Will MPs vote on an alternative Brexit?

Theresa May is facing pressure from within her own government to end the impasse over Brexit by inviting MPs to take part in a series of non-binding votes on the potential alternatives.

With opponents to the prime minister’s deal refusing to budge, many members of her cabinet “now think a series of ‘indicative’ votes in Parliament on all the options could be the only way through the deadlock”, says HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.

The various options being backed by different groups of MPs include leaving the EU without a deal, a second referendum, or a deal based on the Norway or the Canada models.

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“We can’t have continued uncertainty and I think Parliament should be invited to say what it would agree with,” Business Secretary Greg Clark told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that “every MP needs to regard themselves as responsible participants”.

This view was echoed by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that he “wouldn’t have a huge problem with Parliament as a whole having a say on what the options were”.

May called an informal inner cabinet meeting of “broadly supportive ministers” this morning to discuss the Brexit deadlock, with ministers including Amber Rudd and David Gauke expected to press the “indicative vote” plan once again, reports The Guardian. “At this stage, it’s all about taking options off the table,” a cabinet source told the newspaper.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds appears to agree with this position, telling BBC Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics that “there is a value in, sort of, flushing out, what these various different options are”.

The thinking behind the proposal would be to do it “before the vote on the prime minister’s deal, in the hope it highlights that her plan is the only workable Brexit deal achievable now”, says the BBC’s Chris Mason.

But May’s spokesperson denied that No. 10 was considering holding any indicative votes, saying: “There are no plans to have one.”

This rejection “will make cabinet even more fractious”, tweets The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

The issue does not appear to be settled, however, with the Downing Street spokesperson failing to “explain why multiple members of May’s cabinet are now publicly calling for [indicative parliamentary votes]”, adds Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov.