Theresa May has been facing increasing demands to resign after she and her Government failed to deliver on the Brexit vote on time. As commentators suggest the Prime Minister could soon see the end of her leadership, former Brexit minister Steve Baker claimed Mrs May had the opportunity to strike an agreement with the European Union last year but rejected the offer. Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Baker said: "Theresa May decided to take this on.
"In March 2018, DExEU Brexit ministers took a decision to go for an FTA-based Brexit – a free trade agreement-based Brexit. A few weeks later, the EU offered us that kind of exit.
"I was rejoicing but that wasn’t good enough for the Prime Minister. That is the ultimate source of all of these difficulties - she tried to keep us much more highly aligned to the EU."
Mr Baker, who made the comment following the resignation of the leader of the House Andrea Leadsom in protest for Mrs May's Brexit stance, added: "It was never going to work and that’s why we are where we are. That’s why we tried to remove the Prime Minister before Christmas."
Ms Leadsom, a contender to the Prime Ministerial seat in the 2016 leadership challenge and the 36th minister to quit under Theresa May's leadership, said she could not announce the new Withdrawal Agreement Bill in Parliament as she did not believe in it.
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Brexit news: Baker claimed May had a chance to strike a deal with the EU in March 2018 (Image: C4 NEWS•PARLIAMENT TV)
Mrs May last week announced plans to put her controversial withdrawal deal to the vote for the fourth time on the first week of June.
The South Northamptonshire MP said in her damning resignation letter to
