Parliament trying to gain power to 'delay exit from EU indefinitely', says Liam Fox

'The implication of the Lords amendment last night is that we could be delaying exit from the EU indefinitely'

Parliament will have the power to “delay exit from the EU indefinitely” unless the “meaningful vote” defeat in the House of Lords is overturned, Liam Fox says.

The International Trade Secretary condemned peers for defying the referendum result, in inflicting the defeat on Theresa May – but also admitted it had given MPs the chance to exert a huge amount of influence over the exit process.

“The implication of the Lords amendment last night is that we could be delaying exit from the EU indefinitely,” Dr Fox protested.

“It is a backdoor mechanism, in my view, for trying to block the democratic will.”

However, he stopped short of vowing to reverse the vote in the Commons, where pro-EU Tories are increasingly confident they can overturn the upper house's amendment.

The comments come after peers voted to ensure parliament – rather than the government – decides the next steps if the prime minister’s exit deal is rejected in the autumn.

Unless the defeat is overturned by MPs, it increases the chances of sending the government back to the negotiating table, or even forcing a fresh referendum on Brexit.

Dr Fox warned of a public backlash if peers continued to throw up obstacles, but tried to scotch talk that a further referendum may be the only way out of any impasse.

“Even the House of Lords, last night, rejected having another referendum. I think that when we have taken a decision, we follow it through,” he said.

Dr Fox insisted crashing out of the EU with no agreement – a threat repeatedly made by the prime minister – was still on the table, but downgraded it to a “possibility”.

He also tried to rule out compromise on the policy of staying out of a customs union with the EU, saying: “We would be in a worse position than we are today.

“We would have to accept what the EU negotiated in terms of market access to the UK, without the UK having a voice.”

He added: “A customs union is what Turkey has – it would still leave us accepting rules made by Brussels with no say in how they are made.”

Dr Fox hinted strongly that he would resign if the prime minister does give way, refusing to answer the question directly, but adding: “Getting no answer you can draw your own inferences.”

When, on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, it was put to him that Ms May was a “horribly weakened” prime minister, he replied: “We don't have a parliamentary majority, that's for sure. That makes life harder.”

The interview came one day before a potentially decisive meeting of the Brexit sub-committee, which will see an attempt by Brexiteers to kill off Ms May’s preferred plan for post-Brexit customs.

They fear the “partnership” plan – which would see the UK collecting tariffs on the EU’s behalf – is unworkable and could be used by Brussels as a device to soften Brexit.

The alternative “maximum facilitation” option is based on technological solutions to the customs issue but the EU is sceptical that it would ever work.

However, Dr Fox acknowledged that neither of the UK proposals would “solve all the problems” of cross-border trade, avoiding a hard Irish border and giving the UK an independent trade policy.