Theresa May will face down angry Eurosceptic Conservative MPs on Monday as she urges both them and the country to unite behind her soft Brexit ahead of the publication of the government’s long-awaited white paper.

The prime minister has encountered a backlash from the pro-Brexit wing of her party, with MPs warning they are prepared to trigger a leadership contest after the cabinet agreed to back her vision of the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Dozens of Tory MPs have attended emergency briefings in Downing Street since the Chequers summit on Friday, at which Boris Johnson said that colleagues would be “polishing a turd” if they tried to defend the plans to the party and public.

But May will tell the Commons: “In the two years since the referendum result we have had a spirited national debate, with robust views echoing round the cabinet table as they have on breakfast tables up and down our country. Over that time, I have listened to every possible idea and every possible version of Brexit. This is the right Brexit.”

May’s most pressing challenge in the days ahead, however, will be to try to convince a reluctant EU not to immediately reject her proposal out of hand, with a fresh round of high-level diplomacy planned for this week.

She is expected to talk directly to European leaders including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, while the Brexit secretary, David Davis, will embark on a tour of EU capitals after the white paper is published on Thursday.



“Our message now is to the other side, to Europe, that it’s time to get serious and sit down and talk about it,” she said on Sunday. “It’s now for Europe to be prepared to sit down and move the pace of negotiations on and talk about it seriously and address what we’ve put forward.”

Some pro-Brexit MPs fear the prime minister’s plan will be regarded as an opening salvo by Brussels and she will be forced to make further concessions, possibly on free movement, before the next crunch summit in October.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has said the EU is ready to adapt its offer should the UK’s red lines change. However, May has agreed to ramp up preparations for a “no deal” Brexit in case Brussels – which described her previous customs proposals as “magical thinking” – rejects them.

One senior Tory said that the government would have to take “a couple more steps” towards the EU’s position before a final deal is struck, even if it meant Brexiters swallowing more bitter pills. “Behind the scenes there’s a recognition that there needs to be a bit more movement on both sides,” he said.

However, a No 10 source said: “Yes it’s a negotiation, but this isn’t about making concessions, this is about challenging the EU. It’s a good, pragmatic, workable solution that benefits all our economies and also our citizens. It’s time for Europe to get serious.”

May’s plans involve a “facilitated customs arrangement” intended to remove the need for a hard border in Ireland, and the creation of a UK-EU free-trade area, in which the UK would abide by a “common rule book” of EU regulations.

However, she will need to get them past her party first. She will make a statement to the Commons on Monday before facing a fractious meeting of the backbench 1922 committee in the evening.

Michael Gove told Andrew Marr: ‘One of the things about this compromise is that it unites the cabinet.’ Photograph: Reuters

Michael Gove, who is understood to have been instrumental in getting the leave-supporting cabinet on board with the proposals, urged pro-Brexit MPs to rally behind May on Sunday.

The leading Brexiter said the deal the prime minister achieved at Chequers was not everything he had hoped for, but it honoured the result of the referendum and the cabinet was behind it, meaning that collective responsibility would prevail.

“Those of us who believe that we want to execute a proper Brexit and one that is the best deal for Britain, have an opportunity now to get behind the prime minister in order to negotiate that deal,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

“I’m a realist and one of the things about politics is you mustn’t make perfect the enemy of the good. One of the things about this compromise is that it unites the cabinet.

“We achieved all of the things that we campaigned for in order to ensure we could leave the EU, but we also do so in a way which respects some of the wishes and some of the concerns of some of my colleagues that voted remain.”

Since Friday, several Tory MPs were said to have added their names to a list supporting a vote of no confidence, although senior party sources indicated that they did not expect them to reach the 48 required.

Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns said she would “100%” submit a letter to the backbench 1922 committee to trigger a contest. “I’d put the letter in if these red lines were severely watered down and we had one foot in, one foot out,” she said.

Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, added: “I can’t support the offer which emerged at Chequers – I think it’s a breach of the red lines … Obviously if the government and the prime minister continue to support that very poor offer then I won’t have any confidence in [them].”

One senior pro-Brexit source told the Guardian: “It’s terminal. We think this is going to lead to a bigger split than Maastricht, on a more serious issue, with a smaller majority, and it’s not Tony Blair that lies on the other side of all of this, it’s Jeremy Corbyn. We think it’s an absolute disaster.”

Most remain-supporting MPs welcomed the proposals as a sensible starting point, adding that the “devil was in the detail” of the Brexit white paper, although former minister Phillip Lee, who quit over Brexit, said it represented an attempt to find the “least worst” option that was not in the best interests of the country.

A No 10 insider said: “We accept that there are bits of this that people are going to find to be not all that they’d wanted, but there’s more sorrow than anger. There will be hardline Brexiters that wanted it to be cleaner but this is where we are now.”



Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, claimed May’s plans were unworkable and a fudge that would be a bureaucratic nightmare to implement, as he called on the prime minister to put them to a vote in the Commons next week.

Starmer insisted that Labour would not take the option of a second referendum off the table if parliament votes down a Brexit deal or the UK fails to reach agreement with Brussels, although he stressed the party was not calling for a “people’s vote”.

But Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, just hours later underlined the divide on the issue that is emerging within the party, with a warning that backing another vote could cripple Labour’s electoral chances.