Prime Minister Theresa May has begun a tour of the United Kingdom to drum up support for her Brexit divorce deal with the European Union, while her deputy says parliament might reject it if asked to vote on it now.
May has warned sceptical lawmakers that if they reject the deal then the world's fifth largest economy will either leave without an agreement or Brexit could be delayed or even reversed. The vote in parliament is scheduled for December 11.
Amid demands from British lawmakers for May to seek a better deal from the EU, a step Brussels has said it will not countenance, her de-facto deputy David Lidington told Sky News: "If the vote were today, it would be a difficult one to win, but I think that we have time between now and (December 11) to make the case."
In a separate interview with the BBC, Lidington, the cabinet office minister, said it was "wishful thinking" on the part of some lawmakers that the EU would offer an alternative plan if parliament rejected the deal.
"There's no plan B because the European Union itself is saying the deal that is on the table is the one that we have had to compromise over," he said.
May sealed a deal with EU leaders on Sunday that would see Britain leave the bloc on March 29 with continued close ties, but now faces an uphill struggle to get it approved by a divided parliament where lawmakers of all parties and on both sides of the Brexit debate have criticised it.
May will travel to Northern Ireland and Wales on Tuesday as part of a tour aimed at rallying support for the deal.
May faced further censure on Brexit from the United States, where President Donald Trump said the EU got a good deal that may make trade between Washington and London more difficult.
"I think we have to take a look seriously whether or not the UK is allowed to trade," Trump said. "Because right now if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us ... And that wouldn't be a good thing. I don't think they meant that."
May's office said the deal would allow the UK to sign trade deals with countries throughout the world and it had begun laying the groundwork for an agreement with the United States.
Such is the pressure on her leadership that The Times newspaper reported some Brexit-supporting lawmakers in May's Conservative Party were demanding that she set out when she will quit as a condition for supporting the deal.
