THERESA May has delayed a crunch Cabinet debate over an EU trade deal until next year over fears it will spark major resignations.

The PM will not ask her top table to agree what conditions Britain is prepared to accept from Brussels in exchange for it until the EU has first laid out its own terms.

2 Theresa May is set to put off delaying what she wants from a trade deal into the new year Credit: PA:Press Association

In a break through for Mrs May, Europe’s 27 leaders ordered their own preparations for trade talks to start by Christmas after her summit appeal for help on Friday.

But she doesn’t want to risk hammering out Britain’s own position, fearing a major showdown between the Cabinet’s soft and hard Brexiteers.

Insiders say the key debate will mean the Cabinet having to prioritise either control over all our laws or access to the single market, as the EU has insisted it will not give Britain both.

One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “We haven’t grasped the nettle on the trade deal yet, and we really have to soon.

2 Mrs May was pleased after last week EU leaders said they would prepare for the start of trade talks later this year Credit: Alamy Live News

“Theresa’s fear is the moment we do, half of us walk out.

"We just don’t know which half will yet.”

Senior No10 aides believe it will be easier for Mrs May to broach the issue once the EU have issued its chief negotiator Michel Barnier with a new mandate for the trade talks.

That will help narrow down the debate, once they learn “the art of the possible”, one Downing Street figure said.

A wide array of big decisions still need to be taken by the Cabinet on the the UK’’s red lines for a trade deal.

They range from what to do with newly returned fishing rights to immigration rules and how closely to align British rules on goods with the EU's product regulations.

A leaked German government paper last week revealed Berlin wants to offer Britain a “comprehensive free-trade accord”, but only if we to adhere to EU red tape.

Theresa May is 'ambitious and optimistic' for Britain's Brexit deal as EU leaders start private talks on trade

Europe’s leaders have publicly complained that the PM is still yet to pin down exactly what her requests will for a trade deal.

Venting his frustration with her government last week, Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “It is quite a difficult negotiation when people who want to leave the European Union don’t really seem to agree among themselves what that actually means”.

Mrs May was told yesterday she needs to “face down” Boris Johnson if she wants to start trade negotiations with the EU by Christmas.

The European Parliament’s chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt said she should call the bluff of the “increasingly desperate Brexiteers” and “outline, once and for all, what kind of future relationship the country wants”.

Mr Verhofstadt added: “This may require Theresa May to face down Boris Johnson and others in her own party who refuse to accept the reality of the Brexit they campaigned for”.

Lib Dem boss Sir Vince Cable claimed Brexit without a deal would cost the British economy £430bn over the next five years, as it would shrink Britain’s economic output by 5.3%.

Fox says 'no deal' is 'no bluff' A GOOD Brexit deal will depend on how much the EU’s elite want to punish Britain “for having the audacity to leave”, Liam Fox has said. The international Trade Secretary insisted the economics of a strong trade agreement are obvious, but “the difficulty is the politics”. He added: “In other words, how much does the European Commission and the European elite want to punish Britain for having the audacity to use our legal right to leave the European Union? “That that’s the thing. And what will the price be for the prosperity of European citizens of that decision?” Dr Fox also insisted French president Emmanuel Macron was “completely wrong” about UK’s ‘no deal’ preparations being just a bluff. But the Cabinet minister refused to publish controversial Brexit impact assessments and admitted they could harm the UK’s negotiating hand. Labour accused him of “hiding bad news”. Dr Fox also risked upsetting Theresa May by revealing he’d rather be “a long distance swimmer” than share a desert island with her. The PM picked him as her choice for a Cabinet companion if she was ever shipwrecked because of his doctoring skills. But quizzed on Peston on Sunday yesterday, he refused to reciprocate.