Under-fire Theresa May says she is 'determined' to see Brexit through

Theresa May has said she is "determined" to deliver Brexit, as she faced a last-minute lobbying bid to change the draft deal.

The prime minister said leaving the EU was "never going to be easy or straightforward", particularly the closing stages of negotiations.

"But we have in view a deal that will work for the UK," Mrs May said in a speech at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in London.

:: MPs who have sent letters of no confidence

"And let no one be in any doubt, I am determined to deliver it."

The defiant tone from the PM comes as speculation continues that a vote of no confidence in her leadership could be imminent.

A total of 48 Conservative MPs - 15% of the parliamentary party - need to submit letters for such a contest to take place.

According to Sky News' tally, 25 MPs have said they have done so.

Political correspondent Lewis Goodall said: "If we do get through the next day or so and no letters appear, the ERG will have succeeded in not diminishing the prime minister's authority but enhancing it.

"The menace they had was the threat of letters. If they can't deploy it they're damaged.

"The emperors have no clothes."

However, there are suggestions the immediate danger to the PM has receded, compared to the peril she appeared to be in last week.

And in an attempt to take back control of the agenda, Mrs May delivered a hard-hitting speech on immigration, one of the key issues of the referendum campaign.

She said the new post-Brexit system - which will be based on workers' skills rather than where they come from - would stop workers from the European Union being able to "jump the queue".

And on Brexit more generally, she said it was not an exercise in "political theory", but something that affects people's livelihoods.

"Jobs depend on us getting this right," the prime minister said.

"And what we have agreed unashamedly puts our future economic success, and the livelihoods of working families up and down this country, first."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke at the same event and promised his MPs would vote down a "blindfold Brexit" that would only see "further years of botched negotiations with most of our leverage thrown away".

He declined an offer by Sky News to rule out extending Article 50 to give him more time to negotiate a better deal, if Labour were to come into office.

CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn said the agreement struck with the EU was a "compromise", but represented "hard-won progress".

However, she was critical of Mrs May's rhetoric on immigration.

Ms Fairbairn said companies needed time to adapt to a "seismic shift" in the system - and claimed Downing Street was not listening to business concerns.

NHS recruiters also expressed worries the new system could affect the supply of overseas nurses and carers.

Downing Street said a white paper setting out the new system would be published "shortly" - and defended the government's approach.

"We have always been clear of the important contribution which EU citizens make to our economy and to public services," the prime minister's spokesman said.

"The point the prime minister is making is that we wish to have a global system where people's skills are the basis on which they are able to work in the UK.

"At the moment, we have two systems in place - one for people coming to the UK from outside the EU and one for people coming out under the rules of free movement."

In Brussels, EU negotiator Michel Barnier it was a "key moment" in Brexit and urged all sides to keep "calm".

A prospect that has emerged in recent weeks is for the transition period - due to last from the end of March to the end of 2020 - being extended.

This would allow both sides more time to negotiate what Britain's future relationship with the EU will look like, without needing to implement the controversial Irish border backstop.

There has been speculation a one-off extension could last until the end of 2022.

But Mrs May said she wanted it to be finished by the time of the next election in June 2022.

Mr Barnier said an extension could not be "indefinite", with a deadline being decided in talks this week.

Ahead of a summit on Sunday where EU leaders are set to sign off on the withdrawal agreement, both London and Brussels have been at pains to point out that it cannot be renegotiated.

Mrs May said on Monday that the agreement had been "agreed in full" by both sides.

But David Davis, a former Brexit secretary who quit the PM's government in protest at her handling of Britain's EU exit, said the deal on offer was "not what the people voted for".

He said: It will tie us to the customs union for years to come with no way out.

"But there is still time to negotiate a Canada+++ deal that delivers on the referendum. So let's get on with it."

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who followed Mr Davis out of the exit door in the summer, yet again hit out at the PM.

In his regular Daily Telegraph column, he described her agreement as a "585-page fig leaf (that) does nothing to cover the embarrassment of our total defeat".

Senior Leave campaigning MPs also headed to Downing Street for an hour-long meeting with Mrs May, to lobby her to change the draft deal before it is finalised.

They were due to hold a statement afterwards, but ended up leaving Number 10 without talking to journalists assembled outside.

A Brexiteer source said the discussion was constructive and that Mrs May "seriously entertained" what they had to say.