Theresa May will meet with the Cabinet as she struggles to save her Brexit plan


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Theresa May will meet with high-ranking ministers as she fights to save her Checkers plan for Brexit following last week's humiliating reprimand by European leaders.

The Prime Minister will chair a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street on Monday in a context of strong pressure to change course and seek a simpler and less ambitious agreement.

The meeting will take place just hours after the launch of an EU exit project by the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank, with the support of former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson and the former secretary Brexit David Davis.

In his weekly column for the Daily Telegraph, Johnson warned that he would play in the hands of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labor Party if the government continued to follow the same path in the face of rising public hostility.

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Boris Johnson says that continuing with Checkers will play in the hands of Labor (Victoria Jones / PA)

"If we take the Checkers approach, the public will see it.

"They will see that the UK has become a vassal state, we have not regained control, but have lost control.

"They will take their revenge in the elections," he wrote.

"I'm afraid Checkers = surrender; Checkers = a feeling of betrayal; Checkers = the return of Ukip; Ladies = Corbyn.

The meeting was called in part to discuss post-Brexit immigration policy after an expert report recommended that EU nationals be subject to the same rules as migrants from the rest of the world once Britain leaves the bloc.

However, there will probably be a lengthy investigation into what went wrong at the informal EU summit in Salzburg last week, where Ms May was fully informed that key elements of the Checkers plan would not work.

The Prime Minister insists that his proposal, that Britain would maintain a "common settlement" with the EU for trade in goods and agriculture, is the only credible option that would avoid a return of hard border 'between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

But it faces increasingly vocal calls from conservative Brexiteers to abandon the verifiers in favor of a more fundamental free trade agreement in the area of ​​property, in the line agreed between the United States and the United States. EU and Canada.

Over the weekend, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, considered a May Loyalist, categorically refused to rule out the possibility that the government could change its position in favor of a Canadian style agreement.

Minister of the Interior Sajid Javid, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Community Leader Andrea Leadsom and Secretary of Labor and Retirement Esther McVey concerned about the auditors.

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Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has refused to rule out a policy change (Victoria Jones / PA)

However, Brexit Secretary General Dominic Raab warned that Brussels' offer of a fashionable deal would mean an agreement on customs controls between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which Ms May categorically rejected.

Meawhile The Times reported that Mr Javid was ready to reinforce the Brexiteers' anger, namely that new controls should not be imposed on European migrants for more than two years in case of a market break in order to protect the EU. economy.

The pressure on the Prime Minister has intensified with the confirmation, this weekend, by Mr. Corbyn, that the Labor Party will vote against any agreement based on the ladies in the Commons.

With a block of Tory Brexiteers also committed to oppose the plan, and a number of pro-EU MPs also very critical, it is increasingly difficult to see how she can collect the numbers to make it go through the parliament. with the EU.

With the Conservative Party conference to be held next week in Birmingham, Downing Street was forced to deny that she was planning an early general election to try to save her prime minister.

He followed the weekend reports that two high-ranking aides had responded to his rebuff from Salzburg by "threatening" a fall vote to get public support for a new plan.

Mr Raab said the idea of ​​an early election was "for the birds" and that the government would continue to negotiate with the EU.

At the same time, he said that they continue to prepare a break without agreement with the publication Monday of a third installment of "technical" documents on the preparations underway in different sectors.

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