Brexit news: Ministers clash over no deal after right-wing Tories scupper Theresa May in Commons vote

'We are not leaving without a deal. If you want to leave, you'd better agree on one,' says foreign office minister

Government ministers have openly contradicted each other over the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, as a senior Tory claimed half a dozen members of Theresa May's cabinet could resign to stop a disorderly withdrawal from the EU.

It comes as Tory in-fighting flared up once more in the wake of another embarrassing Brexit defeat for the prime minister as the Brexiteer group led by Jacob Rees-Mogg abstained on a key vote.

Posting a series of tweets in the early hours of Friday morning, the foreign office minister Alistair Burt hit back at colleagues, insisting there would not be a no-deal Brexit.

Responding to a claim from former Brexit secretary David Davis that the government was ready to take the UK out of the EU without an agreement, Mr Burt replied: "No. We won't. We are not leaving without a deal. If you want to leave, you'd better agree on one. In the next fortnight would help."

He later said: "There is a majority in the House to reject no deal. Let's leave, with the agreement, and the chance of a new relationship with the EU... Let's all make the compromise."

But speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader, said the government was absolutely determined to keep no deal on the table as an option.

"The government does not want no deal, but it is there because that is the legal default position, and any competent government must prepare for all eventualities," she said.

Pressed on claims from the Conservative MP Dominic Grieve that around six members of the cabinet could be ready to resign if Ms May refused to extend talks beyond the March 29 deadline, Ms Leadsom said: "Resignations from government do happen.

"People have very, very strong heartfelt views about leaving the EU or remaining within it. That is a matter for them as individuals."

Ms Leadsom also tried to play down the outcome of Thursday's defeat in the chamber, claiming it was "more of a hiccup than the disaster that is being reported".

The Brexiteer insisted the vote did not mean MPs had withdrawn their support from the prime minister's efforts to seek changes to the backstop.

"What last night's vote was quite clearly about was the Labour Party playing politics because they decided to vote against what was a very unharmful motion, merely setting out that the prime minister needs more time to deal with the issues the House raised two weeks ago," she said.

As factions within the Conservative party continued to trade bitter blows in the aftermath of Thursday's defeat for the government, Steve Baker – a former Brexit minister and a leading member of the ERG – also threatened that passing a deal that included the backstop on the back of Labour MPs' vote would result in the collapse of the government.

"The DUP would not be able to maintain confidence and supply if this deal goes through," he said.