Theresa May’s Cabinet is resigned to her Brexit deal being defeated by up to 100 votes next week after talks in Brussels collapsed without progress on Wednesday.

Downing Street is already making plans for a third “meaningful vote” on the deal on the assumption that Tuesday’s vote is lost, and Mrs May is considering making a major speech on Friday to plead for support from MPs.

One minister said it appeared “certain” that the Commons vote on the Brexit deal will be lost, and that Mrs May’s next move would depend on the scale of the defeat.

Meanwhile the Chief Whip, Julian Smith, has warned MPs their Easter break could be cancelled if Brexit is delayed, adding to the growing sense of inevitability that the Government will lose the vote. If Brexit is delayed until June, the most likely date, MPs would only have three months to find a new way forward and could ill afford their 18-day holiday.

Mrs May was defeated by a record majority of 230 when MPs voted on her Brexit deal in January, and her advisers believe that if she can limit the defeat in the next vote to a majority of fewer than 60 she would stand a chance of winning a third vote.