George Osborne has repeated calls for a 'soft Brexit'

George Osborne has insisted that Tory MPs should push for a ‘soft Brexit’ in order to maintain a strong network of connections with the rest of Europe.

As he appeared on the Today programme, Osborne claimed that the advantages of completely severing ties with the EU ‘don’t stack up’.

‘We now face a series of choices about the kind of Brexit we want and we have a much clearer idea of the consequences’, he said.

‘We should look clearly at the costs and benefits of, for example, leaving the customs union and doing less trade with Europe versus what we might gain from doing a trade deal with America.

‘At the moment, the sums don’t stack up for that kind of decision.’

He also questioned whether Theresa May would be able to get a parliamentary majority for leaving the customs union – and claimed that an increasing number of Tories are considering whether the UK should be in the European Free Trade Association, alongside Norway and Switzerland.

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‘I question whether there is really a government majority for withdrawing from the customs union, now you have seen the economic figures from the Government’, he said.

Osborne’s outspoken comments come after a series of stinging attacks on Theresa May since becoming the editor of the Evening Standard – previously referring to her as a ‘dead woman walking’.

In contrast to his calls for a soft Brexit, Theresa May has insisted that she recognises how Leave voters wanted to see change in the UK’s relations with Europe.

During a visit to China, the Prime Minister repeated her promise to deliver on Brexit, and noted noting that the 17.4 million Britons who handed victory to Leave “did not vote for nothing to change when we come out of the EU”.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted that she favours a transition period which would keep the UK in the single market and the customs union for about two years, in order to avoid a ‘cliff edge’ effect on the day of Brexit in March 2019.

But her plans are only one side of a huge split within the Tory Party – with Boris Johnson demanding a clean break from the EU in March 2019.

He is at odds with Chancellor Philip Hammond, who is favouring ‘modest’ post-Brexit changes, in order to protect the economy.