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Theresa May plans to give MPs a fourth major vote on Brexit next week before the European elections.

The PM hopes the symbolism of the poll three years after the UK opted to leave the EU will force some MPs to finally back her plan.

She bought her fragile leadership extra time by agreeing to meet top Tory backbenchers next week to discuss her future.

It came as cross-party Brexit talks between Labour and the Tories to try to break the impasse appeared to be on the brink of collapse.

The two sides met again on Wednesday but there appeared to be little movement towards a compromise and time was running out.

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No 10 insiders suggested Mrs May was ready to move onto her Plan B of giving MPs votes on different options - but only if Labour agreed.

Downing Street sources also confirmed she wants to bring the Brexit withdrawal bill before Parliament as soon as possible.

The plan to give MPs another vote before May 23 was revealed by Sir Graham Brady after a crunch meeting of the Tory 1922 committee.

He suggested it was likely to take place next week although MPs had previously been told not to expect any major votes then.

“It’s my understanding it’s the Government’s intention to bring a second reading of the Bill forward in the near future, certainly the intention is before the European election takes place,” he told reporters.

Sir Graham also revealed that Mrs May - who he pressed earlier this week for her departure timetable - had persuaded colleagues to allow her to kick the can down the road for another week despite disastrous local election results.

(Image: PA)

She volunteered to meet the 18 Tory MPs on the 1922’s executive committee next week to discuss her departure in person.

Tory Brexiteers emerged grim-faced from the meeting.

Nadine Dorries said: “She’s not given any decision, there’s no timetable and they need to get on with it. We need to make sure we get that final decision soon because everybody needs it.”

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Jeremy Corbyn this morning launches Labour’s election campaign promising to “unite our country” and heal the divisions caused by Brexit.

He vows to address inequalities that helped fuel Brexit insisting the “real divide” isn’t over Europe but between the many and the few.

After a bitter internal row over a second referendum, he will restate that Labour backs a fresh public vote if a “sensible” Brexit deal cannot be agreed.

Labour hinted it was preparing for cross-party talks to break down later this week after failing to reach agreement on a customs union.

A spokesman said the party was expecting movement in the “next few days” and the negotiations were not an “indefinite” process.

Meanwhile, a major independent report on the economic impact of a customs union Brexit concluded it would leave people in the UK £800 a year worse off and cut money available for public services by £13bn.

Mrs May yesterday faced down demands to leave her job whether or not she secures a Brexit deal.

The PM even claimed she could stage a Liverpool-style comeback, telling MPs: “What it shows is that when everyone says its all over, when your European opposition have got you beat, the clock’s ticking down, it’s time to concede defeat actually we can still secure success is everyone comes together.”

It came as George Osborne, who was sacked as chancellor by Mrs May, said it was now time for the Cabinet to mobilise and oust her.

“Eventually the party has to confront the truth. It needs a new leader, a new agenda, it needs to win over supporters who have disappeared and make an appeal to urban, metropolitan Britain that has turned its back on the Conservatives,” he said.

His intervention came as Tory cabinet ministers, Andrea Leadsom and Amber Rudd, hinted they would be prepared to run for the leadership. Ms Leadsom, who made the final two against Mrs May in 2017, told GMTV: “I am seriously considering standing”.

(Image: ANDY RAIN/EPA-EFE/REX)

Ms Rudd will Thursday urge the Tories to seize the chance to become the party of the 21st century worker.

In thinly veiled remarks, she will say: “We know that switching jobs is often the best way to open up new opportunities and progress in the workplace.”

Tory chiefs signed off a cut-price campaign for the elections after finally admitting the poll would go ahead. “We are up and running, and our message is, there’s only one party that can deliver Brexit,” a spokesman said.

But senior Tory MPs warned that the party was likely to receive a kicking from voters - with many turning to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Former minister MP Rob Halfon said his party was a “sh*tshow”, adding: “Our grassroots operation, already weakened, has been further damaged [by the local elections] and is now on life support”.