Theresa May's cabinet discuss Brexit exit strategy at Chequers

Theresa May's cabinet will meet at her official country residence of Chequers, Buckinghamshire, to discuss the government's plans to split from the EU today (31 August).

The Conservative premier famously declared "Brexit means Brexit", but pressure has mounted on May to provide more detail about her plans and when she intends to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the mechanism to split from Brussels.

The meeting of May's top team, including Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, will come after a Downing Street spokesperson reportedly failed to reveal whether parliament will be given a say on the decision to trigger Article 50 or not.

Labour MP and Remain campaigner David Lammy has urged the House of Commons to reject triggering the article in a bid to keep the UK inside the EU. "We can stop this madness and bring this nightmare to an end through a vote in Parliament. Our sovereign Parliament needs to now vote on whether we should exit the EU," he said in June.

But Leave campaigners have urged May to press on with the process after the UK vote 52% against 48% to split from the EU.

Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and senior Eurosceptic, has suggested May could start the Brexit process in early 2017. Two years of negotiations are expected to follow once Article 50 is triggered.

Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel has suggested the UK could stay in the EU's single market, while implementing restrictions on immigration — a divisive subject throughout the referendum campaign.

But EU leaders have warned that Britain cannot have "single market a la carte" and free movement of people remains a fundamental principle of the economic and political union.