Theresa May has sought to placate rebels through a series of one-to-one meetings

Ministers have privately appealed to Labour’s Brexiteer MPs to defy Jeremy Corbyn and help them to see off their own pro-European backbench rebellion on the government’s Brexit bill.

Tory whips are said to have “given up” persuading up to a dozen of their own MPs not to vote in favour of an amendment that would give parliament a decisive say on what happens in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Instead they are concentrating their efforts on encouraging Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to defy their own whip and vote with the government.

One Labour source claimed that MPs were being promised that the Tories would “go easy” in future elections on those who supported them.

“They’re going after new MPs in marginal seats that