Ex-Brexit secretary David Davis has confirmed he will vote against any deal with the EU based on Theresa May’s ‘Chequers’ compromise.

Eurosceptic Mr Davis said the proposals put forward by Ms May would be “worse than staying in” the European Union.

His admission makes it more likely the prime minister will be unable to get any deal based on her plans through the house of commons, where she has a wafer-then majority and a number of her own MPs already openly opposing her proposals.

It also comes as a new plot emerged to torpedo her plans, agreed with her cabinet at her Chequers retreat, involving Tory election guru Sir Lynton Crosby.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Davis said: “I will vote against it. It would be rather odd for me to resign over something and then vote for it when it came back.

“In my view the Chequers proposal is actually almost worse than being in [the EU].

“We will be under the rule of the European Union in respect of all our manufactured goods and agri-foods, that’s a really serious concession – what about ‘take back control’, it doesn’t work.”

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International trade secretary Liam Fox later defended the Chequers proposal, arguing that if a voter had opted to leave the EU at the 2016 referendum, then it would be a “no brainer” that they would prefer Ms May’s plan to staying in the EU.

Some estimates suggest that only seven MPs would have to rebel against Ms May in a vote for the plans to fail, with the likes of Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Jenkyns, Steve Baker, Conor Burns and Bernard Jenkin among those already likely to vote against it.

Sir Lynton is said to have ordered allies to work with Mr Baker and other hardline Brexiteers in the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs – chaired by Mr Rees-Mogg – to bring down Ms May’s Chequers proposal, something that could well lead to her fall.