UK PM tells rebels: It’s my Brexit deal or no deal

May will meet EU leaders in Salzburg on Wednesday and Thursday, as she seeks a breakthrough in talks on the Brexit divorce and the future UK-EU trading relationship.

Ahead of the meeting, Mrs May welcomed Malta's Prime Minister to Downing Street, talking Joseph Muscat through her Brexit blueprint in a bid to win support for it.

"This means that our relatives struggle to get visas to come to the United Kingdom for family celebrations, restaurants can not employ skilled chefs from overseas, our temples can not bring in priests, and we can not bring people in for business, cultural or sporting events - as well as the thousands of talented professionals like doctors, teachers and engineers", said Gujarati-origin Priti Patel, former United Kingdom cabinet minister and a prominent pro-Brexit campaigner.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said Monday that "all the likely Brexit scenarios will have costs for the United Kingdom economy", and a no-deal Brexit "would impose very large costs".

On Tuesday, the Brexit committee published a report highlighting that time was running out to secure a deal before an October/November deadline and that significant obstacles needed to be overcome to reach a deal.

But even if she gets an accord in the coming weeks, it must be signed off on in parliament, where she can only muster a slender majority. "The ancestors of many people we represent fought alongside the British in two world wars, but are now forced to stand aside in favour of people with no connection to the United Kingdom".

Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry last week claimed her party could force Mrs May out of government before Christmas.

His statement was seen as a reassurance to fellow Tory Brexiteers who may be unsure about backing Mrs May's plans, with around 80 reportedly prepared to vote down the "Chequers" plan in parliament.

Tusk also warns that a "no-deal scenario" remains "quite possible", but finishes his letter by saying: "If we all act responsibly, we can avoid a catastrophe".

May also insisted no other plan on the table would ensure "frictionless" trade in Ireland.

But critics say her proposal would tie Britain too closely to the European Union, and argue that the Irish issue can be resolved through trusted trader schemes and the use of technology. Hunt succeeded Johnson as foreign secretary in July.

Johnson wrote in Monday's Daily Telegraph that May's Brexit negotiations were heading for a "spectacular political auto crash" that would leave Britain in "the ditch with a total write-off of Brexit".

"I think Parliament will vote for a deal because I think people will see the importance of a deal that maintains a good trading relationship with the European Union but also maintains good cooperation in other areas, but gives us the freedom to take the benefits and opportunities of Brexit", she said in an interview broadcast Monday. "So that's why we are cautiously optimistic that we will get a deal but there is a lot of work to do to get there".