Brexit latest: Tell us what you 'really, really want': Europe taunts Theresa May with Spice Girls quip

Theresa May was today mocked by the European Commission which accused her of saying “nothing new” and urged her to spell out “what they really, really want”.

In a teasing press conference, the Brussels-based commission’s spokesman adapted the lyrics of the Spice Girls hit Wannabe to say it was now up to the Prime Minister to spell out a policy.

“We expect the United Kingdom to tell us what they want, what they really, really want,” said Margaritis Schinas.

He rejected Mrs May’s calls to soften the backstop by repeating the commission’s insistence that the withdrawal agreement could not be changed, adding: “We urge the UK to clarify its intentions as soon as possible.

"At this stage we have nothing new to say from Brussels because there is nothing new from London.”

Mrs May was also rebuffed by Germany, whose minister for Europe, Michael Roth, demanded on Twitter: “Where is the plan B? Just asking for a friend… ”

Berlin’s justice minister Katarina Barley said she was disappointed by

Mrs May’s decision to go back to Brussels. “Yes, I’m disappointed … that’s not the way forward,” she told Deutschlandfunk radio. She said a second referendum might “pacify the situation”.

In its most outspoken warning yet about the importance of the backstop, the commission claimed that a no-deal Brexit would almost certainly mean a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“If you like to push me and speculate on what might happen in a no-deal scenario in Ireland, I think it’s pretty obvious, you will have a hard border,” said Mr Schinas.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman promised reporters: “We will do everything we can to avoid a hard border.”

Meanwhile a senior minister broke ranks by calling on Mrs May to give Tory MPs a free vote on rival Brexit options.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland said that if the Government did not set the agenda then MPs would take control within a week. Mr Buckland told Sky: “I have been floating the idea of a free vote for some time, but actually on the issues themselves, whether we should leave with a deal, etcetera.

“The grim reality is that if we don’t sort this out within the next week, then things could go out of control, that Parliament could start asserting its authority in the way that we have seen — and that means more chaos. Frankly, the time is now very short.”

He said the attempts by Parliament to take over were “inelegant and clumsy” but could succeed. He added: “I don’t believe any self-respecting government will ever adopt a policy of no-deal.”

Several Cabinet ministers have privately indicated they want to revive the idea of staging Commons votes to measure support for different Plan Bs. Dozens of MPs today lined up behind a plan to empower Parliament to veto a no-deal exit from the European Union and postpone Brexit instead.

Labour sources told the Standard Jeremy Corbyn was “seriously considering” throwing the weight of his party behind an amendment designed to set the plan in motion, put down by a cross-party group led by two former ministers, Labour’s Yvette Cooper and Tory Nicholas Boles.

One of Mr Corbyn’s closest allies, shadow cabinet member Rebecca Long-Bailey, praised the Cooper-Boles amendment as “fantastic”, in a further sign that it can achieve the support needed for Parliament to force the Prime Minister to back down from her implied threat of a no-deal Brexit.

Within hours of the amendment being tabled, it had been signed by 33 MPs, including four Conservatives, 23 Labour MPs and members of the Liberal Democrats plus Scottish and Welsh nationalists.

Mr Boles said: “It is great to see so many MPs sign the amendment that gives Parliament the chance to stop no-deal Brexit — and dozens more indicate they will vote for it.

“They come from five different parties and every viewpoint, but all agree that leaving the EU without a deal would be a disaster for our country.”

Last week’s Cabinet saw ministers quash the idea of staging so-called indicative votes, which are supposed to let MPs indicate freely what they would be prepared to support.

A government source said the “clear majority” of the Cabinet was against the idea, mainly because of fears that Opposition parties would simply cause mischief in the votes.

However, a Cabinet source said senior ministers were likely to try to overturn that following the record defeat in the Commons for Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement, which lost by 432 to 202. “We seem to have sleepwalked back into it,” said the source.

The Standard revealed last week that more than 20 ministers were ready to resign if Mrs May refused to give them a free vote on the Cooper-Boles amendment to ensure that a no-deal could be ruled out.

Reports today said the number had risen to 40, and that Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd had urged Mrs May to allow the vote.

Meanwhile former attorney general Dominic Grieve has tabled a plan that would give Parliament powers to set the agenda on wider issues. His amendment would allow MPs to take control of parliamentary business on one day every fortnight in February and then one day a week in March until Brexit day.

The aim would be to ensure MPs could stop a no-deal exit at the 11th hour.

It emerged today that trade union firebrand Len McCluskey will hold talks with Mrs May in Downing Street on Thursday as part of her attempt to build a cross-party consensus.