Tory Brexiteers challenge PM and lay out no-deal Brexit blueprint

Hardline Tory Brexiteers are to challenge Prime Minister Theresa May by publishing a positive blueprint for a no-deal Brexit and abandoning all support for May’s Chequers proposal, introduced last month.

The faction of Tory dissidents lead by the chairman of the European Research Group focused on Brexit, Jacob Rees-Mogg, is working on a paper that is due to be published next month where it will offer an alternative view to the government’s white paper. In the new document, they will outline the advantages of a hard Brexit.

It is expected that the group will support the UK leaving on World Trade Organisation terms and allow for a possible Canadian-style free trade agreement with the EU.

Under a Canadian-style agreement, there would be no tariffs on trade between the UK and the EU, but Britain would not be part of the single market or customs union.

According to The Times, 60 to 80 Conservative MPs are expected to support the new plan, ratcheting-up the pressure on the PM ahead of the party conference in October.

The International Monetary Fund believes Rees-Mogg's plan could back the UK into a 'cliff edge' situation, inflicting grave damage on the economies of both the UK and the trading block.

May’s aides believe that a show of strength from the hardliners could discourage Brussels from engaging seriously with the Chequers proposal, by boosting those who argue that May lacks the majority needed to push her plan through Parliament.