Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has proposed a cross-party all-female "emergency cabinet" to block a no-deal Brexit and push for a second referendum.

The extraordinary plan would see the formation of a government of national unity following a Commons vote of no-confidence in prime minister Boris Johnson.

The temporary cabinet would exist only to propose another Brexit referendum, in which the choice would likely be to either remain in the EU or leave without a deal.

Ms Lucas has written to 10 other female politicians opposed to a no-deal break with the European Union, inviting them to form the temporary government.

Among the women she asked to join her are Labour's shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson and Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Leicester There’s a great suspicion about homelessness in Britain: those desperately in need of social help feel the need to justify exactly why they are in their situation and exactly what they would do with your money Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Loughborough A student dressed as a horse, drunk, headless, betting on the races: a human imitating for fun the animals that race for human entertainment Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Loughborough A rock’n’roll evening where couples lead and are led. Twentieth-century American pop culture reaches far, well into this Loughborough periphery Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Derby Beauty treatment centres appear both surgical and sacrificial from the inside. The woman’s horizontal body stretching across the three windows, sawn into thirds, and the beautician studies with her eyes the eyes she’s beautifying Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Derby Two pairs of hands marked by anti-vandal paint, revealing the crime and the attempt to wipe it away, as if it never happened: the traces of a cover-up Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Boston The search for a lost cat in a pub window, translated into Russian, extending the plea to the town’s Russian reading community in an effort to widen the net and increase the chances of a happy ending Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Boston A warning to keep distance on the back of a white van, to give room, to respect personal space. A crude depiction of the female body occupies the foreground, the British flag and a church tower occupy the distance Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Derby A circus decorated with British and English flags, probably to confer a sense of style and national pride that would attract more people. It’s a timely meeting of the circus and the nation, where performance, danger, trickery, and foolishness all come together to form the spectacle Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Boston Polish football and regional graffiti is everywhere in Boston, if you’re looking for it. This vow of loyalty to Lechia Gdansk I find behind a supermarket carpark, between two trees goalpost-like, framing the inscription Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Leicester A Catholic church on the New Walk, in which a man prays on his own, watched by Christ, solitary among empty chairs, committed, purified, sanctified Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Boston Following the Rover Witham to the Marina and derelict rowing club, this anti-establishment expression catches my eye. It seeks to dehumanise authority, to make the law dirty, and connect power, not the people, to social filth. Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: East Midlands Grantham The back of the Isaac Newton Shopping Centre, by the Bus Station, where a sign advertises a news-seller with images of Polish newspapers, and next, across the black dividing line, a racist scribble with little meaning at all. Richard Morgan/The Independent

Writing in The Guardian, Ms Lucas said: "We need an 'emergency cabinet' - not to fight a Brexit war but to work for reconciliation. And I believe this should be a cabinet of women.

"Why women? Because I believe women have shown they can bring a different perspective to crises, are able to reach out to those they disagree with and cooperate to find solutions.

"A government of national unity must do exactly that - unite parties. And I believe that a cross-party cabinet of women has the potential to do exactly that."

The other MPs contacted by Ms Lucas are Tory former cabinet minister Justine Greening, senior Labour backbencher Yvette Cooper, the SNP's Kirsty Blackman, Liz Saville Roberts of Plaid Cymru, Change UK's Anna Soubry and the independents Heidi Allen and Lady Sylvia Hermon.

The proposal was met with scepticism by many in Parliament, including senior Labour figures opposed to a no-deal Brexit.

Turning down her invitation, Ms Thornberry said the plan would "not solve our country's divisions" but instead "risk worsening the feelings of anger and resentment" held by the public towards Parliament.

Labour MP Clive Lewis was one of a number of politicians and commentators to raise questions about the lack of black and minority ethnic women among those invited by Ms Lucas.

"I think this a very interesting proposal.. One genuine question: Where are the BAME women politicians?" Mr Lewis tweeted.

Responding to Mr Lewis, Ms Lucas said her list of invitees was selected because they were leaders or deputy leaders in their relevant parties and groupings.

"But completely agree with you - it absolutely needs to be opened out further eg would love [Dianne Abbott] to be involved," Ms Lucas tweeted, citing Labour's shadow home secretary, who is black.

Ms Abbott had earlier ruled herself out of any involvement in the plan.

"Backdoor route to a National Government. Didn’t work for Ramsey Macdonald and won’t work now, whatever the gender of the participants," she tweeted, in reference to the country's first national government formed during the Great Depression in 1931.