Brexit news latest: Top Tory claims cross-party talks will 'peter out' within DAYS with no progress made

Conservative Party talks with Labour on Theresa May's Brexit deal will "peter out" within days, according to a leading Tory.

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, said today that he found it "very hard to see" how the talks "can lead to any sensible resolution".

"If the customs union is agreed without a second referendum then half the Labour Party won't vote for whatever comes through regardless, and if a customs union is agreed then most of the Conservative Party isn't going to support it," he told the BBC's Week in Westminster programme.

"So, I can't see that is a very productive route to follow."

He added that he suspected "it will peter out in the next few days without having come to any significant conclusion".

Another round of negotiations are planned for next week, however the parties are yet to make any significant progress.

Earlier this week Labour MPs called for the party to pull out of the "toxic" talks within days, warning of “fury” among MPs and Labour members.

The negotiations were branded a “millstone around the necks” of the party’s candidates for the European elections in less than two weeks’ time.

Meanwhile the party's leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Tory MPs of jockeying to succeed the Prime Minister rather than seeking a Brexit deal.

Sir Graham added on Saturday that he expected Mrs May to set out her timetable for departure at next Wednesday's meeting of the 1922 Committee, adding he understood the "reticence" around such a schedule making her deal less likely to pass.

He said: "I think that's a natural concern and one can understand it, but it's also the case the 1922 executive has asked her to give that clarity, she has offered to come and meet the executive, which we've accepted.

"It would be strange for that not to result in a clear understanding at the end of the meeting.

"We have asked the question and she is coming, I assume, to answer it."

Mrs May has previously suggested she will leave Downing Street after her Brexit deal has been passed by Parliament.

But earlier this week, she rebuffed demands to set out a timetable for her departure from No 10 amid growing pressure from Tory MPs to make way for a new leader.

At Prime Minister's Questions, Brexit-backing Andrea Jenkyns told Mrs May she had "failed" in EU withdrawal negotiations and forfeited the trust of the public.

"The public no longer trust her to run Brexit negotiations," she said.

"Isn't it time to step aside and let someone else lead our country, our party and the Brexit negotiations?"

Mrs May retorted: "This is not an issue about me and it's not an issue about her.

"If it were an issue about me and the way I vote, we would already have left the European Union."