Brexit: Theresa May to issue last-ditch plea to warring Tory MPs ahead of EU Withdrawal Bill showdown

Theresa May is set to appeal for unity from her warring MPs ahead of a crucial showdown in the Commons on the government’s flagship Brexit legislation.

On Tuesday, the EU (Withdrawal) Bill will return to the chamber for two days, with the prime minister seeking to overturn all but one of 15 amendments added by the Lords.

In an attempt to avoid a series of damaging defeats, Ms May will today reach out to her MPs at what is likely to be a highly-charged appearance before the backbench 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs.

“The purpose of the EU Withdrawal Bill is simple - it is putting EU legislation into law to ensure a smooth and orderly transition as we leave,” she is expected to tell them.

“But the message we send to the country through our votes this week is important. We must be clear that we are united as a party in our determination to deliver on the decision made by the British people.

“They want us to deliver on Brexit and build a brighter future for Britain as we take back control of our money, our laws and our borders.”

Despite the government’s wafer-thin majority in the Commons alongside the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), ministers appeared confident over the weekend of avoiding defeats on issues ranging from customs to a meaningful vote for Parliament on the final Brexit deal.

And on Sunday, Amber Rudd, the former home secretary and a leading Remain supporter, formed an unlikely alliance with the prominent Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith, to urge colleagues in the Tory party to back the prime minister.

In a joint article in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Rudd and Mr Duncan Smith said the vote was “not about competing visions of the future but about ensuring legal certainty at our point of departure”.

“Jeremy Corbyn will do everything he can to stop us,” they added “That includes cynically trying to frustrate the Brexit process for his own political ends, as he will try to do next week when the Commons votes again on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.

“So it behoves us all to demonstrate discipline and unity of purpose in support of the Prime Minister.”

But veteran former chancellor Kenneth Clarke urged the pro-EU rebels to hold their nerve, arguing that if they succeeded they would strengthen Mrs May's hand against the Brexit hardliners in the Cabinet.

He dismissed claims that defeat for the Government would lead to a general election potentially opening the door for Jeremy Corbyn to take power. “Nobody in the House of Commons wants a general election. Most Labour MPs are as terrified of the idea of a Corbyn government as I am,” he told the BBC One Sunday Politics programme.

“What we need to do is to rescue the Prime Minister from this terrible treatment she is getting from key members of her Cabinet.

Speaking on the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, Sarah Wollaston, a leading pro-EU Tory, called for further "concessions" on the customs union as she said she was "minded" to rebel and support the Lords amendment on a meaningful vote.

“We would like to see further concessions on the amendment on the customs union because it is just a very sensible amendment that says keep it on the table, don't completely rule it out,” she said. “I'm minded at the moment to vote for the meaningful final vote.”

She added: “If it came back to us then having to have a vote of confidence, we would all vote to support the Prime Minister. We do support the Prime Minister.

“But, I think what matters most here is that all parliamentarians actually focus on the issue at hand here. This isn't about narrow party politics.