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Both of Theresa May’s former Brexit Secretaries have backed an alternative to her deal in a surprise event this morning.

David Davis and Dominic Raab were last-minute additions to the launch of “A Better Deal” - an alternative manifesto for leaving the EU.

Mr Davis said Britain needed to reset its Brexit negotiating strategy, adding “we haven’t got time to waste”.

He said the next step in approving such a plan would be to present a new, legal text to the EU.

And speaking just hours before a crunch confidence vote in Theresa May’s leadership, Mr Davis said he would cast his ballot “in the national interest”.

(Image: REUTERS)

The document, drawn up by a former adviser to Liam Fox, Shanker Singham, customs expert Hans Maessen and lawyer Robert MacLean, proposed:

No single customs territory between the UK and the EU, allowing Britain to regain control over tariffs and regulations and negotiate trade agreements with other countries;

A 10-year, extendable backstop featuring advanced customs facilitation measures to keep the Irish border open, a zero-tariff free trade agreement in goods and a commitment by all parties not to place infrastructure on the border;

Mutual recognition of regulations, with measures to ensure that the animal health and disease control zone on the island of Ireland can be maintained;

Level playing field provisions on labour, the environment, competition and state aid;.

The removal of geographic indications provisions from the Withdrawal Agreement, to be considered as part of a later free trade deal;

The removal of language on World Trade Organisation collaboration, ensuring that the UK can operate independently in the WTO.

Launching the paper, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said: "There are modest and reasonable changes that could help salvage the proposed deal with the EU.

"The UK needs a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop, but we can give the Irish Government assurances that we would put in place specific measures to guarantee no return to a hard border.

"This proposal can help deliver this and allay fears that the UK would be stuck indefinitely in an undemocratic regime of laws we have no control over and can't exit."

The backstop aims to ensure there is no hard land border between British-ruled Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which is an EU member.

But some fear the backstop will leave Britain subject indefinitely to EU rules, long after the country has given up a say in drafting them.