May insists Cabinet 'united' as Tory conference starts amid Brexit tensions

Theresa May insists the Conservatives are united Credit: PA

Theresa May has insisted her Cabinet is "united" behind her vision for Britain as the Conservatives' annual conference opens in Manchester.

This comes despite renewed feuding within the party's ranks over Brexit, with foreign secretary Boris Johnson laying out his own red lines for EU withdrawal including an insistence that a transition phase must not last "a second more" than two years.

The prime minister sidestepped the question of whether Johnson was "unsackable" in a TV interview, saying only that the Foreign Secretary was "absolutely behind" the plan for Brexit which she set out in a speech in the Italian city of Florence last week.

Boris Johnson has put renewed pressure on the prime minister over Brexit Credit: PA

At the party conference she will attempt to win over younger voters with announcements on tuition fees and home-buying.

Tuition fees will be frozen at £9,250 and the amount graduates will have to earn before they start repaying their student loan will increase from £21,000 to £25,000.

The Tories say the package will produce a saving of £360 in 2018/19 for graduates earning at least £25,000.

In an interview with the BBC's Andrew Marr, she wouldn't answer whether she would resign as Prime Minister if she fails to secure a Brexit deal with the European Union and the UK crashes out without agreement on a future relationship in 2019.

May said: "What I have is a Cabinet that are united in the mission of this Government, and that is what you will see this week."

She said she plans to say sorry to activists for the party's performance in the snap election she called earlier this year, when she addresses the Conservatives' national convention on Sunday.

Asked whether her decision to call the poll three years early was a "mistake", she replied: "No. Is it ever a mistake to give people the opportunity to vote? I don't think so."