Theresa May to dare Tory rebels to vote against her on Brexit and risk collapse of Government

Theresa May is considering daring her own MPs to vote against her on Brexit and potentially risk bringing down the Government in a crunch Commons showdown next month.

The Prime Minister will reportedly turn a bid by Tory rebels to keep the UK in a customs union with the European Union into an effective vote of confidence in the Government.  

If Mrs May was to lose such a vote it would raise serious questions about whether she could remain in post.

It comes after Downing Street insisted Britain will leave the customs union and will not seek a customs union deal amid growing concerns among Brexiteers that the Government could change tack and water down its withdrawal strategy.

Eurosceptics argue that a customs union deal would rob the UK of the ability to strike post-Brexit free trade deals with the rest of the world.

Ten Tory rebels have backed a cross-party amendment to the Trade Bill which would force the Government to strike a divorce deal with the EU which enables the UK to be in a customs union with the bloc.

The BBC reported on Monday morning that the Government had made the vote on the amendment, widely expected to take place in May, a confidence issue.

Government sources steered away from that idea but did not rule out the possibility of making the vote a matter of confidence closer to the time.

However, a vote on the amendment would be an effective vote of confidence in Mrs May because a defeat would force the Government to radically overhaul its Brexit policy in a move which would spark fury among Leave-backing MPs.

Ken Clarke, the Tory former chancellor, is one of the 10 Conservative MPs to have backed the amendment.

He described the customs union issue as the “panic of the day” within the Government.

He said: “I think all this is because it has suddenly become the panic of the day amongst the apparatchiks in Downing Street.

“Over the weekend I read briefing from Downing Street allegedly and others informed about what was going on that they were going to move on the whole question of customs arrangements.

“Today it is all a frightfully important matter of confidence, whatever that means.

“The key vote is on the Trade Bill in about a month’s time with the amendment that Anna Soubry and I have put down.”

Reports over the weekend suggested Mrs May was prepared to back down on the UK being in a customs union with the EU but Downing Street hit back and reiterated its position.

John Redwood, a leading Tory Brexiteer, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Theresa May won’t change her mind, I assume, because she has been crystal clear on this throughout and the Conservative manifesto was quite clear on this and we need to stick to our word.”

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 formalised the way in which votes of confidence can be triggered.

Such a vote requires a standardised motion which states in simple terms that MPs have “no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government”.

The Government suffered two defeats in the House of Lords last week on its flagship Brexit legislation with peers expected to inflict further defeats in the days ahead.

Ministers want to group all successful Lords' amendments on the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill into a single series of votes next month and force Tory MPs to overturn them, turning them into an effective vote of confidence in the Government.

A source said: "The amendments will probably be bunched together and come back at the end of May and the plan would be to rush through them all as quickly as possible."