Theresa May is making a final bid to save her Brexit deal ahead of a crunch Commons vote.
Battling a sore throat after late night talks with the EU, the prime minister urged MPs to back her “improved deal” or risk “no Brexit at all”.
But a key group of Tory Brexiteers and the DUP, who keep her government in power, have both rejected the deal. They say the legal assurances secured by the PM are not enough to prevent the UK being tied permanently to the EU.
In a statement, the European Research Group – headed by Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg – said: “In the light of our own legal analysis and others we do not recommend accepting the government’s motion today.”
The DUP said in a statement “that sufficient progress has not been achieved at this time”.
With husband Philip watching from the public gallery, Mrs May told MPs that “Brexit could be lost” if her deal is rejected.
“The danger for those of us who want to have faith in the British public and deliver on their vote for Brexit, is that if this vote is not passed tonight, if this deal is not passed, then Brexit could be lost.”
Charles Walker, vice chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, said defeat for the government in the vote later would lead to a general election.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “If it doesn’t go through tonight, as sure as night follows day, there will be a general election within a matter of days or weeks.
“It is not sustainable, the current situation in Parliament.”
He added: “She will lead us into that general election. We haven’t got time for a leadership election.”
It comes after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox told MPs the legal risk of being tied to the EU after Brexit “remains unchanged”.
He added that the new assurances secured by the PM did “reduce the risk that the United Kingdom could be indefinitely and involuntarily detained” in the Irish backstop if talks on the two sides future relationship broke down due to “bad faith” by the EU
He defined “bad faith” as a “pattern of refusing to accept reasonable proposals” on the Irish backstop.
But he said the question of whether a satisfactory post-Brexit deal on a permanent trading relationship can be reached remained “a political judgment” – and he said MPs should back the PM’s deal.
In his advice, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said “the legal risk remains unchanged” that if a post-Brexit trade agreement can not be reached due to “intractable differences”, the UK would have “no internationally lawful means” of leaving the backstop without EU agreement.