UK Cabinet minister: Brexit referendum 'plausible' if MPs reject

The UK Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has given the strongest support yet from inside Cabinet for a second referendum, saying it was "plausible" if Parliament rejects British Prime Minister Theresa May's deal with the EU in January.

Rudd, who campaigned for Remain in 2016, admitted her view might "distress" some Conservative colleagues, but underlined she did not back holding another poll and was fully committed to pushing May's deal through Parliament.

"I have said I don't want a People's Vote or referendum in general but if Parliament absolutely failed to reach a consensus I could see there would be a plausible argument for it," Rudd told ITV.

"Parliament has to reach a majority on how it is going to leave the EU. If it fails to do so, I can see the argument for taking it back to the people again as much as it would distress many of my colleagues."

Rudd, who went head-to-head with Cabinet colleague Andrea Leadsom in a televised debate during the 2016 referendum, said it was imperative that MPs "find a way of getting a deal through Parliament".

Leadsom, the Commons leader and a Leave campaigner in 2016, set out rival plans if May can't get her Brexit deal through.

"A managed no deal does not necessarily mean there is no withdrawal agreement at all," Leadsom told BBC Radio 4's Today program.

Leadsom said it could be a stripped-down agreement incorporating some of the EU's no-deal preparations.

"What I am looking at is trying to find an alternative so that in the event that we cannot agree to this deal that there could be a further deal that looks at a more minimalist approach but enables us to leave with some kind of implementation period.

"That avoids a cliff edge, that avoids uncertainty for businesses and travelers and so on."

Meanwhile, France's European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said on Thursday that Britain can still hold a second Brexit referendum.

"The door remains open, but it will be up to them to choose, not us," Loiseau told French TV station CNews.

May has consistently ruled out a second referendum as an option.

Leadsom told MPs on Thursday that the new debate on May's Brexit deal will start on Wednesday, Jan 9. She said she expected MPs to debate it on Thursday and Friday that week as well.

She did not say when the vote would be, but if it is a five-day debate again, the vote would probably be on Tuesday, Jan 15.

Whether MPs will debate a new motion, or the one tabled earlier this month, depends on what May comes back with after her talks with the EU, she said.