The Prime Minister says she is prepared to hold talks with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to try and break the political deadlock over Brexit.

Theresa May made the announcement after a marathon seven hour long cabinet meeting held to try and reach a consensus around the terms of the UK's departure from the EU.

In a move that has caused some surprise among Conservatives, the Prime Minister said it was time for national unity to help resolve the stalemate over Brexit.

Talking outside Downing Street after the cabinet meeting she said: “Leaving with a deal is the best solution.

"So we will need a further extension of Article 50, one that is as short as possible and which ends when we pass a deal.

"And we need to be clear what such an extension is for, to ensure we leave in a timely and orderly way. This debate, this division, cannot drag on much longer.

"I'm offering to sit down with the Leader of the opposition to try to agree a plan that we would both stick to, to ensure that we leave the European Union and that we do so with a deal.

"Any plan would have to agree the current withdrawal agreement.”

Any revised deal would have to be agreed by Parliament by Wednesday, May 22 to avoid the UK having to stand in the European elections.

Reaction from one Kent MP suggested the PM would be in for a rough ride. Dover MP Charlie Elphicke tweeted that he would not back any deal for a customs union imposed with Labour votes:

The latest twist in the Brexit saga came after one Kent MP said she understood the frustration felt by a former Conservative MP Nick Boles.

He announced that he would be quitting the party and would sit as an independent in The Commons.

He accused the party of being unwilling to agree to compromise over Brexit.

Faversham and Kent MP Helen Whately, who is also a vice chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “I feel his frustration.

"He has put in a huge amount of work.

"He has been fantastic for the Conservatives and has done some brilliant policy work."

And speaking before the news of the cabinet meeting, feel better and Conservative MP for Thanet North Sir Roger Gale warned there was the possibility of a snap general election.

“You can see there is a situation where there is a Corbyn-led government...at which point the four horses of the apocalypse gallop over the horizon,” he said in an interview on Sky news.

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