Senior Conservatives are in talks with opposition MPs over a "fallback plan" for Brexit in the belief Theresa May's deal will be voted down in the Commons.

Influential former ministers are drawing up plans to put a Norway-style deal with the EU to a Commons vote in an emergency motion days after an expected defeat in the "meaningful vote" on her plan.

The MPs claim their proposal, which is likely to be fiercely opposed by many Brexiteers, is the only one that could gain the support of a majority of MPs in a bitterly divided Parliament. They believe it would attract the support of up to 70 Labour rebels if they fail in separate attempts to force a second referendum or declare no confidence in the Government.

Some 75 Labour MPs defied Jeremy Corbyn to support a similar move in June. One senior figure involved in the planning, said the option was now a highly credible "plan B".

Another key MP, Nick Boles, who drew up an earlier version of the fallback plan, said: "We are in discussion with Labour MPs and also the SNP and Plaid Cymru."