Theresa May's Brexit plans attacked by both wings of Tory party as Commons resumes after summer recess

Theresa May: The Prime Minister's Chequers plans are under intense fire from both sides of the Conservative party
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Theresa May’s Brexit plans remain under sustained attack from both wings of the Conservative party as the Commons resumes after summer recess.

The Prime Minister’s Chequers proposals have been rejected by Brussels and savaged by former foreign secretary Boris Johnson.

And Tory Europhiles also have major reservations about the plan, which are being discussed by the EU’s chief negotiator Michael Barnier and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab.

It comes as the Commons resumes with the pace of Brexit talks in Brussels intensifying in the hope of achieving a deal this autumn.

But Conservative divisions have deepened, with Mr Johnson and Mrs May's Downing Street engaged in a bitter war of words over the approach to Brexit.

Boris Johnson savaged the plans
AFP/Getty Images

In a barely veiled rebuff to Mr Johnson's ambitions to become prime minister, Mrs May's official spokesman said the country needed "serious leadership with a serious plan" which was being provided by the current premier.

The comments came after Mr Johnson used his regular Daily Telegraph column to launch a scathing attack on Mrs May's Brexit strategy, branding it a "fix" that can only lead to victory for the EU.

Opposition to the Chequers plan - which would involve a complicated facilitated customs arrangement with the EU and a "common rulebook" for goods - has also come from Remain-supporting Tories.

Heidi Allen acknowledged some of her fellow pro-EU Conservatives viewed Chequers as a "complete non-starter" but others, like her, were prepared to give it a "little bit longer".

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier rejected Mrs May's Chequers plan 
AFP/Getty Images

She told the BBC's Newsnight: "The only way any of us are going to come through this is with a little bit of compromise on both sides.

"Nobody is going to get exactly what they want but you have to start somewhere."

Asked what she would do if Mr Johnson succeeded in ousting Mrs May, she said: "If Boris was leader I doubt very much that I would be in the Conservative Party and there are a lot of my fellow colleagues who feel the same."

Former party leader Lord Hague used his own Daily Telegraph column to warn Tories their civil war could result in the collapse of the Government and either a second referendum or a general election - and the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.

"Some say May's plan is too much of a compromise, a small number that it isn't enough of one, and still others now advocate a different compromise altogether," he said.

Theresa May's plans are under fire
EPA

"The likely result is so obvious it hardly needs stating, which is that the entire idea is put at risk, and all of them will lose out in the end.

"It is thus quite possible that a year from now, we could be contemplating why we are still in the EU after all, or why we left it with maximum damage all round with minimum notice, or how we came to have an even weaker minority government, or how a Marxist despised by his own MPs ended up as Prime Minister."

MPs from the Commons Exiting the EU Committee were in Brussels yesterday for talks with Mr Barnier, who made clear his objections to the Chequers plan on customs and the common rulebook.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn told Newsnight the customs plan was "not a runner and nor is the common rulebook".

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the influential European Research Group of Conservatives, told the programme he wanted to see a Canada-style trade deal.

"The issue is, for the £40 billion we are paying, is there an agreement that can be done that polices the [Irish] border remotely from the border?" he said.

The cross-party panel will question the Brexit Department's senior mandarin Philip Rycroft on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile the pro-EU Best for Britain campaign group is launching a new £200,000 push for a second referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal.

The prospect of a Tory leadership election has seen Leave.EU founder Arron Banks - a former Ukip donor - pushing for Brexiteers to join the party to have a say over Mrs May's replacement.

But his own efforts to join - along with spin doctor Andy Wigmore - met resistance from Tory HQ.

"Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore's applications for membership of the Conservative Party have not been accepted," a spokeswoman said after reports they had attempted to join Tory Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen's North West Leicestershire association.

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