A SOUTH Essex MP has called on cabinet ministers to think of the country rather than their careers and dump the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan.

Mark Francois, MP for Wickford and Rayleigh believes Theresa May’s plan for Brexit will not deliver what millions voted for as he claimed senior colleagues are being treated like mushrooms.

He said: “Cabinet members have been treated like mushrooms. They’ve been kept in the dark and fed a diet of BS.”

He likened the Chequers plan to “some Machiavellian process or series of backstairs deals” that has “sought to overturn their clearly expressed decision” of voters.

During a series of interviews, including on the BBC Victoria Derbyshire show, he said: “I think bluntly the cabinet have to stand up to the Prime Minister. I think they have to ask some extremely tough questions about Chequers, about the fact it would bind us to the EU for the foreseeable.

“I think they need to push the Prime Minister and if necessary they need to say they will not accept Checkers because it betrays the spirit of the referendum that 17.4 million people voted for. Now is the time for members of the cabinet to put their country before their own careers and ministerial cars and red boxes.

“My constituents voted with a margin of two to one and I regard it my duty to honour the results of the referendum and make sure we leave the EU, that’s what I am arguing for.”

After a marathon session of talks at Chequers on July 6, Theresa May managed to secure a Brexit plan which will be assessed by the EU.

Her Brexit plan will see the UK remain closely tied to Brussels. It also includes the creation of a new UK-EU free trade area for goods.