Sir John Major urges Tory Remainers to vote to delay Brexit & rule out No Deal

SIR John Major pleaded with Tory Remainers to vote to delay Brexit - and rule out a no deal.

In an extraordinary call to arms he called on Tory MPs to defy their own Prime Minister to back a softer Brexit in next week’s crunch votes.

The former PM called on all MPs to back the rebel plot proposed by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and ex-Tory Cabinet minister Oliver Letwin that would delay Brexit indefinitely.

In comments that are likely to spark fresh infighting Sir John said a no deal would risk breaking up the United Kingdom.

He also attacked the Eurosceptic wing of the party for “hollowing out” traditional Tories.

But amid speculation that Tory Europhiles could be about to quit the party to join the new ‘Independent Group,” Sir John said they would better serve Britain by staying to fight against the “zealots” and “extremists” of the Brexiteers from within the Conservative party.

Yesterday the Business Minister Richard Harrington described the Cooper-Letwin plot as a “Plan B” for avoiding a no deal Brexit.

Speaking publicly about the plan for the first time, Mr Harrington told the manufacturers organisation Make UK conference yesterday that he does not believe there will be a no deal Brexit because “Parliament will have taken control, we will have a small extension to Article 50 and Parliament will then decide on alternatives”. He added: “I believe that will become the Plan B.”

'EXTREMIST' BREXITEERS

And in a sign of the open revolt the PM faces next week, his boss the Business Secretary Greg Clark declared the failure to rule out no deal as “unacceptable”.

He told the conference: “A situation in which our manufacturers don’t have the certainty that they need about the terms under which over two-thirds of our trade will be conducted in less than 40 days time is unacceptable.

“It needs to be brought to a conclusion and without further delay.”

Issuing a rallying cry to Tory Remainers, Sir John said at an event at the University of Glasgow last night: “Within a few days, Members of Parliament will make decisions that will determine all our futures.

Within a few days, Members of Parliament will make decisions that will determine all our futures

Sir John Major

“I believe we have a right to expect them to vote for an outcome that best protects the future welfare and prosperity of our nation – without fear or favour, and without deference to Party allegiance.”

Sir John also branded members of the Brexiteer ERG group of Tory MPs “zealots” who are determining Government policy through “intransigence”.

He claimed the “extreme” members of the ERG had no affinity to tolerant conservatism.

The former PM said: “In Parliament, the European Research Group has become a party within a party, with its own whips, its own funding and its own priorities.

“Some of its more extreme members have little or no affinity to moderate, pragmatic and tolerant Conservatism.

“The ERG does not represent a majority view but - with a minority Government, as now - can determine policy simply by being intransigent: which is precisely what it is doing.

“Some - who can fairly be called zealots - seem incapable of looking beyond the one issue of Europe.

“It’s not just that it dominates their thinking - it seems to obsess them.”

• GOT a story? RING The Sun on 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP on 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk