Brexit news latest: Theresa May set to lose control of Brexit in landmark Commons vote as she faces calls to quit

Theresa May is set to lose control of Brexit tonight in a landmark Commons vote.

Tory whips have told the weakened Prime Minister they cannot guarantee a victory against a cross-party group that wants Parliament to stage debates on alternatives to her twice-rejected withdrawal deal.

In Cabinet this morning, ministers backed away from a mooted plan for the Government to carry out its own form of the debates and “indicative votes” on Plan Bs.

Mrs May gave Cabinet a hint she would like to hold a third meaningful vote tomorrow, but No 10 said: “We will only bring the vote back if we believe we would be in a position to win it.”

After Cabinet, the PM was due to speak to DUP leader Arlene Foster to attempt to persuade her to throw the weight of her 10-strong group behind the deal in order to avoid a softer Brexit, or no Brexit, being imposed by Parliament. Early signs were that the DUP were going to refuse.

With the Government’s Brexit policy is disarray, the leader of the cross-party group of MPs Sir Oliver Letwin told the Evening Standard that “the time has come” for MPs to make decisions and avert no deal on April 12.

At least three ministers have indicated privately to the Standard that they are prepared to resign tonight to ensure Sir Oliver’s plan goes through.

Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands, a former international trade minister, told the Standard: “If the Prime Minister leaving gets the withdrawal agreement across the line then I think she ought to put the national interest first and go.”

Key developments today included:

• A Cabinet battle was raging over whether ministers will be allowed free votes when the Commons stages debates on alternatives to Mrs May’s deal, which could include a softer Brexit or revoking Article 50. Pro-EU ministers are insisting on the right to follow their consciences.

• It emerged that ministers hope they do not need to pass a Statutory Instrument in Parliament to stop Brexit happening by default on Friday on the grounds that an exchange of letters last week between the Prime Minister and the EU has already postponed the earliest departure date to April 12 without the need for a tricky Commons vote.

• The European Commission issued an EU-wide warning that Britain might now be days away from crashing out without a deal and appealed to the 27 other states to be “ready”.

• It emerged that Mrs May was told to her face she should resign at Chequers talks yesterday, but remained impassive, leaving the issue of her future unresolved.

Voting was due to start at 10pm tonight on a series of Commons amendments that could see MPs start voting on Wednesday on alternative plans.

Sir Oliver said: “One thing is abundantly clear. If the majority of MPs want to avoid a no-deal exit, then they either need to back the PM’s deal or back an alternative solution. The time has come for decisions.”

However, some of Mrs May’s allies were worried that any system of indicative votes would give too much influence to Speaker John Bercow, with whom ministers have clashed.

“We know what the objective of the Speaker is and it is not to facilitate a sensible debate that would lead to the best outcome, but it is to thwart Brexit,” said a Brexiteer in government.

Speaking to reporters as she left her house this morning, Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said: “I just want to urge Iain Duncan Smith and others to help us make sure we get the withdrawal agreement through this week so that we can end the chaos and try and get back to a stable situation and leave the European Union.” The Cabinet assembled at 9.20am.

Mrs May faced the growing calls to announce she would quit as Prime Minister if her departure means her Brexit deal gets Commons backing.

As well as Mr Hands, Nigel Evans, a senior officer of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that if Mrs May loses her deal then “I’m afraid she would have to go.”

Former Chancellor Lord Lawson told talkRADIO: “She is the most incompetent Prime Minister in living memory. It would not be a tragedy for her to depart.”

However, a resignation announcement by Mrs May appeared unlikely to win over a group of about 20 hardline Brexiteers who believe Mrs May’s deal is deeply flawed. Former Cabinet minister John Redwood told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We would not trade our future as an independent nation for a swap of Prime Minister.”

A departure pledge from Mrs May is expected to sway some Tory MPs who have so far refused to back her Brexit blueprint. Even former foreign secretary Boris Johnson appeared to be leaving open the door to the possibility of supporting the Prime Minister at the eleventh hour.

He tore into her handling of Brexit in his Telegraph article today but added: “If she really wants her deal to go through Parliament, the PM could still set out convincing proofs of how the next phase of the negotiations — when all the key questions are to be settled — will be different from the first.”

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, who is seen as a potential Brexiteer challenger to Mr Johnson in any leadership contest, is understood to have not changed his position over the deal since he quit the Cabinet in November, attacking its “fatal flaws”, particularly over the Northern Ireland border backstop.

In a statement the European Commission said: “While the European Union continues to hope that it will not be the case, if the withdrawal agreement is not ratified by Friday 29 March, a ‘no-deal’ scenario may occur on 12 April ... It is now important that everyone is ready for and aware of the practical consequences a ‘no-deal’ scenario brings.”