Senior Cabinet ministers are engaged in secret talks with Labour MPs to secure cross-party backing for a soft Brexit, it has emerged.
Some of the most senior members of Theresa May's team have been discussing how to force the Prime Minister to make concessions on immigration, the customs union and the single market.
There have also been discussions of a cross-party Brexit Commission to agree common ground between the parties and ensure an orderly withdrawal from the EU.
Mrs May is understood to have been aware of the plot for several days but so far has done nothing to stop it.
Ruth Davidson, the increasingly influential leader of the Scottish Conservatives, told Mrs May in a meeting on Monday that she must reach out to other parties and work with others on Brexit. She added that there should be changes in the offer on Brexit as we go forward - a direct challenge to the Prime Ministers authority.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Lord Hague, the former Tory leader, puts forward a plan for how a cross-party commission would work.
He suggests that the election result requires a change both of style and substance in Government, and should be treated as an opportunity and a duty to tackle intractable issues in new ways.
Gaining cross-party support, he says, will require a change in the emphasis given to the UKs objectives, with a clear indication that economic growth will have priority over controlling the number of people entering the country for work.
A commission would include business leaders, the first ministers of devolved governments and the leaders of all the opposition parties yes, even Corbyn to agree common ground.
He also suggests that Britain could join the European Economic Area, like Norway, for two years as a staging post to full Brexit.
More at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/12/tory-labour-mps-plot-secret-deal-ensure-soft-brexit/
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/exclusive-cabinet-sensibles-plot-soft-brexit-a3563036.html