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Politics
Latifa Yedroudji (now) and Ben Quinn, Andrew Sparrow, Sarah Marsh and Kate Lyons (earlier)

Brexit deal won't happen tonight, government sources confirm – as it happened

Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street
Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

We’re going to wrap up this liveblog now and summarise an eventful day in Brexit history.

Senior government figures have said there will be “no deal” on Wednesday night.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, attempted to secure backing from Tory Brexiters and the DUP as EU leaders spearheaded talks in Brussels, awaiting the green light to approve a deal before Thursday’s summit.

However, the DUP objected to several points in Johnson’s agreement.

In addition, an issue over VAT was said to be an obstacle in talks as Michel Barnier briefed EU27 ambassadors this evening.

Johnson won the favour of hardline Eurosceptics, including MP Steve Baker.

It is thought the prime minister could travel to Brussels early Thursday morning to secure his deal with EU leaders.

Johnson is expected to try to pass the deal through parliament on Saturday.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn has been dealt a blow as veteran MP Dame Louise Ellman quit Labour accusing him of being a danger to Britain.

Dame Louise, 73, who is Jewish, said she had been “deeply troubled” by the “growth of anti-Semitism” in Labour in recent years.

She tweeted: “I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years.

“I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM.”

The Liverpool Riverside MP, who has been in the Party 55 years, added: “I believe that Jeremy Corbyn is not fit to serve as our Prime Minister.

“With a looming general election and the possibility of him becoming Prime Minister, I feel I have to take a stand.”

And she told the Times newspaper that if he became prime minister “I believe that Jeremy Corbyn would be a danger to the country, a danger to the Jewish community as well, but a danger to the country too”.

Updated

With Tory Eurosceptics now on the Prime Minister’s side, Mr Johnson is in a race against time to gain support from the DUP and get his deal through to the EU, as explained by Daniel Boffey.

Labour MP Stella Creasy has raised suspicions that the DUP are striking a Brexit bargain with the government that will include an attempt to stop expected abortion rights in Northern Ireland.

Updated

Boris Johnson’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, was seen leaving No 10 shortly before 9pm.

Updated

In need of a little light relief? Read John Crace’s sketch on the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay: “Calming to the point of comatose, each word more meaningless than the one before.

“By the end of a sentence, you are far worse informed than if he had said nothing.”

Updated

The Leader of the Independent Group for Change and former Conservative Anna Soubry has described the amount of time MPs would have to scrutinise Boris Johnson’s prospective deal on Saturday as “plain wrong”.

While the ERG appear to be rallying behind Johnson and his deal, the PM has to convince the 21 MPs he expelled from the party.

If Boris Johnson manages to bring back a deal from Brussels, shadow Brexit minister Jenny Chapman said she expects Labour would support any amendment put forward in the Commons to attach a confirmatory referendum to that deal.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Neil Show, she added: “The expectation would be that should a deal be tabled on Saturday, and we don’t know that is going to happen, I am as sure as you can be that there will be an amendment tabled that would want to see a referendum attached to the deal.”

Asked if Labour would support this, she said: “I would expect us to support that, yes.”

She added: “I’d rather have a general election but we are not in control of this unfortunately.

“So should that opportunity come, on Saturday, to have that referendum on the deal – the deal that we don’t know yet is going to be there.

“But should that happen … in the circumstance I think there is an opportunity there and the pragmatic, sensible thing for the Labour party to do, given that we’ve been asking for this, would be to take that opportunity.”

Updated

Even if Boris Johnson managed to pull off a Brexit deal, he would still have other problems on his plate as this story on the latest developments on the Arcuri saga by Matthew Weaver shows.

Updated

Here’s our take on how ERG chair Steve Baker and his allies are warming to a deal after Boris Johnson promised them the UK would leave the customs union and secure a quick free trade deal with the EU.

Updated

Asked whether there could be a Brexit extension, MP Steve Baker said Boris Johnson confirmed the UK will leave the EU on 31 October.

Baker said: “My sense is we really must see the text, time is becoming very short for everybody.”

“The prime minister has been absolutely clear – we are leaving on the 31st of October.”

