Theresa May has been urged by cabinet colleagues to allow the Commons to vote on alternatives to her Brexit deal

Theresa May is fighting a growing Cabinet clamour for MPs to hold 'option' votes on what to do about Brexit if her deal is defeated.

Amber Rudd and Greg Clark have publicly joined calls for Parliament to be given the opportunity to express its view on a range of potential courses of action - such as a second referendum, a Norway-style relationship, or leaving without any deal.

Several other Cabinet ministers including David Gauke also back the idea, while Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said he does not have a problem with it.

But Downing Street insisted there are 'no plans' to hold such a vote, and it is understood Mrs May rejected the prospect during a phone call with senior colleagues last week.

Sources warned the votes would inevitably be 'messy' and could intensify the crisis with MPs piling on amendments.

In the clearest public statement yet, Mr Clark told the BBC today that if Mrs May's deal falls 'Parliament should be invited to say what it would agree with'.

He cautioned against a second referendum, saying it would 'continue the uncertainty for many more months'.

Ms Rudd said this morning that Parliament should be allowed to express its will and 'nothing should be off the table'.

But harder line Brexiteers believe an 'options' vote would just be cover for delaying or cancelling Brexit.

They are urging a 'managed' no deal exit - which could involve paying the EU for a transition period and limited agreements to limits the worst effects of crashing out.

However, Mrs May has rejected all attempts to hold votes on alternatives to her deal, telling her Cabinet in a conference call last Monday that the so-called indicative votes are divisive.

Instead, Mrs May and her team want to continue negotiating with Brussels until after Christmas.

Other supporters of the 'options' vote are believed to include Chancellor Philip Hammond, Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, and Scottish Secretary David Mundell.

But senior figures including Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. Home Secretary Sajid Javid is also not interested, urging ministers to focus on no-deal planning.

Mrs May was humiliatingly forced to postpone a Commons vote on her Brexit plan last week.

She has insisted the government will work over Christmas to try and seek further concessions from the EU, and then hold the showdown in January.

Amber Rudd (left) and Greg Clark (right) have publicly joined calls for Parliament to be given the opportunity to express its view on a range of potential courses of action

On The Andrew Marr Show, trade secretary Liam Fox said that parliament was 'given an instruction by the referendum, not the government'

Appearing on The Andrew Marr show on BBC One on Sunday morning, Dr Fox was asked what would happen if the Prime Minister's deal was rejected in the Commons.

He said: 'Well, in which case Parliament will have to decide on the alternatives. I wouldn't have a huge problem with parliament as a whole having a say on the options, because it wasn't the government that was given an instruction by the referendum, it was parliament.'

And Mr Hinds told Pienaar's Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live: 'I think there is a value in, sort of, flushing out, what these various different options are that, as I say, some people support very strongly but don't have a majority in favour of them.'

May will also warn that a second Brexit referendum would cause 'irreparable damage' to Britain, as she tries to defuse anger at the news that her own aides have floated the idea.

In the Commons, the Prime Minister will all but rule out holding a second vote while she remains in charge.

Another referendum would 'likely leave us no further forward than the last... and further divide our country at the very moment we should be working to unite it', she will warn.

Mrs May is expected to add: 'Let us not break faith with the British people by trying to stage another referendum, another vote which would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics, because it would say to millions who trusted in democracy that our democracy does not deliver.'

Her intervention comes amid mounting anger over the revelation that chief-of-staff Gavin Barwell and deputy David Lidington had backed the idea of a second referendum.

MPs and ministers reacted furiously to reports yesterday that Mr Barwell had told colleagues a second poll was 'the only way forward' in the light of opposition to her Brexit deal. In social media messages yesterday, Mr Barwell said he was not planning for a second referendum.