British Prime Minister faces Article 50 endgame

As UK government members plan to back an amendment that could delay Brexit this week, British Prime Minister Theresa May has been advised that dismissing any rebels would cause deeper splits in her party.

Allies to the prime minister have told her the resignations of Anna Soubry, Heidi Allen and Sarah Wollaston from the Conservative party last week have made it too dangerous to sack ministers willing to vote for a Brexit delay.

Last week, three pro-European Union cabinet members warned they could vote to delay Brexit to prevent a "disastrous" no-deal.

Amber Rudd, David Gauke and Greg Clark made it clear they are prepared to defy the prime minister unless there is a parliamentary breakthrough on her deal.

The trio declared that if hardline Conservative Brexiteers in the European Research Group, also known as ERG, scupper a deal they will back other members of Parliament to try to force Theresa May to extend Article 50 and delay Britain's exit from the EU.

The Cabinet ministers warn a no-deal departure would wreck the economy and risk the break-up of the United Kingdom. They say it remains their hope that Parliament agrees a deal "in the next few days".

MPs are due to vote on the plan to delay Brexit – proposed by Oliver Letwin, the former Tory Cabinet minister, and Labour's Yvette Cooper, the chair of the home affairs select committee – on Wednesday.

It would force the government to request a delay if a deal has not been secured by the mid-March. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29.

In an article for the Observer, Letwin states that a vote for his plan would open the door to Parliament taking control of the Brexit process. "If we don't act now, the UK will sleepwalk out of the EU in just over 30 days with no deal whatsoever," he wrote.

"Many of us on the Conservative benches have already voted for the prime minister's deal once. We are more than prepared to do so again next week and in coming weeks. But we have watched with increasing dismay as the government has shuffled, bit by bit, towards a cliff edge.

"The prospect of falling by mistake into a no-deal Brexit, simply because we have failed to create an opportunity for cross-party consensus to emerge, would be a tragic and historic mistake."

However, allowing the amendment vote could pose dangers for the government. One Cabinet minister was reported by the Guardian to have said such a decision would "look like the government failing to take responsibility for delivering Brexit on time", and cause a revolt among Brexiteers.

Activists gathering for the Conservative party's national convention on Saturday passed a motion opposing any attempt to delay Britain's EU exit.

In a speech to the Tory activists the prime minister said the "worst thing we could do is lose our focus".

The government has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of the UK leaving without a formal deal.

Contact the writer at jonathan@mail.chinadailyuk.com