Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday told lawmakers that they could back her deal to exit the European Council or no Brexit at all.
"We can choose to leave with no deal, we can risk no Brexit at all or we can choose to unite and support the best deal that can be negotiated," May told parliament.
Hours earlier, May's Brexit secretary and other ministers quit one by one in protest at the draft Brexit deal that was passed by May's cabinet on Wednesday.
Brexit Minister Dominic Raab, and Work and Pensions Minister Esther McVey quit from their positions saying they could not support the deal.
Two junior ministers too quit the government. These resignations will shake an already unstable government with Raab being the second Brexit secretary to quit over May's plans. Despite being a leading Brexiter, he was thought to have been on board with May's plan.
“Above all, I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election,” Raab said. “This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” Raab said. “I cannot support the proposed deal.”
McVey said the draft agreement "does not honour the referendum" and that she could neither defend it nor vote for it. "We have gone from no deal is better than a bad deal, to any deal is better than no deal. I cannot defend this, and I cannot vote for this deal," she said.
Junior Brexit Minister Suella Braverman and Northern Ireland Minister Shailesh Vara also quit over the draft document.
More resignations could put May's government in trouble and could lead to a vote of confidence motion in the House of Commons.
May while addressing the House said that while the negotiations had not been "comfortable, it was the best Britain could hope for".
"If we get behind a deal we can bring our country back together and seize the opportunities that lie ahead," she told lawmakers. "The British people want us to get this done," May told the MPs.
In the House of Commons, May faced heavy criticism from MPs who said the draft deal was not what was promised. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, told May: "The government must now withdraw this half-baked deal. This is not the deal the country was promised."
