Theresa May offered glimmer of hope by Merkel amid threats over Brexit plans from Tory rebels

Boris Johnson and David Davis were among those resigning over Brexit

Theresa May has been offered a glimmer of hope from the EU over her new Brexit plan, after a bruising few days marked by a string of shock resignations from senior Tories.

Angela Merkel appeared to soften her tone towards the beleaguered prime minister by promising to consider her proposals for future relations with the EU in “the spirit of friendship”.

It will come as a relief to Ms May that European leaders have not rejected her plan outright, as officials in Brussels previously warned it could be “dead in the water” over the EU’s opposition to any hint the UK wants a single market deal on goods but not services.

Ms May pushed her cabinet to agree to the policy at her Chequer’s retreat on Friday but her authority was dealt a hammer blow by the resignations of leading Brexiteers, David Davis and Boris Johnson, who quit within hours of each other.

Several other Conservatives decided to follow suit, including vice chairs Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield, who warned that her plans for close links with Europe after Brexit risked handing Jeremy Corbyn the keys to 10 Downing Street.

Speaking alongside the prime minister at a press conference in London, Ms Merkel said: “I can only say that even after Britain has left the EU, we want to have as close a relationship with Britain as possible – which I think is true also for the other European member states.

“We remain Europeans although we may not all then be members of the EU.

“What we want to do now is bring the negotiating process forward... We as the 27 under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier, will then form an opinion and later on table a common response to those proposals. It’s a good thing that we have proposals on the table.

“We are looking forward to interesting discussions, but we will also have those discussions inspired by the spirit of friendship and inspired by the wish to continue a good relationship in the future.”

Her words came after Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said a deal is 80 per cent agreed and he was determined to negotiate the remaining 20 per cent of the deal ahead of the Brussels deadline for an agreement in three months time.

“After 12 months of negotiations we have agreed on 80 per cent of the negotiations,” he told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

“We are not so far from the final agreement, 20 per cent. I don’t want to put myself in the situation where we fail. But to be clear, we are prepared on the European side [for] many options, including the no deal.”

Ms May appears to be clinging on for now following the loss of her Brexit secretary and foreign secretary, as well as several other junior ministers and MPs.

After chairing a meeting of her new-look cabinet, she insisted it was business as usual, tweeting: “Productive cabinet meeting this morning – looking ahead to a busy week. And sending our best wishes to England for tomorrow!”

The PM’s spokesman later said that cabinet gave its approval to pressing ahead with preparations for a possible “no deal” Brexit, as agreed at Chequers last Friday.