Theresa May has warned MPs if they vote down her Brexit deal then the UK will crash out of the EU with no deal at all.
In an interview with BBC Panorama on Monday, the Prime Minister said as Britain is set to leave the EU on March 29, 2019, there would be no time for any other option than what she proposes.
“I think that the alternative to that will be having no deal,” she said.
May will travel to a crucial summit in Salzburg this week to sell her plan to the EU27 leaders.
Boris Johnson continued his attacks on the PM today, with a warning the negotiations were heading for a “spectacular political car crash”.
The former foreign secretary used his weekly column in The Daily Telegraph to claim May’s Chequers plan would make Britain a vassal state.
“It would mean that for the first time since 1066 our leaders were deliberately acquiescing in foreign rule,” he said.
Michael Gove, the Brexiteer Environment Secretary, has said Chequers is the “right one for now” - a hint it could be ditched in future under a different leader.
Hardline Conservatives have claimed up to 80 Tory MPs are prepared to vote against May’s plan.
Labour has also indicated it is highly likely to vote against the government.
May’s plan is also unpopular with many pro-Remain campaigners who see voting down the deal as a way to force a second referendum.
Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, said it was a “con trick” to claim the only options were Chequers or no deal.
“The idea the only thing this country should accept is a fudge or the abyss is not only an insult to the intelligence of British voters, it’s simply not true,” he told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning.
The former Lib Dem leader said it was possible to “stop the clock” on Brexit if parliament votes against Chequers. “The clock can definitely be changed,” he said.
The parliamentary numbers could make it extremely difficult for May to win the high stakes vote.
Jeremy Corbyn is set to come under intense pressure from Labour activists, MPs and unions to back a second referendum when the party meets for its annual conference in Liverpool next week.
Over the weekend London’s Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, threw his weight behind a so-called People’s Vote on the final deal.