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In a significant raising of the pressure on May from inside her own cabinet, the group of senior ministers will make clear to the prime minister that they could not support a deal that breaches their two red lines.
They are doubling down on their demands that the EU drops its Northern Ireland-only “backstop to the backstop” and that the deal must include a “break clause” mechanism that would allow the UK to unilaterally leave a UK-wide customs arrangement.
The renewed cabinet opposition to the emerging draft Brexit treaty has increased the chances of Britain leaving without a deal. EU sources told BuzzFeed News they would not give in to UK ministers’ demands. If the choice is between a unilateral break clause and no deal, then it is no deal, a senior EU government official said. [...]
A UK official told BuzzFeed News they expected May to eventually present the cabinet with what she and attorney general Geoffrey Cox would claim as a victory on the break clause mechanism. But, they said, it would likely still require mutual agreement with Brussels in order to be triggered. [...]
But a Whitehall source complained the EU was now demanding a “supermarket sweep” of concessions from the UK. They warned a deal that committed the UK to state aid rules would be “worse” than the proposed deal rejected by the cabinet in October. [...]
“There is no point agreeing a deal which will be voted down by parliament, cause the PM to fall, and result in chaos,” said a cabinet source.
They said the opposition to the deal among both Leave- and Remain-supporting MPs following the resignation of transport minister Jo Johnson on Friday meant that if May lost a vote on the deal, she would be ousted before she could try to put it to a second vote. [...]