Bid to extend proxy voting for ill and bereaved

It comes amid repeated warnings that a no-deal Brexit could severely damage the UK economy.

On Tuesday Ms May will face a concerted effort from a cross-party group of MPs likely backed by Jeremy Corbyn’s frontbench to extend the Article 50 negotiating period, delaying Brexit and avoiding no deal for now.

The prime minister has insisted it must remain a possibility however, and in the past week or so both justice secretary David Gauke and pensions secretary Amber Rudd have indicated they could resign if the government were to pursue a no-deal Brexit policy.

Speaking on BBC 1’s Andrew Marr programme, Mr Hinds was asked if he could follow suit, answering: “I don’t envisage no deal becoming government policy.

“We want to avoid a no deal. No deal would not be a good outcome.”

But he went on: “But, it is important that it remains as a possibility because, on the other hand... some people are trying to thwart Brexit altogether.”

No-deal Brexit will compromise ‘last line of defence’ for UK habitats

On the controversial backstop proposals – to come into play if the UK cannot agree a future trade deal with the EU by December 2020, potentially locking Britain into an indefinite customs union – Mr Hinds said there are reasons to believe it would never happen.

“And, even if it did, actually there are some advantages to the backstop as well as drawbacks,” he added.

Asked if the government supported a time limit to the backstop – something set to be demanded by Tory MPs and Ms May’s DUP backers on Tuesday – he said it was not “entirely in the gift” of the government.

In an article for the Sunday Times, Ms Leadsom accused some MPs of using attempts to take no deal off the table in order to stop Brexit altogether.

Brexit: £17 billion already ripped out of UK public purse due to decision to quit EU, research shows

She wrote: “I’m usually the last person to agree with anything that Michel Barnier says, but this week I was surprised to find common ground with him.

“He made clear that opposition to a no-deal Brexit will not stop it from happening in March.

“Taking no deal off the table has been used as a thinly veiled attempt to stop Brexit — which conveniently overlooks the simple fact that no deal is the legal default, and that the best and most responsible way to avoid it is by voting for a deal.”

She targeted criticism at MPs attempting to temporarily rewrite standing orders of parliament in order to allow themselves to bring forward legislation to vote on instead of the government, effectively stripping Ms May of some executive power.

The minister asked: “When government sets a policy and legislative agenda, parliament scrutinises and holds it to account. In a world where parliament itself is setting that agenda, who scrutinises and holds parliament to account?”

Labour MP Yvette Cooper said she was not seeking to “block Brexit” with her amendment and said she was not yet sure if she had the backing of Mr Corbyn