May warns Tory Brexit rebels not to let Corbyn into No 10

Theresa May has issued a last-ditch appeal to Tory MPs to back her Brexit plan, warning that defeat in Tuesday’s crunch vote could hand the keys of No 10 to Jeremy Corbyn.

With the Government braced for a crushing defeat, the Prime Minister told a private meeting of Conservatives at Westminster they had a duty to deliver on the EU referendum vote.

It followed warnings that pro-Remain MPs are preparing to seize control of the Commons timetable in a bid to thwart Brexit altogether.

The deal suffered its first official parliamentary defeat in the House of Lords on Monday night as peers voted by 321 votes to 152 – a majority of 169 – to reject it.

In the Commons, Mrs May warned any move by MPs to prevent the UK leaving the EU would be a “subversion of democracy”.

While she acknowledged that the Withdrawal Agreement was “not perfect”, she urged MPs on all sides to give it a “second look”.

“When the history books are written, people will look at the decision of this House tomorrow and ask: did we deliver on the country’s vote to leave the European Union? Did we safeguard our economy, our security and our Union? Or did we let the British people down?” she said.

Later, addressing a meeting of Conservative MPs, she said they had to “keep Jeremy Corbyn as far away from No 10 as possible”.

Following her presentation, which was greeted with the traditional banging of desks, some MPs said they detected some movement towards her position.

But with some observers at Westminster predicting she could lose by more than 200 votes, it appeared unlikely to be enough to affect the final outcome.

Earlier, the rebels – including MPs from both the pro-Leave and pro-Remain wings of the party – were joined by assistant whip Gareth Johnson, who announced he was quitting to vote against the deal.

Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn told a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday he was ready to trigger a vote of no confidence in the Government if it was defeated in an attempt to force a general election.

“Don’t be concerned, it’s coming soon,” he said.

Earlier, Mrs May welcomed fresh assurances from European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker that they did not want the controversial Northern Ireland “backstop” to be permanent.

The Prime Minister said their joint letter made clear the backstop – intended to a ensure there is no return of a hard border with the Republic – was “not a threat or a trap”.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox issued advice that EU assurances on the backstop “would have legal force in international law”, and said the current deal “now represents the only politically practicable and available means of securing our exit from the EU”.

But Mrs May’s hopes that the letter would win over enough MPs to rescue her Withdrawal Agreement looked set to be dashed, as the Democratic Unionist Party – which props up her minority administration – dismissed it as “meaningless”.

“Rather than reassure us, the Tusk and Juncker letter bolsters our concerns,” said DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds, who called on the PM to demand changes to the Agreement itself.

The Prime Minister said that the presidents’ letter provided “valuable new clarifications and assurances”.

She said the letter delivered:

– A commitment from the EU to begin work on a new post-Brexit relationship as soon as the Withdrawal Agreement is ratified

– An explicit commitment that the new relationship does not have to “replicate” the backstop arrangement, under which the UK would remain in a customs union with the EU and be required to observe some of its rules

– Agreement on a fast-track process to bring a new free trade agreement into force, even if some of the 27 remaining members delay ratification

– Acceptance that the UK can unilaterally deliver on commitments made to Northern Ireland, including a “Stormont lock” on new EU laws being added to the backstop.

Mrs May said: “I fully understand that the new legal and political assurances which are contained in the letters from Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker do not go as far as some MPs would like.

“But I am convinced that MPs now have the clearest assurances that this is the best deal possible and that it is worthy of their support.”

Speaking in Leave supporting Stoke-on-Trent, the Prime Minister warned MPs would be behaving with the “height of recklessness” if they now rejected the Withdrawal Agreement.

“The only ways to guarantee we do not leave without a deal are: to abandon Brexit, betraying the vote of the British people; or to leave with a deal, and the only deal on the table is the one MPs will vote on tomorrow night,” she said.

“`You can take no-deal off the table by voting for that deal. And if no-deal is as bad as you believe it is, it would be the height of recklessness to do anything else.”

But she said that recent events meant a no-deal Brexit was less likely than “a paralysis in Parliament that risks there being no Brexit”.

Warning that failure to deliver Brexit would do “catastrophic harm” to trust in the political process, Mrs May said: “We all have a duty to implement the result of the referendum.”

She was speaking as Conservative former ministers Nick Boles, Sir Oliver Letwin and Nicky Morgan put forward a plan to give Parliament control over the Brexit process if Mrs May loses Tuesday’s vote.

Their European Union Withdrawal Number 2 Bill would give the Government three weeks to seek a compromise that can get through the Commons and allow the UK to leave the EU on March 29 as planned.

If that failed, the Liaison Committee – made up of senior backbenchers who chair Commons committees – would be given the job of coming up with its own compromise deal, which the Government would be legally required to implement if approved by MPs.

However, Liaison Committee chairman Sarah Wollaston poured cold water on the proposal, saying backbenchers constitutionally “cannot take over conducting a complex international negotiation”.