British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday urged her increasingly mutinous party to back her strategy over Brexit, insisting a deal with the EU was close even as she once again rejected the bloc's proposal for the Irish border.

In an article in the mass-selling The Sun tabloid, she argued that her strategy for pulling Britain out of the European Union was "not about me" but based on the "national interest".

But opposition from all sides has stepped up at home since a Brussels summit last week failed to make a breakthrough, raising fears Britain could be heading for a deeply damaging "no deal" exit next March.