Tory rebels scrap plan to publish alternative Brexit plan

Efforts to publish an alternative plan for Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU by Conservative Party eurosceptics have proved to be fruitless, according to a report on Tuesday.

The Tory Brexiteers last week published a draft of their demands for a more distant relationship with the EU.

But on Tuesday, Jacob Rees-Mogg, head of the pro-Brexit European Research Group that drafted the plan, said the full document would not be published.

"The truth is that we reconsidered," he told the Financial Times.

Other sources told the newspaper that the plan was of “dubious quality” plus the ERG's members could not agree on the contents of the document, which was designed as an alternative blueprint to Theresa May's Chequers plan, which has received strong criticism from the Tory party and the EU.

The UK is scheduled to separate from the European Union on 29 March, but a full exit deal has yet to be reached.

On Monday, however, it was reported that European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier said it was "realistic" to hope that a Brexit deal could be negotiated in "six to eight weeks” if negotiators were capable of being more realistic with their demands.