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Former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who quit this week, claims the Prime Minister “betrayed” British voters who chose to leave the EU with her Brexit White Paper and that her strategy risks putting Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street. Mr Baker, a leading Eurosceptic, resigned along with his boss David Davis last week in disgust at the Chequers Brexit proposals. He quit after his Brexit plan was trumped by a separate plan which had been made by the “establishment elite” in secret. He claimed party grandees are pushing for a softer Brexit than the one Mr Davis’s department was pushing for.

The public will know they have have been betrayed. Trust in democracy will be blown apart. Steve Baker

Mr Baker told the Sunday Telegraph: “I hope that the public’s eyes will be opened to what’s going on today. "An establishment elite who never accepted the fundamental right of the public to choose democratically their institutions are working towards overturning them. "Large sections of the Government were working on the Chequers plan, and they’ve just had a coup de grace at the last minute. I feel pretty sore about that. "The public will now they have have been betrayed. Trust in democracy at that point will be blown apart.”

Theresa May under fire from former Brexit minister over EU "betrayal"

Mr Baker said the government’s White Paper published last week was significantly different to Mr Davis’s Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU)’s strategy. Similar proposals to the Government’s White Paper, which were put on the table by a minister a year ago, would cause “a big thermonuclear explosion", Mr Baker warned at the time. He now fears the Chequers manifesto could hand Jeremy Corbyn the keys to No 10, causing a "cataclysm". Mr Baker’s fears over a plot to steer Britain towards a soft exit from the EU have been shared by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who told the Sunday Express Mrs May “always wanted a soft Brexit”.

Chequers summit in pictures: Theresa May's big Brexit meeting Fri, July 6, 2018 The Prime Minister gathered her cabinet together ahead of a crunch Brexit showdown at her country retreat at Chequers in Buckinghamshire Play slideshow PA 1 of 14 Members of the cabinet and government officials gather at Chequers