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Theresa May’s government says they fully back her Brexit policy, despite calls for direction change

September 25, 2018

Ms May is sticking to her plan for cooperation with the EU, but European leaders says it won’t work.

UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said cabinet ministers had a "good, healthy discussion" on plans for Britain's departure from the EU during a meeting earlier in the day chaired by Prime Minister Theresa May.

May met at No 10 Downing Street with her divided Cabinet, with some Brexit-supporting ministers urging her to seek a looser relationship based on a bare-bones free trade agreement that would leave Britain free to strike new deals around the world.

Pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said Britain would prosper under a "Canada Plus" deal - a variation on the free trade agreement struck between Canada and the EU after years of negotiations.

May says a "Canada-style" deal would not prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Asked whether all cabinet members supported May's Chequers plan, he said the prime minister had made it clear the plan was still on the table.

The plan seeks to keep the UK in the EU single market for goods but not for services, in order to ensure free trade with the bloc and an open border between the UK's Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

The Conservative government's blueprint for future trade ties with the bloc was rejected last week by EU leaders at a summit in Salzburg, Austria.

That left May's leadership under siege and Britain at growing risk of crashing out of the EU with no deal in place.

Amid mounting uncertainty, the British government has stepped up preparations for leaving without an agreement - though it insists that outcome is unlikely.

"We're not going to suddenly throw up our hands in despair because we've had a bump in the road in these negotiations. We'll keep calm, we'll hold our nerve and we'll get there," Raab said.

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