Theresa May 'throwing in the towel' over Brexit negotiations, says Labour MP Chris Leslie

Mr Leslie claims Prime Minister was forced to publish her Brexit plan – and doing so will leave her ‘exposed’

Chris Leslie said the Prime Minister’s decision to withdraw the UK from the single market was evidence of a ‘hard Brexit’ (Getty)

Theresa May has already “thrown in the towel” on key parts of Britain’s negotiations with the EU over Brexit, a Labour MP has said.

Chris Leslie, the former Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the Prime Minister’s decision to publish her plan for Brexit would “expose” her failings in deciding to take Britain out of the EU’s single market.

Ms May announced during Prime Minister’s Questions that the Government will publish its plan for Brexit as a White Paper to be debated by MPs and Lords.

It comes after the Supreme Court ruled that Parliament must be allowed to vote on whether the UK should invoke Article 50 – the mechanism by which countries begin their withdrawal from the union.

Labour sources told The Independent they were expecting the paper to be published as early as Thursday, with debates to begin next week. The Prime Minister has promised to trigger Article 50 by the end of March and therefore wants to get parliamentary proceedings under way as quickly as possible.

Ms May was only publishing the paper because she had been forced to by Conservative backbenchers, Mr Leslie claimed.

He told Sky News: “Theresa May is making out this is no big deal but it is something she’s been forced to concede, not least by her own benches – if you look at [Conservative MP] Anna Soubry just yesterday pushing on this particular issue.

“It now means there are further concessions the Prime Minister could be pushed into [making] because she’s worried about the numbers in Parliament.

Mr Leslie criticised the Prime Minister’s decision to withdraw Britain from the single market – something he said the British public had not voted for.

“I think the White Paper will expose what a bad plan she has and how it’s a hard Brexit plan”, he said.

“We’re not even going to try to salvage the single market membership, which I think she should have tried to do. She’s accepted [the EU’s] red lines”

“[Remaining in the single market] is vital for our economy. The white paper will expose that her plan has thrown in the towel on that option already.”

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said the failure to remain in the single market was David Cameron’s responsibility.

He said: “This is what David Cameron should have been in during his re-negotiation, and didn’t deliver. We have now voted to leave the European Union, not to remain in a marginally reformed European Union.

“The Remain campaign including David Cameron and George Osborne consistently said that voting to leave the European Union meant leaving the single market.

“The single market comes under the European Court of Justice, it comes under the European Commission. It is run by those two bodies. [We] cannot remain in the single market.”