Boris Johnson has said Theresa May's Brexit deal is "deceased" and urged her to return to Brussels as rescinding Article 50 would be "pathetic".

The former foreign secretary urged the prime minister to use Brexit to unite the country during a speech at the JCB factory in Staffordshire seen as a leadership bid.

Mr Johnson said it was a waste of time attempting to bring more people to the table over the current "ex-deal" as he forced his point on extending or revoking Article 50 - the legal mechanism the UK used to trigger its impending exit from the EU.

Mrs May lost a vote in the Commons on Brexit deal on Tuesday evening and will put forward a new plan in the Commons on Monday.

Mr Johnson said: "The deal was thrown out by a record 230 votes.


"That was for the very good reason that it does not correspond to the result of the 2016 referendum.

"When 118 Tory MPs voted against this now deceased Withdrawal Agreement it was because Leavers and Remainers were united in the dismay of a deal which keeps us locked in customs union, unable to do free trade deals, cut tariffs on own, make food cheaper, help African farmers and turn us into non-voting members of the single market."

Image: Boris Johnson's speech is seen by many as a leadership bid

He said it was "overwhelmingly likely" Britain would get a free trade deal from the EU, citing "positive noises" coming from Germany.

During his speech, delivered at the same factory where David Cameron spoke on immigration in 2014, Mr Johnson said the answer was to "get back in the cab, turn around and face the real obstacles".

He said Mrs May's main concern should be to have the backstop on the island of Ireland removed and to use the transition period to come up with a new trade deal.

He added: "She can go back to Brussels, and she should go back to Brussels and say that the British House of Commons doesn't accept the democratic consequences of the arrangement you have imposed in the form of the backstop.

"It's got to come out."

Mr Johnson said: "To put a tiger in the tank we should withhold at least half of the £39bn until the deal is concluded.

"If we mean it and we are determined and we now say this is the best and final offer, I will be amazed if we cannot get a deal in those terms."

The backstop refers to the contingency plan on the island of Ireland to prevent a hard border, keeping the whole of the UK in the customs union for a limited period.

Mr Johnson rejected the idea of a snap election, saying it was "not the right way through".

He said: "I think most people in this country feel they have had quite enough elections. I certainly do."

Setting out his view of life in Britain after Brexit, he said: "To maximise the opportunities ahead of us, we need that autonomy and we need that freedom.

"To achieve that creative autonomy, we must follow the logic of what Parliament has voted for - that is no to this deal which locks us in and yes to exit on 29 March.

"Whatever terms we eventually come up with - and I do think that they will be favourable to us - I confidently prophecise, unlike many of the gloomy predictions that you are hearing at the moment that the people of this country will prosper and they will manage that change.

"I tell you now ... whatever the doomsters may say about Britain after March 29, there will still be Mars bars made in this country, in fact there will be no shortage of Mars bars.

"We will still have potable drinking water in Britain. The planes will fly, the ferries will ply."

He said: "Let us fire up the engines, stop dithering, emulate the spirit of JCB and remove from our path the backstop that is the last Brussels-built blockage in the path of a global Britain."

Beth Rigby, Sky's deputy political editor, said: "There were two elements of this speech, one where he gave his view of what Theresa May should do next.

"He says she should go back to Brussels and get the backstop out so that she can get this deal through.

"It has been something Mrs May has been arguing about for months and months and this is the best she has got.

"But this was a broader leadership pitch. He talked about devolving powers to regions, he talked about creating free ports around the country to generate new trade and wages needing to go up.

"There was a blue collar worker pitch too. People in JCB seemed to welcome it but some in Westminster expressed fury that he was up here making this pitch when he should be in London finding solutions."