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Senior Conservative MPs plan to go over Theresa May’s head and seek their own Brexit talks with the European Union, the Evening Standard has learned.

A group of rebels wants an independent line of communication to check whether the Prime Minister is genuinely offering the best terms available.

The plan emerged after Brexit Secretary David Davis made clear that the Government intends to engineer a “take it or leave it” vote on the deal Mrs May negotiates.

That would leave MPs under massive pressure to cave in to her terms or risk the chaos of a no-deal Brexit.

A former minister told the Evening Standard: “By talking directly to Europe we can assess whether Parliament has other options available, including the option to instruct the Prime Minister to go back to the negotiating table and seek new terms.”

A key question to be asked in the talks is whether EU leaders would postpone a final Brexit deal if Parliament asks for changes - something that ministers insist is impossible.

Labour and Liberal Democrat sources indicated that they were open to cross-party co-operation if there is a majority in Parliament for a different deal to the one Mrs May brings home.

Both parties have opened separate channels with Brussels in recent weeks.

Jeremy Corbyn and shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer met three EU prime ministers plus EU negotiator Michel Barnier last week.

And Lib Dem MPs held discussions with Guy Verhofstadt, the co-ordinator for the European Parliament.

The Lib Dems confirmed they have already discussed delaying the Brexit deadline during talks with EU officials.

They said they had also gained confirmation that Article 50 could be revoked, cancelling Brexit.

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: “Of course we’re speaking to EU officials and leaders about Brexit.

“The future of the country is far too important to leave to the collective charm of David Davis and Theresa May.

“At the end of these talks the British people should be given the choice to accept the deal or stay in the EU.

“We need to look at how to ensure that happens and that an exit from Brexit remains on the table.”

Senior Conservatives took up the plan after a series of controversial Government interventions set alarm bells ringing this week.

On Monday, Mrs May dismayed business leaders by promising Iain Duncan Smith, the leading Brexit-backer and former Tory leader, that there would be no transition agreed until a deal on future relations was hammered out.

On Wednesday, Mr Davis said that a Commons vote might be delayed until after March 2019.

A day later he told the Commons: “The choice will be meaningful: whether to accept that deal or to move ahead without a deal.”

The harder line from Mrs May and Mr Davis is seen as a response to concersn among “hard-Brexiters”, who have enough strength to unseat the PM if they are crossed, that a transition period could be used by pro-Europeans as a window to negotiate a Norway-style trade agreement binding Britain close to the EU.

Ministers are braced for bitter clashes when the EU Withdrawal Bill returns to the Commons next month for MPs to thrash out over 370 amendments crammed into eight days of debate.

The key showdown is over the rights of Parliament to reject or amend the final exit deal, with some 12 Tory rebels backing Dominic Grieve’s call for an Act of Parliament that would enshrine Brexit terms and empower MPs to seek improvements.

Meanwhile, a European banking chief today admitted that loans to the UK were being cut amid uncertainty over the impact of Brexit on the economy.

Alexander Stubb, vice-president of the European Investment Bank, said that fewer requests for funding were being made, which he blamed on a slowdown in UK economic growth, and also tighter restrictions were being imposed given the concerns over Britain’s future.

He branded Brexit “one of the biggest travesties that we have seen in the modern era”, arguing that “there are no winners in Brexit apart from perhaps a few lawyers”.

He denied that the EIB wanted to punish the UK for the decision to quit the bloc, but acknowledged it could take until 2054 for the UK to get back its £3 billion invested in the bank.

Latest figures showed the UK economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, beating City expectations, but still lagging behind many other EU countries.

Mr Stubb, a former Finnish Prime Minister, stressed that EIB loans had funded a string of projects in the UK including upgrading trains in London and Liverpool, improving university campuses in the capital, Edinburgh and Newcastle, and rolling out energy smart meters.

The UK owns 16 per cent of the EIB but Mr Stubb expects it to receive fewer loans this year.

“The reason why this will be lower this year and next year is because of two things - one is the uncertainty of Brexit, what it brings along, and secondly of guarantees obviously that we as a bank require making sure that we get our money back - that the investments are safe and sound.”

Amid complaints including from housing developers over increasing difficulties getting EIB funding, Mr Stubb added: “When the investment portfolio goes down and we know that Brexit will take place, we will need more guarantees. That’s what our due diligence process is all about.”