Brexit: Michael Gove hints Theresa May will withdraw Commons vote in move expected to trigger her resignation

Michael Gove has hinted that Theresa May will pull the latest Commons vote on her Brexit deal to avoid a crushing defeat – a move likely to trigger her resignation from No 10 within days.

The environment secretary refused – three times – to say the vote would go ahead as planned early next month, saying: “We will reflect over the course of the next few days.”

Asked about a fresh move by Tory backbenchers to topple the prime minister as early as next Tuesday, after the expected European elections defeat is announced, Mr Gove declined to “provide a commentary on that”.

"I think the prime minister will be prime minister next Tuesday, yes,” he said.

Downing Street is insisting the withdrawal agreement bill will be put before MPs in the first week of June, after she dangled the prospect of a Final Say referendum as part of a 10-point plan.

But the speech has backfired disastrously, failing to win over Labour MPs while the number of Tory opponents has soared from 34 to at least 65.

Meanwhile, the latest poll for Thursday’s EU elections has put the Conservatives in a startling fifth place, behind the Green party, on a pitiful 7 per cent.

Later on Wednesday, the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers will debate yet another call to change the party rulebook and force Ms May from office, if she refuses to quit.

Nigel Evans, its secretary, demanded an “immediate confidence vote”, saying: “She has U-turned on absolutely everything. We cannot put up with this any longer.”

Asked about the vote, pencilled in for 7 June, Mr Gove told the BBC: "We will reflect over the course of the next few days on how people look at the proposition that has been put forward.”

He added: “I can understand the strong feelings – I have strong feelings – on leaving the European Union that have been aired and articulated over the course of the last 24 hours.

“I think it is also important that there is a period of reflection and a period of analysis as we look at what the prime minister has put forward.”

Scrapping the vote – a de-facto admission that she cannot deliver Brexit – would leave Ms May with little argument for delaying the resignation she has already promised in the near future.

Some at Westminster believe events could move quickly, to install a new Tory leader and prime minister by late July, rather than over the summer – with Boris Johnson the strong favourite.

Labour also called for the withdrawal agreement bill to be shelved, again urging her to make a proper commitment to a fresh referendum as the only route forward.

“The prime minister needs to, today, accept that what she announced yesterday isn't going to work and pull the vote,” said Keir Starmer, the Brexit spokesman.

“She has still got time to say 'I do know what the central concerns of the Labour Party are and I'm prepared to put a concrete policy proposition on the face of the Bill on the issues of a close economic relationship and on the issue of a public vote'.”