Renewed calls have been made for a second Brexit referendum as the government slid into chaos with the resignations of several high-profile ministers.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Monday afternoon followed Brexit Secretary David Davis in resigning from the Cabinet in protest at Theresa May's negotiating stance. A minister in the Brexit Department, Steve Baker, also stepped down.

West Dorset MP Sir Oliver Letwin said he disagreed with the Brexiters' view that the Prime Minister's stance was a betrayal of Leave voters.

“My own view is that the PM’s proposal will achieve much more of what leavers voted for than is currently portrayed," Sir Oliver said. 

"I think it is a practical way forward for the whole country.”

Kay Wilcox, of pressure group West Dorset for EU, meanwhile said the news showed the need for the people to have a final say on the Brexit deal.

"The news about the resignations shouldn't be about the jobs of redundant ministers, but about the jobs of people in Dorset and of hundreds of thousands of people up and down the country," Ms Wilcox said. 

"The government clearly can't decide what to do, so we should let the people have the final say on Brexit."

Within hours of Mr Davis' resignation on Sunday evening, a petition calling for a second referendum passed the 200,000-signature mark.

Mr Johnson had been due to attend the Western Balkans Summit in London's Docklands on Monday afternoon, and to give a press conference at 5pm, but news of his resignation emerged around 3 pm.
Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said the Conservative Party was 'sinking fast'.

"Tories cannot even move the deckchairs around as there is nobody to sit in them any more," she said.
"What a complete shambles the incompetent Government is. Time for Tories to go #ToryFail."