Theresa May has held talks with trade union bosses at Downing Street as part of desperate efforts to win support for her Brexit plan.

In a highly unusual move, Unite boss Len McCluskey, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, visited No 10 for high-level discussions, as well as TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady, Dave Prentis, of Unison, and GMB chief Tim Roache.

The prime minister is scrambling to win political backing for a Brexit plan that could secure a Commons majority after her deal was overwhelmingly rejected by MPs.

And on Thursday, cabinet minister Amber Rudd repeatedly refused to say whether she would resign from her government role to stop a no-deal Brexit, just hours after Airbus issued a stark warning over the impact of a disorderly Brexit on its business in the UK.

During an interview on BBC Two’s Newsnight, Ms Rudd, the work and pensions secretary said she was going to “wait and see” if the prime minister allows a free vote on a series of amendments in the Commons next week.

Asked three times whether she would quit the Cabinet to back a bid by Labour's Yvette Cooper to extend Article 50 unless a deal is reached by the end of February, and she refused to rule it out.

She said: "At this stage I'm going to stick to trying to persuade the Government to allow it to be a free vote. There is a lot taking place and there are a lot of new amendments. We'll have to wait and see."

Ms Rudd also told the programme she is "committed to making sure we avoid no-deal", which she described as "the worst possible outcome”.