Britain's Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Amber Rudd arrives in Downing Street, London, Britain, November 20, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s parliament will not support a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd said on Wednesday, also playing down the prospect of a second referendum if lawmakers do not approve Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

May is heading to Brussels later on Wednesday to discuss a blueprint on post-Brexit ties with the European Union, but faces substantial opposition at home over the draft withdrawal agreement she has already reached with the bloc.

Rudd, a former interior minister who returned to government after cabinet resignations over May’s deal last week, urged lawmakers to back the deal, but said that parliament would not support no deal if they rejected the agreement.

“It is my view that parliament, the House of Commons, will stop “no deal”... There isn’t a majority in the House of Commons to allow that to take place,” Rudd told the BBC.

May has said that Britain faces a choice between her deal, no deal and no Brexit.

But Rudd also played down the idea of a future referendum to give Britons the chance to change their mind and stay in the European Union, having previously said a new vote was preferable to no deal.

“I don’t think we are looking at another referendum,” she said.

“I think that what will happen is that people will take a careful look over the abyss... and I think the likelihood is, despite what people say, that the withdrawal agreement will get through.”