Three lawmakers loyal to Prime Minister Theresa May have proposed new Brexit safeguards to offer the Westminster  on the issue of Northern Ireland in a bid to help the leader to win a crucial vote approving the government’s Article 50 deal.

May is struggling to get her Withdrawal Agreement with the European Union through Parliament in a vote on December 11 that will shape the UK departure from the bloc and the Prime Minister’s future as a leader.

The main vote is on a motion stating that lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons approve the Brexit deal, however lawmakers can also try to amend the text in the process.

The latest amendment addresses the backstop, an element of the  deal that has disappointed lawmakers in May’s own party and her allies in Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). It is intended to ensure there is no return to a hard border between British Northern Ireland and EU member-state Ireland.

Critics say however it could leave Britain forced to accept EU regulations indefinitely, or it will regard Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the United Kingdom.

Laura Kuenssberg, theBBC ’s political editor published in her Twitter micro blog a photo of a signed amendment which would give Parliament a vote on whether the UK should enter the backstop period, or whether an extension to the implementation period should be sought instead.

At present the forecasts are pessimistic, indicating that May would lose the vote.