Senior MP Nick Boles today launched his own Brexit blueprint as David Davis said the PM's plans are almost as bad as staying in the EU
THERESA May today faces fresh challenges to her plans for Brexit as Tories from all wings of the party line up to urge the PM to ditch the deal she thrashed out at Chequers.
Allies of Boris Johnson are set to launch a nationwide campaign for a harder Brexit - with David Davis warning the PM’s proposal is “almost worse” than the status quo.
And Remain-voting MP Nick Boles, one of the Tory party’s top thinkers, warned that Mrs May had put Britain on course for “humiliation” in talks with Brussels.
Under the terms of the compromise agreed by the Cabinet at Chequers earlier this summer, Britain would keep EU rules on goods while setting new regulations on services and immigration.
Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is now trying to convince Eurocrats they should accept the plan in time for a November deadline.
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, his predecessor Mr Davis said: “In my view the Chequers proposal is actually almost worse than being in.”
He pledged to vote against the deal if it ends up being tabled in Parliament.
And in a sign of the growing opposition to Chequers, Mr Boles - a close ally of both David Cameron and Michael Gove - today broke cover to reveal his own proposal for Brexit.
The MP for Grantham : “It is not easy to break with my Prime Minister, and the Government that I support.
“But during the summer, it has become clear that the EU is not going to accept the terms of the Chequers agreement, and is intent on treating it as an opening bid.”
He wants Britain to tell Brussels we won’t pay a huge divorce bill, and scrap plans for a two-year transition deal which would see us accepting EU rules without having a say over them.
Instead, Mr Boles tells Mrs May she should take the UK into the European Economic Area on a temporary basis - before negotiating a fresh free-trade deal “from a position of strength”.
And he adds that’s it essential for ministers to hatch a comprehensive back-up plan, allowing EU-UK trade to revert to World Trade Organisation rules so Brussels can’t blackmail us into accepting a bad deal.
From the Leave side, it emerged today that friends of Boris Johnson are planning to relaunch the campaign group Change Britain as a way of undermining the Chequers proposals.
And ex-minister Steve Baker is helping to lead efforts to present a comprehensive alternative to the PM’s plan which would focus on the benefits of a Canada-style free trade deal.
A WEALTHY Tory donor today called for Theresa May to hold a second referendum on Brexit.
Former Rolls-Royce chairman Simon Robertson called on the PM to scrap her plans to lead Britain out of the EU - insisting the status quo is “perfect”.
Sir Simon told the Observer: “I think it is complete balderdash to say the people have spoken, therefore you can’t go back.
“The people can speak again - why can’t we have another vote on it?”
His call will not be welcomed by No 10, which has repeatedly insisted there’s no chance the 2016 referendum will be re-run.
But it could be taken as a sign that more senior Tories are preparing to back a second vote on Brexit.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours
