Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, Britain, March 12, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal has reached the end of the road and Britain should leave the bloc without an agreement, former British foreign secretary and leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said on Tuesday.

May faced an uphill struggle to win support for her Brexit deal ahead of a vote on Tuesday, as she failed to win over the main Brexit faction in her Conservatives and the Northern Irish party which props up her government said they would vote against it.

“This deal has now reached the end of the road. If it is rejected tonight I hope that it will be put to bed,” Johnson told parliament.

Johnson said if the EU was unwilling to accept further changes, Britain should leave without a deal as while this would be more difficult in the short term, in the end it would be “the only safe route out of the abyss and the only safe path to self respect”.