Updated

Chairman of the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) Steve Baker said “great progress” has been made in talks with No 10.

Speaking to Sky News after a meeting in Downing Street, Baker said: “We have made great progress in our discussions with No 10,” adding: “Really at this point, it just remains to wish the prime minister every possible success as he goes to negotiate for our country.”

Asked if he would back a deal, he said: “I know everybody is desperate for us to say whether we can vote for it but until we can see it, we can’t say.”

He added: “We really must see the text in time to read it in order to vote on Saturday.

“Time is becoming very short for everyone now. As Michel Barnier famously said, ‘the clock is ticking’.

“We need to get through this (European) council, have the text of the deal, have the implementing legislation ready, and we need to be voting on that on Saturday.”

Updated

Government sources say there will be no deal tonight

Two government sources said there would not be a deal on Wednesday night, although talks will continue.

No 10 refused to confirm Boris Johnson’s travel plans for the summit on Thursday, but he could go earlier than usual if it were felt his presence could help move stalled talks along.

Updated

The anti-Brexit campaigner Jo Maugham QC has announced plans to launch a legal action in an attempt to ban the government from putting the withdrawal agreement before parliament.

Updated

Quoting a source from No 10, the Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, has said there will be no deal tonight as government talks are still taking place.

Updated

Michel Barnier has arrived at a meeting of EU ambassadors in the Europa building in Brussels to brief them on the latest developments in London, reports the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey in Brussels.

“He said nothing to reporters. The deal is done. And all depends on London giving the green light. All that stands in the way of leaders signing off on Thursday are the DUP’s objections,” his report said.

At the same time, Downing Street is playing down expectations of a deal being done tonight.

Updated

Talk of hundreds of millions, if not billions, going the way of Northern Ireland as part of a sweetener for the DUP has piqued the interest of many, though the SNP’s Joanna Cherry vents the anger of Scottish nationalists here.

And one view – from Irish economist and commentator David Williams – of the so-called bung that might be headed Northern Ireland’s way …

Updated

Angela Merkel says Brexit negotiations are in 'final sprint' phase

In Toulouse, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said this evening that she believed it was the “final sprint” for negotiations and she was “increasingly of the belief” that an agreement would be reached with the UK.

Merkel said she wanted every success for the agreement and paid tribute to Michel Barnier’s negotiations. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said: “I share everything the chancellor has said.

“It’s our hope and will to be able to endorse an agreement, and I hope that agreement will be found in the coming hours.”

He said he had heard positive things today. “I thank Michel Barnier for negotiating with a great deal of seriousness and in respect of our member states,” Macron said.

“I hope we succeed in getting an agreement on withdrawal and on the political declaration on the future relationship.

“We’re determined that that agreement can be endorsed at the European council.”

Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel in Toulouse, France
Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel arrive for a Franco-German cabinet meeting in Toulouse. Photograph: Régis Duvignau/Reuters

Updated

While you’re waiting for the (blue and yellow? Red, white and blue?) smoke, you might want to have a listen to the Guardian Politics Weekly podcast.

Heather Stewart is joined by Katy Hayward, James McGrory and Torsten Bell to discuss whether or not Boris Johnson has prevented the UK from crashing out of the EU.

Kate Proctor also reports from the SNP conference, where there were fresh calls for a second Scottish independence referendum.

Updated

In the absence of any clear briefings or announcements, the battle for the narrative is continuing on Twitter, with Jeffrey Donaldson stepping up as the latest DUP figure to push back on suggestions his party is split.

Donaldson was pushing back against BuzzFeed reports that DUP opposition to Downing Street proposals was not based on customs but the principle of consent.

Alex Wickham reports: “The issue is of primary concern for the DUP in terms of domestic politics ahead of the next election, but a Stormont veto on future customs arrangements is likely to remain unacceptable to the EU, one of the sources said.”

Updated

The latest from the man who moves markets, RTÉ’s Europe editor, Tony Connelly, has it that all outstanding issues in the Brexit negotiations have been resolved, with the exception of how VAT will be treated in Northern Ireland.

