By Elizabeth Piper
Birmingham: British Prime Minister Theresa May has called on her party to unite behind her plan to leave the European Union, making a direct appeal to critics by saying their desire for a free trade deal was at the heart of her Brexit proposals.
Theresa May sits in audience during the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on Sunday.
Photo: Bloomberg
At the start of one of the Conservative Party's stormiest annual conferences on Sunday, May's plans were once again attacked by two former ministers, with her ex-foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, calling them "deranged".
But she won strong backing from other Brexit supporting ministers, with Trade Minister Liam Fox and Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt turning their anger against the EU, for "taunting Theresa May, one of the most unfailingly polite people".
Demonstrators protest against Brexit as the governing Conservative Party start their annual four-day party conference on Sunday.
Photo: AP
Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU in the country's biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, the debate over how to leave the bloc is still raging in the centre-right Conservative Party, and even in government.
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May's already fragile leadership was put under further pressure this month when the EU rejected parts of the so-called Chequers plan. But she put a positive spin on those talks, saying she was ready to consider the EU's concerns.
"My message to my party is let's come together and get the best deal for Britain," May told the BBC in the central English city of Birmingham.
"At the heart of the Chequers plan is a free trade deal, a free trade area and frictionless trade ... Chequers at the moment is the only plan on the table that delivers on the Brexit vote ... and also delivers for the people of Northern Ireland."
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