The UK could pursue alternative options including a 'Norway Plus' option should Theresa May's Brexit plan be rejected by MPs, Amber Rudd has acknowledged.
The Secretary for Work and Pensions became the first Cabinet minister to publicly discuss the merits of a 'Plan B' if Mrs May deal is defeated in Tuesday's crunch Commons vote.
She said should the deal be voted down, she would prefer a so-called Norway-plus model for Brexit that would involve staying part of the European Economic Area.
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The UK could pursue alternative options including a 'Norway Plus' option should Theresa May's Brexit plan be rejected by MPs, Amber Rudd has acknowledged. The Secretary for Work and Pensions became the first Cabinet minister to publicly discuss the merits of a 'Plan B' if Mrs May deal is defeated in Tuesday's crunch Commons vote
Under the Norway-plus plan, the UK would remain in the single market and customs union, which would remove the need to use the Irish backstop provision.
She also suggested a second referendum was another potential outcome that might be sought by MPs if the deal is thrown out.
The former home secretary said the alternative 'seems plausible not just in terms of the country but in terms of where the MPs are,' but conceded that 'nobody knows if it can be done'.
Ms Rudd predicted a 'chaotic' period if the Government is defeated.
'If it doesn't get through, anything could happen - People's Vote, Norway-plus, any of these options could come forward and none of them are as good as the current arrangement we have got with the Withdrawal Agreement to vote on on Tuesday.'
Her comments could be viewed as an attempt to win over Brexiteers who might prefer Mrs May's deal, even with its controversial Northern Irish backstop, to a Norway-plus future inside both the single market and customs union or the possibility of another referendum reversing the 2016 vote.
She said should the deal be voted down, she would prefer a so-called Norway-plus model for Brexit that would involve staying part of the European Economic Area. Under the Norway-plus plan, the UK would remain in the single market and customs union, which would remove the need to use the Irish backstop provision
'A lot of people have a perfect vision of what they think Brexit should look like, and that 'perfect' is not available,' she told BBC Radio 4's Today.
'What we need is a compromise deal, that's what the Prime Minister has proposed and I would urge my colleagues to think about, first of all, why people voted to leave the European Union, what their interpretation is of that; and secondly, what the alternatives are.
'This is why I think it is important for people not just to think why they don't particularly like the Withdrawal Agreement but what they would like better that is available and would get through the House of Commons.'
Amber Rudd (pictured) has said a Norway-style arrangement 'seems plausible not just in terms of the country but in terms of where the MPs are'
Senior Norwegian politicians have warned Britain cannot have the same deal enjoyed by their country even if Theresa May's deal is defeated.
It was claimed today that at least 10 Cabinet ministers could back the Norway-style Brexit to break the impasse.
Under the Norway-plus plan, the UK would remain in the single market and customs union, which would remove the need to use the Irish backstop provision.
It would also protect current trade links with the EU - but it would fail to deliver on key Brexiteer promises over free movement and sovereignty.
Mrs May was warned by critics that she could be forced to stand down as Prime Minister if her Brexit deal is defeated in the Commons next week.
Norwegian MP Heidi Nordby Lunde (file) Britain cannot have the same deal enjoyed by her country even if Theresa May's deal is defeated
Eurosceptic former party leader Iain Duncan Smith cautioned against the PM and her Cabinet deciding to 'brazen it out', saying such an approach would be a 'disaster'.
'How the PM responds after the vote matters more than anything else she has done,' he told the Daily Telegraph.
'I believe that if the response is, 'we've lost but we will do this all over again', it will become a leadership issue.'
Another former leader Lord Howard said Mrs May would have 'difficult decisions to make about her future and about the future of our country' if she loses on December 11.
Ms Rudd said she hoped the Government would 'regroup' and 'hold stable, hold firm' in the aftermath of a defeat.
Despite the warning Labour MP Stephen Kinnock (file) said the warring Brexit tribes needed to put aside their differences
'What would be a complete mistake would be to allow what is already an unstable period to descend into further instability with talk of a leadership change,' she said.
The Cabinet minister also appeared to endorse an amendment to the Government's motion for the vote on Tuesday tabled by former Northern Ireland minister Sir Hugo Swire in an attempt to win over wavering Eurosceptics.
The alteration would mean Parliament would have to approve a decision to trigger the backstop arrangement, put a one-year time limit on it and seek assurances from the EU that the backstop would be temporary.
Ms Rudd told Today: 'Hugo Swire has put an amendment down which I hope will give some of my colleagues reassurance over the so-called backstop.'
Lord Howard suggested that talks with Brussels should be intensified to prepare for a Brexit with no formal deal.
'We should seek to put in place some ad hoc, temporary arrangements with the agreement of the European Union which would minimise and, indeed, perhaps even eliminate any disruption at the border on March 30 next year,' he told Today.
'We should also undertake that we would unilaterally, for the period of 12 months after March 29, allow any goods and services in from the European Union without any tariffs or tariff barriers or obstacles in any way - hope that they will reciprocate but do it even if they don't - and use that 12-month period to negotiate a free-trade agreement along the style of Canada-plus.'
Norwegian MP Heidi Nordby Lunde told The Guardian it was 'not an option'.
She said: 'Really, the Norwegian option is not an option.
'We have been telling you this for one and a half years since the referendum and how this works, so I am surprised that after all these years it is still part of the grown-up debate in the UK.
'You just expect us to give you an invitation rather than consider whether Norway would want to give you such an invitation.
'It might be in your interest to use our agreement, but it would not be in our interest.'
Despite the warning Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said the warring Brexit tribes needed to put aside their differences.
It was claimed today that at least 10 Cabinet ministers could back a Norway-style Brexit to break the impasse if Theresa May's deal is crushed on Tuesday night
Backing Norway, he said: 'We understand that there are at least 10 Cabinet ministers who are supporting this arrangement.'
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'What we need the Prime Minister to do, when she loses the vote on Tuesday, is to go on to the steps of Downing Street and make a very clear statement that we must pivot now to Norway-plus.'
A Norwegian-style compromise is opposed by many Eurosceptics, who believe it will amount to 'Brexit in name only', and by former Remainers who are pushing for a second referendum.
There is also resistance within Europe about the possibility of an economy the size of the UK joining the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and European Economic Area (EEA) along with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The People's Vote campaign, which wants a second referendum, published a dossier condemning the Norway-plus proposal.
In a joint foreword, Labour former foreign secretary David Miliband and Tory ex-minister Jo Johnson - who quit his Government role in November over Brexit - said: 'Norway-plus would represent a long-term commitment to pay to benefit from the European Union's regulatory structures while choosing to be outside it.'
They added that while rejoining EFTA may limit the economic damage it would represent a 'significant loss of power' and influence.
'Both sides would be entitled to ask, if the past two and a half years of upheaval and tortuous negotiation culminated in a Norway-plus deal, what was the point of all that?'
Mr Johnson said the arrangement would turn the UK into a 'nation of lobbyists' seeking to influence rules set in Brussels over which it had no say.
But Tory ex-minister Nick Boles said: 'Norway-plus is a compromise that has broad appeal to the pragmatic middle.
'It delivers a softish Brexit with a deal that preserves membership of the single market and keeps the union of the UK intact.'
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News Pictures Amber Rudd says 'Norway Plus' option is a 'plausible' alternative to Theresa May's Brexit deal
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