In a piece for the RTÉ news website, he said two senior EU sources have said the main stumbling block to an agreement has been removed, with the DUP accepting the latest proposals on consent.

Updated

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has been with with Macron today has also indicated that she is hopeful for a deal.

Both leaders were keen to demonstrate the solidity of the French-German relationship at a meeting Toulouse, one day before a key EU summit that may approve what ever deal emerges (if it does) tonight.

“The final sprint” was how Merkel put it, according to Andrew Connell, a Sky news producer.

Both leaders started with a visit to the headquarters of plane-maker Airbus, widely seen as a symbol of European industrial cooperation, near the city of Toulouse.

The company, which is holding its 50th anniversary celebrations this year, has production and manufacturing facilities in countries including Germany, Spain and Britain.

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) hold a press conference following a German-French Ministerial Council at the Haute-Garonne Prefecture in Toulouse
President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel hold a press conference following a German-French ministerial council at the Haute-Garonne prefecture in Toulouse Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA

Updated

Emmanuel Macron: deal being 'finalised'

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has been speaking and says he “wants to believe” an agreement on Brexit is being finalised by negotiators in Brussels.

Speaking in Toulouse, he said “I want to believe that a deal is being finalised and that we can approve it tomorrow [Thursday],” when EU leaders are meeting Boris Johnson.

Updated

There are few things more pleasurable in politics than being able to say ‘I told you so’ and when Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU who has become one of the most compelling critics of the Brexit process, gave evidence to the Commons European scrutiny this afternoon, he got the opportunity.

Rogers said, in the autumn of 2016, soon after the vote to leave the EU, ministers told him that a free-trade agreement would be in place the day after Brexit. He said:

I was preoccupied by ministers telling me ‘don’t worry Ivan, you don’t understand,’ and they did say to me repeatedly, ‘you don’t understand, we’re going to have a trade deal in place with the European Union on the day after exit’. And I said ‘with the greatest of respects, we’re not.’ And I think I’m proven right.

Rogers does not seem to have named the credulous ministers (I’m just reading the Press Association copy), but it is a matter of public record that David Davis wrote a ConservativeHome article saying that “the new trade agreements will come into force at the point of exit from the EU” just before he was appointed Brexit secretary in July 2016.

Rogers also criticised the decision of the Boris Johnson government to stop attending some meetings in Brussels even before the UK left. He said:

After you leave, you are in this transition ... which may last a year or it may last two or three years.

You are still hugely impacted by everything going on in those rooms. Why would you leave those rooms before you have to?

The idea that they are liberated off that and go and work on exciting new trade deals. No, they’re not, they’re still living in Brussels and they’re either attending the working group that they used to be in or doing some other business.

And some of the other business is finding out what the hell happened in the room when they weren’t there. It doesn’t strike me as a terribly sensible thing to do.

That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Ben Quinn is taking over now.

Sir Ivan Rogers
Sir Ivan Rogers Photograph: Sky TV

Updated

From the Times’ Steven Swinford

The DUP are going back into Downing Street for further talks tonight, we’ve been told.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

Varadkar says cross-community consent mechanism under Good Friday agreement is flawed

Sammy Wilson, the DUP Brexit spokesman, argued this morning that abandoning the plan that would effectively give the DUP a veto over new arrangements would breach the Good Friday agreement and its commitment to the principle of “cross-community consent”. (See 12.39pm.)

In the Irish parliament today Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (PM), described this aspect of the Good Friday agreement as a “flaw”. He was not making a point about Brexit per se, but responding to a question from the Green party leader, Eamon Ryan, who complained that the system for cross-party consent involves members of the legislative assembly having to register themselves as unionist, nationalist or other.

Varadkar said the use of the category other in this context was pejorative because “it doesn’t describe that growing identity in Northern Ireland, that centre ground of people who see themselves as being both British and Irish”. He added:

One of the real flaws in double majorities in the system of cross community consent is not just that it allows one community or one party within that community to have a veto, it totally discounts and reduces to nothing the votes of those who designated as others.

That is something that has developed as a flaw and one that I am very aware of.

Updated

From Reuters’ Andy Bruce

This is what the prime minister’s spokesman told journalist about today’s cabinet.

