Brexit: Cabinet minister fails to give public support to Theresa May's exit plan

Prime minister faces growing unrest from her own party over Chequers compromise

Esther McVey has refused to give her full support to Theresa May’s Brexit strategy amid growing unrest among Conservative backbenchers over her EU exit plan.

The work and pensions secretary told a think tank event in London that the prime minister would “deliver the Brexit that Britain voted for” but the pro-Brexit minister stopped short of giving her public backing to Ms May’s new blueprint.

The prime minister managed to unite her cabinet behind the Chequers compromise but the peace was shattered when Boris Johnson and David Davis both dramatically resigned in protest.

Ms May faced taunts from MPs that her plan was “dead in the water” after she narrowly avoided Commons defeats by making a series of concessions to ardent Brexiteers over customs rules.

Former foreign secretary, Mr Johnson, piled on the pressure by using a Commons resignation statement on Wednesday to urge the prime minister to abandon her “miserable” version of Brexit.

Meanwhile, Ms McVey, when asked if she had confidence in the PM’s Chequers plan, said: “I will say that I have full confidence in the prime minister to deliver the Brexit that Britain voted for.”

Her comments came as her partner, Tory MP Philip Davies, submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister, saying her plan for Brexit was “unacceptable”.

In a letter to voters in his Shipley constituency, obtained by The Yorkshire Post, he said: “Politics is all about trust and once it is lost it is impossible to win back.

“Many people have told me that as a result of this they have lost trust in the PM to properly and fully deliver the referendum result.

“It is with much sadness that I have to say that I have also lost trust in her to deliver the referendum result too.”

Mr Davies said that Tories faced losing power to Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour if they failed to deliver the Brexit the country voted for in the 2016 EU referendum.

“Failure to keep our promise to the electorate will almost certainly lead to the catastrophe of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister and I cannot sit back and allow that to happen,” he wrote.

“This has not been an easy decision and I have agonised over it, but I know in my heart of hearts it is the right decision.”

The Brexiteer is the third MP to go public with his letter to Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, although the total number is unknown.

Mr Brady must receive 48 letters from MPs – equivalent to 15 per cent of the parliamentary party – to trigger a no confidence vote in the prime minister.

Andrew Bridgen and former junior minister Andrea Jenkyns have also publicly announced that they have submitted letters to Mr Brady.

However, Eurosceptic MP Simon Clarke declared on Wednesday that he had withdrawn his own letter, after changing his mind about wanting to topple the prime minister.

If a vote is triggered, Ms May would need to win the support of more than half of the 316 Conservative MPs to continue as leader.