SENIOR Cabinet ministers will today tell Theresa May she must “stare down” the EU over the Irish border or see Parliament rip up her Brexit deal.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will lead as many as 12 Cabinet ministers in the defiant stand at the Cabinet’s weekly meeting in No10.

5 Cabinet ministers are set to tell Theresa May to 'stare down' the EU on the Irish border issue or face her Brexit deal being destroyed Credit: AFP

They will call on the PM to insist on a mechanism in the Brexit deal for Britain to stay in control of how long it stays in any backstop customs union to keep the Irish border open.

Failing to secure that would see around 40 Tory backbenchers torpedo in the Commons any deal she may sign in Brussels, the top ministers argue.

The Sun has also been told that Chief Whip Julian Smith has told No10 they can only rely on around 15 Labour MPs to vote for Mrs May’s softer Brexit deal – far short of the 40 or so that some have claimed.

One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “We must have control of the backstop. If Theresa doesn’t stare down the EU and win a mechanism that does this, the whole argument is immaterial as there is zero chance of passing the Commons.

5 Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab will lead 12 ministers in a defiant stand with the PM over the backstop border issue Credit: AFP or licensors

5 Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will be one of many Cabinet ministers to insist on a mechanism for Britain to stay in control of how long it stays in a backstop customs union to keep the Irish border open Credit: Getty Images - Getty

“She just doens’t have the numbers.”

The 12 Cabinet ministers - its eight Leave campaigners, now joined by a handful of former Remainers - who have been dubbed ‘the Pizza Cabinet’ for their night time secret meetings over takeaway pizza.

Another Cabinet source added: “It’s important for us to be able to say we really have taken back control and been true to the referendum result”.

The choppy top table meeting comes as No10 sources say no deal is likely at all this week. And a prospective date for emergency EU summit with its 27 other leaders to agree any deal has also been pushed back to November 27 or 28.

5 Irish PM Leo Varadker said he will never agree to the UK having any decision making power to pull out of the backstop Credit: AFP or licensors

Irish premier Leo Varadkar also dug in yesterday as stand-off deepened to publicly insist he would never agree to giving the UK any “unilateral” decision making power to pull out of the border backstop.

Mrs May phoned the Taoiseach to propose “a review mechanism” in a bid to find a compromise, which he said was open to considering.

But Mr Varadkar warned it could only ever be triggered with the agreement of both sides, or the backstop “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”.

Mr Varadkar also said Dublin is now hoping to seal a Brexit deal “by the end of the year”, raising the possibility of talks stretching into December.

D-Day for May IT boils down to this. Does Theresa May seriously intend to allow the EU to dictate whether Britain can leave its customs union? Or will she insist on the national sovereignty 17.4million voted for? Because if she fails to deliver the ­latter, all hell will break loose. It is incredible to see EU leaders demanding, with a straight face, the power to stop us finally leaving without their permission. They know they would never grant it — why would they? Using the trumped-up Irish border “problem”, they would prevent us from ever signing our own trade deals. They would shackle forever the trade policy of the world’s fifth-largest economy. Despite Brexit’s uncertainty, booming Britain has attracted the world’s second-highest levels of investment this year. That is exactly what the EU fears. It is why they want to neuter us as an independent trading power. Just imagine the hoots of triumph — and joyous disbelief — in Brussels if they succeed. Being locked in a customs union, so central to the whole EU project, is not some minor detail. It destroys Brexit’s economic case. That’s why Tory MPs voted overwhelmingly against it. So Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is right to warn the PM today that she MUST stare down the EU or face ruin. We must have the power to exit any “temporary” customs union or “Irish backstop” when WE alone decide. Anything else is abject defeat. Humiliation. A monstrous betrayal. If No Deal is the alternative, so be it. Voters have cut Mrs May a break until now. People know how hard her task is. But if she capitulates now, at this key moment, that trust will vanish overnight.

It came as Mrs May discussed the situation with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz last night.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister updated the chancellor on the progress of Brexit negotiations saying that 95% of the withdrawal agreement was now complete, and that she was confident that a solution could be found on the Northern Ireland backstop.

"The Prime Minister added that the UK wanted to see quick progress and that both the UK and the EU were working hard to achieve an agreement."

With Austria holding the rotating presidency of the EU, the spokesman added: "Chancellor Kurz said that the Austrian presidency stood ready to help facilitate an agreement as soon as possible."

5 Boris Johnson has branded the PM's soft Brexit deal as 'an absolute stinker' Credit: PA:Press Association

HMRC officials yesterday told MPs that two new inland depots would be used to inspect ‘suspicious’ freight to relieve pressure on ports in the event of a No Deal Brexit. But HMRC chief Jon Thompson warned: “The time to implement an optimal No Deal system has gone.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock hit back at Boris Johnson’s attack on the government’s soft Brexit plan yesterday, in which he branded it “an absolute stinker”.

Mr Hancock insisted: “The frank truth is there isn’t another deal on the table. It doesn’t matter what rhetoric you use”.

A giant poll of 20,000 voters last night claimed Brits would now vote to reverse the Brexit decision by 54% to 46% in a second referendum.

More than 100 council areas have switched from backing Leave in 2016 to Remain now, including the UK’s second largest city Birmingham.

The survey was carried for last night’s Channel 4 programme Brexit: What The Nation Really Thinks.

The PM last night replaced Tracey Crouch, who quit as Sports Minister last week, with Mims Davies.

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In other moves, Jeremy Quin is now a Government whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury.

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