PRIME Minister Theresa May could call a snap General Election in the new year to force Brexit through and defy Supreme Court judges.
A group of advisers so secret that even the PM's cabinet is unaware of their existence is putting together a plan for an election to take advantage of Labour's complete disarray.
Is Theresa May hatching a plot to launch a snap election in the New Year?
The 'mandate election' would allow to pose as the champion of 'the people versus the judges', according to Mail on Sunday sources.
May has said she wants to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, kicking off up to two years of exit negotiations.
But the High Court ruled last month that Article 50 cannot be triggered without parliament's assent.
That ruling is being challenged by the government in the Supreme Court.
A crushing victory in the Commons would give her the power to steamroller any challenge from the House of Lords.
So far Mrs May has insisted the next Election will go ahead as planned in 2020, but the opposition's woes and the recent Tory win in the Sleaford and North Hykeham by-election may have emboldened her.
Meanwhile, the businesswoman behind the legal battle against triggering Brexit without parliamentary approval has described last week's Commons vote on the issue as "irrelevant" and a "red herring".
Investment fund manager and philanthropist Gina Miller said the motion was not legally binding, and only opens the door for MPs to vote on the timing of the Brexit negotiations, rather than the plans in their entirety.
"The motion is to set up a timetable, it actually doesn't say anything about the contents (of the Brexit negotiations).
"The inference was that that motion - having passed in the Government's favour - that we should basically pack up and go home, because that's Parliament taking responsibility and looking after itself.
"And we would argue no, it's actually a red herring in that it's a political move, it's not a legal one," she said.
MPs backed a motion on Wednesday that calls on the Government to publish its Brexit plan and trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union before March 31 by 448 votes to 75.
However, Brexit Secretary David Davis said that while the Government will set out its "strategic plans" before launching the formal mechanism for withdrawal from the EU, it will not reveal anything which might "jeopardise our negotiating position".