Theresa May has endured a fiery Question

Theresa May has endured a fiery Question Time where she was quizzed about her Brexit plan and is now trying to convince her Cabinet to back it.

Ministers have arrived at Downing Street where the British Prime Minister has called a special meeting of her Cabinet to sell the draft Brexit agreement she and the leaders of the European Union have come up with.

It won’t be easy and there is talk she may be forced to quit if the plan isn’t given the green light by ministers or if a number of senior figures quit in response.

Theresa May has endured a fiery Question Time where she was quizzed about her Brexit plan and is now trying to convince her Cabinet to back it.

Ministers have arrived at Downing Street where the British Prime Minister has called a special meeting of her Cabinet to sell the draft Brexit agreement she and the leaders of the European Union have come up with.

It won’t be easy and there is talk she may be forced to quit if the plan isn’t given the green light by ministers or if a number of senior figures quit in response.

Even if the plan is approved she faces an uphill task in getting it through the divided House of Commons, where her Conservative Party doesn’t have a majority and rebel MPs are expected to cross the floor to vote against the deal.

Before the Cabinet showdown she faced a tense Question Time where MPs - both friend and foe - attacked the plan, and her handling of the negotiations.

Senior conservative MP Peter Bone, who is pro-Brexit, said she was “not delivering the Brexit people voted for” and told her: “Today you will lose the support of many Conservative MPs and millions of voters across the country.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told Parliament “this Government spent two years negotiating a bad deal” and that the Prime Minister is asking MPs to choose between a “half baked deal and no deal”.

Britain and the EU agree there must be no barriers that could disrupt businesses and residents on either side of the border and undermine Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace process — but they have differed on how to achieve that.

The controversial “Irish backstop” plan is the element of Theresa May’s deal which is most likely to cause fury among MPs. The mechanism is designed to ensure there is never a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Britain and the EU hope to agree a technological solution to the border problem during trade talks over the next two years.

The backstop is a legally binding arrangement which keeps the border open even if those efforts fail.

Leaked details of Mrs May’s deal suggest that it will keep Britain tied to the EU customs union until an alternative solution is found.

The whole UK would continue to follow European rules on customs - and Northern Ireland would stay tied to EU regulations even more closely.

That is likely to concern many in the party as it means Northern Ireland would be treated differently than the rest of the UK - but the backstop would not involve checks on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland.