Theresa May included endorsements from senior figures including Dominic Raab, Michael Gove and Liam Fox Theresa May and her Cabinet have launched an attempt to persuade Tory members to back the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan which Brexiteers have labelled irrelevant.
Mrs May has sent a letter outlining the case for her plan to the Conservative grassroots and has included endorsements from senior figures including Dominic Raab, Michael Gove and Liam Fox.
But Eurosceptics questioned the decision to seek support for the Brexit blueprint given the fact the European Union had effectively rejected it as it stands.
It came amid reports Mrs May is planning a crunch meeting with her senior ministers in September when they will discuss how best to prepare the UK for leaving the EU without a deal.
Mrs May’s attempt to win over the Tory rank and file comes as officials and ministers are increasingly pessimistic about a Brexit deal being agreed with Brussels before the UK’s point of withdrawal in March 2019.
In the letter, sent to party members across the country, Mrs May argued her Chequers plan honours the result of the referendum, maintains the constitutional and economic integrity of our United Kingdom, and sets us on course for a productive relationship with our closest trading partners.
She also defended her plan to agree a common rule book with the bloc covering a new UK-EU free trade area.
I know that some people are concerned that this common rulebook will stop us doing trade deals, she said.
I can assure you this is not the case and I would not be proposing it if it would.
A snap survey of Tory members in July found 61 per cent thought the Chequers deal would be a bad deal for Britain.
Peter Bone, the leading Tory Brexiteer, suggested seeking support for the Chequers plan was a waste of time.
He said: I think it is fairly clear that there is widespread disappointment with Chequers among grassroots members.
He added: Since Chequers has already been rejected it is irrelevant. It has moved on from that.