The chancellor also told executives that article 50 could be rescinded during leaked call

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, told business leaders that the threat of a no-deal Brexit would be taken off the table within days after MPs rejected the prime minister’s proposals earlier this week, according to leaked details of a conference call.

Hammond also told executives from major companies that article 50, which triggered the process of Britain leaving the EU, could be rescinded.

Attempting to reassure the concerns of business chiefs, he told them that a backbench bill which could force ministers to extend article 50 would act as a “sort of ultimate backstop if the work the government is doing in seeking to find a way forward fails to deliver”.

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Executives from leading companies spoke for more than an hour to Hammond at 9.30pm on Tuesday and a recording of the call was obtained by the Daily Telegraph. The call took place after Theresa May sustained the heaviest parliamentary defeat of any British prime minister in the democratic era, with MPs rejecting her Brexit deal by a resounding majority of 230.

The call included representatives of 330 businesses, among them the heads of Tesco, BP, Siemens and Scottish Power as well as other senior executives who have been vocal in warning against the impact of a no-deal Brexit on the economy.

The chancellor said the EU would not consider extending article 50 “unless or until we have a clear plan to go forward” and the “large majority” in the Commons were opposed to no deal “in any circumstances”.

The bill that he was referring to was a cross-party one from the Tory MP Nick Boles, which is also backed by fellow Tories Nicky Morgan and Sir Oliver Letwin, Labour’s Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn, and the Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb.

However, there was evidence of cabinet divisions when the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, who was also on the call, said that taking no deal off the table would weaken the UK’s negotiating hand.

John Allan, the chairman of Tesco and president of the CBI, interjected to seek assurances that the government would do nothing to frustrate the progress of the backbench bill that Hammond had appeared to support.

“Then I hear the Brexit secretary saying that actually we have to keep the threat of no deal because it’s important to our negotiating position. I struggle to see how these things can be reconciled,” said Allan.

Hammond replied that he was afraid the government’s position was not going to be the determining factor in the outcome of the vote on the bill.

He went on during the call to say that removing options had consequences, adding: “The government is not in control of this.

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“I am only telling you what information I have been able to glean. My understanding is that because the bill being brought forward will simply and solely rescind the article 50 notice, the legal opinion that they have is that that will meet the test that the European court of justice has laid down for unilateral recision of an article 50 notice.

“It is not within their power to mandate any future course of action. That would be for a government to do.”

Doug Gurr, head of Amazon UK, reportedly said ruling out no deal would give “comfort” to global boards. But Hammond said it would not be until next week that things became clearer.

Peter Mather, the head of BP in the UK, wondered if the difficulty of achieving a breakthrough in Brussels talks and the possibility of reducing the possibility of no deal had “increased the sympathy” towards the idea of a second referendum.

Barclay told him that the risk with a second referendum would be that it would “actually prolong the uncertainty” and that it was difficult in the current climate to think that MPs would view the legislation needed to have such a poll “with goodwill”.

A Treasury spokesman confirmed the phone call took place shortly after the vote on Tuesday.