Theresa May ignores rising calls to rule out No Deal Brexit next Friday

THERESA May ignored rising calls last night to reveal whether she will carry out a No Deal Brexit a week today.

Worried businesses implored the PM to agree to ask for a long delay if her EU deal is torpedoed a final time by MPs in a Commons showdown next Tuesday.

Ducking them, Mrs May insisted on keeping the cliff edge prospect on the table to honour the 2016 referendum result.

But confusion reigned around what the Government’s official policy actually was last night, after a leaked briefing note disclosed the PM would hand over the huge No Deal decision to Parliament to make.

Challenged to rule out an EU exit without any agreement on March 29 as planned, the PM would only say on arrival in Brussels yesterday: “What matters is that Parliament delivers on the result of the referendum and that we deliver Brexit for the British people.

“I sincerely hope that we can do that with a deal.”

But a briefing for ministers doing TV interviews leaked yesterday to ITV News revealed that if MPs reject the PM’s deal again, the Government’s line to take would be: “MPs will have to decide how to proceed”.

That triggered suggestions that Mrs May will agree to be bound by an eleventh hour Commons vote for a long delay – a move that enrage her Cabinet Brexiteers and MPs.

'WHAT MATTERS IS WE DELIVER BREXIT'

In an apparent contradiction, Mrs May also told the Commons on Wednesday that if her deal falls, then “the House will have to decide how to proceed”.

Yet she immediately then added: “As Prime Minister, I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than 30 June”.

Brexiteer Cabinet ministers broke ranks yesterday to openly urge the PM to carry out a No Deal Brexit if she has to.

Treasury Chief Secretary Liz Truss said no deal is now "more likely" now than any other scenario.

Asked if she'd rather no deal than an extension, she said: "God yes. No extension."

She added: “I do think it’s very unlikely now that we’re going into a long extension.”

Ms Truss also insisted Britain was now ready to go it alone, adding: “I don’t believe the plague of locusts stuff”.

BRITS SHIFTING TO SUPPORT NO DEAL

Business bosses and union chiefs made an unprecedented appeal to Mrs May to come up with a rapid Plan B if her deal is shot down next week.

The leaders of the CBI and the TUC joined forces to call on the PM to commit to agreeing a longer Brexit delay and also pleaded with her to then change course, and devise a softer Brexit.

Issuing a joint statement yesterday, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady and CBI Director-General Carolyn Fairbairn said: “Our country is facing a national emergency.

Decisions of recent days have caused the risk of no deal to soar.

“Firms and communities across the UK are not ready for this outcome. The shock to our economy would be felt by generations to come”.

A poll by Opinium yesterday found Brits are shifting towards supporting No Deal if the deal is voted down.

The option was backed by 46%, versus 39% who want a delay.

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