hammond deepened suspicion that he would back EFTA membership by contradicting Mrs May’s insistence that voting against her deal would result in only a no deal or no Brexit.

The Chancellor told the Commons Treasury committee that Parliament would have to look at “other scenarios as a way forward” if the PM’s deal is defeated.

In a bid to save Mrs May’s deal, the Chief Whip Mr Smith went to a meeting of the hardline Tory eurosceptics’ European Research Group in the Commons last night. He told the group he was in “receive mode” for ideas, but instead was told repeatedly by Leaver MPs that Mrs May had to go back to Brussels to scrap the hated Irish backstop.

One idea being looked at by No10 is for Parliament to be given a veto on whether the UK ever enters the backstop, drawn up to prevent a hard border in Ireland. But senior Brexiteers poured scorn on the idea, with former Brexit minister Steve Baker tweeting: “Who is going to fall for that?”

Frustration with Mrs May was also growing within the Cabinet yesterday. One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “When is she going to tell us what Plan B is? It’s just like the election manifesto last year. Every day we thoughts she’d show it to us, but she didn’t until the day it was published.”

Cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom also angered No10 yesterday by saying Mrs May was only the right Prime Minister “at the moment”. While backing the PM’s deal, the Commons Leader refused to be drawn on the PM’s future if she fails to get it through the Commons.

• THE EU is ready to extend the Article 50 process and delay Brexit if Mrs May asks at talks next week, The Daily Telegraph reported.
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