Senior figures in Brussels said the prime minister’s demands for changes to the backstop at meetings in December were not taken seriously because “she had no mandate”

Theresa May’s threats to pursue a no-deal Brexit are not believed in Brussels and she should return only when she has a deal that can pass the House of Commons, EU officials have told The Sunday Times.

One senior figure compared May’s no-deal posturing to someone about to commit suicide warning a passer-by that their clothes might get soiled.

“None of us wants a cliff edge. None of us wants a no-deal, but the idea that you can threaten member states on the Continent with that is ridiculous,” the official said.

“It’s like saying, ‘Do this or we shoot ourselves in the head. You may get some blood on you.’ . . . We never considered it credible.”

Two senior figures in the Brussels