Brexit update: May indicates there'll be no free vote on deal

British Prime Minister Theresa May is defending her Brexit deal and trying to fend off an attempt to oust her by Conservative Party colleagues, after four ministers quit her government on Thursday. The prime minister is speaking on a phone-in show on LBC Radio, a UK radio station. 

May signalled that all Tories including ministers will be ordered to vote for the Brexit deal. That’s not a surprise but Penny Mordaunt - a pro-Brexit minister - has been calling on the premier to allow MPs to vote with their consciences. The pair met last night.

• READ: May vows to carry on as Brexit's hard liners try to topple her

A "free vote," as it’s known, would allow Mordaunt and others to vote against May’s deal. But without that freedom, they will have to quit the government in order to oppose the Brexit agreement when it’s put to Parliament.

May was also asked about speculation Environment Secretary Michael Gove will quit. She said she had a "very good conversation" with him last night. She refused to answer a question about whether she asked him to be Brexit Secretary, and said she’ll appoint someone to that role in the next day or two.

May: We are still working with the DUP

May told LBC listeners that she had not had a "testy" exchange with Arlene Foster, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which props up her minority government. Foster and her colleagues have been highly critical of May’s proposed Brexit deal, because it imposes a different set of rules on Northern Ireland.

The DUP cares most about ensuring the region stays fully part of the United Kingdom, with the same laws and business rules. "We are still working with the DUP," May said. But she accepted she had to try to persuade the party’s members of Parliament to back her plan.

Earlier, the Telegraph reported that Foster was demanding May be replaced with a new leader, as the price for continuing to support the minority Conservative government. If the DUP pulls out of the "confidence and supply" arrangement with the Tories, the government is likely to fall.

The pound is up 0.4%.