Conservative MPs warned against blocking no-deal Brexit: Sky News

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Britain's Conservative lawmakers have been warned by party officials that their party whip would be withdrawn if they attempt to block a no-deal Brexit, as Sky News reported on Sunday, citing a source.

A senior source from the whips office, which enforces party discipline in parliament, has told lawmakers they will not be allowed to stand for the Conservatives in the next election or be able to sit with the party in parliament now if they vote against the government on Brexit.

British education minister Gavin Williamson also said on Monday it would be right to deselect any lawmaker from the ruling Conservative Party who votes against the government on Brexit.

British education minister Gavin Williamson arrives in 10 Downing Street in London, UK, January 16, 2018. /Reuters Photo

"Anyone who is voting against the government is in a position where they are voting to undermine the prime minister's negotiating hand," Williamson, a former chief whip, told ITV's Good Morning Britain. "They should think very seriously about that and the consequences.

"I think that if they (the government) take the view that it is serious enough, that it is undermining the nation's position and the prime minister's position, if that is their decision it would be the right decision. If that is what is necessary."

Several former British cabinet ministers, also known as Brexit rebels among Tory members of Parliament, are expected to have a showdown meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday, the beginning of a pivotal week for the country's politics.

A European Union flag with an anti-Brexit banner flies outside of the Houses of Parliament in London, UK, January 10, 2019. /VCG Photo

The prime minister has promised that the UK would leave the EU on October 31 - even if a Brexit deal cannot be agreed with Brussels ahead of the Halloween deadline.

However, MPs resisting a no-deal Brexit are expected to pressure Johnson to seek a further delay for Brexit to avoid a no-deal result.

Also on Sunday, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier insisted in an article published in the Sunday Telegraph that the Irish border backstop must stay, meaning his rejection of Johnson's request to the EU that the backstop arrangement must be ditched if a no-deal Brexit was to be avoided.

(With input from Reuters, Xinhua)