Next week's parliamentary vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May's deal will go ahead, Interior Minister Sajid Javid says, rejecting media speculation that the government might not go ahead with the vote because they could lose it.
"I don't think there is any chance of pulling the vote. I just don't see that happening," Javid told BBC radio.
"This vote is taking place, as planned, and many MPs are considering how they may or may not vote."
Opposition parties, the small Northern Irish party that props up May's government as well as many politicians in her own Conservative Party have said they would vote against the deal on December 11.
Javid also said details of Britain's post-Brexit immigration system would not be published before the vote but he said it would bring net migration down to a sustainable level.
If the government survives a vote of no confidence, Labour would probably start campaigning for a second referendum on remaining, shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said.
May's government was facing a no-confidence vote had the UK parliament rejected her Brexit deal. Source: AAP
"It seems to me that if the Prime Minister has lost a vote of that sort of significance, then there has to be a question of confidence in her government," he told Sky News.
Supporters of a second vote, say the public mood is swinging towards a new vote,
"There is a growing momentum behind the campaign for a second referendum," Constantine Fraser, an analyst research consultancy TS Lombard, said.
"It will become a serious option on the table if, or more likely when, Theresa May's deal is voted down.
"I wouldn't say it's a probability, but it's a likelihood that's growing fast."
There are significant structural barriers to a second vote, according to analysts.
"You would need the government to actually table a proposal, have a vote in favour of it, which would require cross-party support," Nick Wright, a fellow in EU politics at University College London, told AFP.
May has repeatedly ruled out halting Brexit or holding another vote, and it would be hard without her support.
EU and Union flags are waved outside the Parliament to protest against Brexit. Source: AAP
"It's not impossible," noted Fraser.
"If it becomes clear that there's political pressure for it in parliament, the government may have no other option politically."
A cross-party group of MPs on Thursday laid down an amendment to May's EU withdrawal legislation in a bid to stop a no-deal Brexit emerging as the default fallback option.
The proposed amendment would hand power to lawmakers if her plan is rejected in the House of Commons -- and could potentially provide a legislative pathway for a referendum.
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