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British Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday it is important to ensure that Parliament cannot block Brexit, but one of the leading MPs in her governing Conservative Party warned that her government could collapse if she does not allow Tory dissidents more influence over the decision and its final terms.

“We need to recognize the role of Parliament, but ensure that the government’s hands can’t be tied in negotiations and that Parliament does not overturn the will of the people,” May told the BBC. British voters approved withdrawal from the European Union two years ago.

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British Prime Minister Theresa May speaking to the BBC on Sunday.HANDOUT/Reuters

She also went on the offensive with a promise of a a significant funding increase for the country’s beleaguered National Health Service (NHS). She linked the increased funding to Brexit in a column published in The Mail on Sunday.

The prime minister said the NHS will receive an additional 384 million pounds ($671 million) per week once Britain leaves the EU next March.

“As we leave the European Union and stop paying significant annual subscriptions to Brussels, we will have more money to spend on priorities such as the NHS,” she argued.

May admitted the “Brexit dividend” would not be enough to generate all the extra health service funds. Extra taxes and borrowing will likely be needed.

May’s minority Conservative government is fighting with rebels from her own party over the final wording of the laws that will end Britain’s EU membership - a bitter row which threatens to undermine her authority.

“We could collapse the government, and I can assure you I wake up at 2 a.m. in a cold sweat thinking about the problems we have put on our shoulders,” Dominic Grieve, a leading pro-EU lawmaker negotiating with the government, told the BBC.

The minister leading those negotiations, Solicitor General Robert Buckland, said the government was standing by its own proposal, rejected by party rebels last week.

The row centres on what happens if Parliament rejects the initial exit deal May and her team negotiate with Brussels.

Grieve and a cohort of potential Conservative rebels with enough votes to defeat the government want Parliament to have more influence over the next steps than ministers are prepared to give them.

Negotiations on a compromise, promised last week by May to avert a defeat, fell apart at the last minute on Thursday when rebels said the government had changed the wording of an agreement.

“The first thing I want to understand is why this has been rejected?” Grieve said. “I’d urge (Brexit minister) David Davis ... (to) go away and look at it and talk to the government’s lawyers, and he will be reassured that it doesn’t do what he fears.”

Davis and May have argued that they cannot accept anything which gives Parliament the power to bind their hands in negotiations with the EU, or opens the door to lawmakers overturning the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The rebels’ proposal will come up against the government proposal in the House of Lords on Monday, and will then be discussed again in the Commons on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s debate will be a crucial test of May’s ability to either face down the rebellion, or negotiate a way out of trouble at short notice.

For now, Buckland said ministers were happy to stick to their position and see where the debate on Monday took them.

“Our position is to support the amendment as tabled (proposed) by the government,” he said. “Of course we have Tuesday to consider matters ahead of the Wednesday vote.”

“We’ve won every vote last week. I believe we can carry on in that successful vein.”

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