Theresa May has agreed to meet Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in order to hold talks over his proposed plans for a soft Brexit.
Last week, Corbyn proposed a five-point plan that would see Britain tied to a single market after Brexit and locked in a customs union with the EU.
In a letter to the Labour leader, the prime minister said that their teams should meet “as soon as possible” in an attempt to reach a breakthrough with less than 50 days to go until the UK leaves the EU.
In a move that surprised Tory MPs, May did not rule out the possibility of keeping the UK in a customs union with the EU.
European Council president Donald Tusk has told May that the opposition leader’s plan could help break the deadlock over the Brexit deal.
The letter alarmed Conservative Eurosceptics, who fear that the prime minister would back keeping Britain in a Customs Union with the EU.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, head of the Eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG), said: “As the 2017 Conservative manifesto promised to leave the Customs Union it would be more consistent for the Prime Minister simply to rule one out.”
MPs will meet in Westminster for another crucial week of Brexit debates as the Brexit secretary heads to Brussels for talks with the EU’s chief negotiator.
May remains officially committed to getting the EU to agree to significant changes to the Irish border backstop as a way of winning over the DUP.
A senior Labour source told The Telegraph that the prime minister’s comments were “constructive.”