The prime minister gave an update to cabinet on the progress in the ongoing Brexit talks. He said there was a chance of securing a good deal but we are not there yet and there remain outstanding issues. Following a positive discussion, cabinet gave the PM its full support in the government’s continuing efforts to secure a deal ahead of European council.

Asked if the issue of consent was the main stumbling block to a Brexit deal, the spokesman said: “I think there are a number of outstanding issues.”

Mark Francois, the Tory Brexiter and vice chair of the European Research Group (which represents Tories pushing for a harder Brexiter), told reporters after the 1922 Committee meeting that the ERG would take the views of the DUP “strongly into account” when deciding whether or not to back Boris Johnson’s deal. He said:

What we have said consistently the ERG and DUP have always been strong allies. We’ve been friends throughout this process. We talk to each other all the time. It is not axiomatic we would follow whatever the DUP do but particularly on anything that relates to Northern Ireland we would take their views very strongly into account.

Boris Johnson is fond of Mount Everest similes. He also called his close friend Jennifer Arcuri (who has refused to comment on speculation they had an affair when he was London mayor) “the Mount Everest every man wants to climb”, according to her account.

Updated

Boris Johnson told Tory MPs that the government was “on the Hillary Step” in relation to the Brexit talks, referring to what was famous as the most perilous part of the route up Everest.

But, according to Wikipedia, the Hillary Step was destroyed in an earthquake four years ago.

We're close to summit but it's still 'shrouded in mist', Boris Johnson tells Tory MPs about Brexit talks

And here are some tweets about Boris Johnson told the 1922 Committee from journalists in the corridor outside.

Climbers descending the Hillary Step on Everest.
Climbers descending the Hillary Step on Everest. Photograph: Bradley Jackson#128939/Flickr Vision

Boris Johnson leaves Conservative 1922 Committee after brief speech

Boris Johnson has been speaking to the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee. But he was not there for long. Only five minutes, or eight minutes, or 10 minutes - the lobby can’t agree.

Whatever, he wasn’t there for long. Normally when the PM attends a meeting of the 1922, the session lasts for around an hour.

Government tables motion for Commons to sit on Saturday

Downing Street has announced that it has tabled a motion for the House of Commons and the House of Lords to sit on Saturday, from 9.30am until 2pm.

MPs are due to vote on the motion tomorrow. But if the government decided at the last minute not to go ahead with the Saturday sitting (because the deal did not materialise), it could decide not to move the motion tomorrow (which would mean it did not get put to a vote).

From ITV’s Joe Pike

How Boris Johnson once said no British Tory government could accept customs controls between GB and NI

When Theresa May was prime minister she told MPs that she was opposed to the EU’s original plan for a Northern Ireland-only backstop because no British prime minister could accept a customs border of that kind down the Irish Sea. The quote will come back to haunt her if Boris Johnson does negotiate a deal that would in practice keep Northern Ireland in the customs union. May told MPs in February 2018:

The draft legal text the commission have published would, if implemented, undermine the UK common market and threaten the constitutional integrity of the UK by creating a customs and regulatory border down the Irish Sea, and no UK prime minster could ever agree to it.

Boris Johnson faces the same problem because, as the People’s Vote campaign points out, he also said that no Conservative government could sign up to a plan that would impose customs controls between Britain and Northern Ireland. What makes this particularly awkward for him is that he made this comment in a speech to the DUP annual conference in November 2018. He said:

If we wanted to do free trade deals, if we wanted to cut tariffs ... if we wanted to vary our regulation then we would have to leave Northern Ireland behind as an economic semi-colony of the EU and we would be damaging the fabric of the union with regulatory checks and even customs controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland – on top of those extra regulatory checks down the Irish Sea that are already envisaged in the withdrawal agreement.

Now I have to tell you, no British Conservative government could or should sign up to any such arrangement.

Here is the clip.

You might be tempted to see this as another Boris Johnson Brexit lie (see 3.36pm), but breaking a promise is not the same as saying something you know to be untrue (although both are offences against trust).

Updated

Here is the full version of what Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said in remarks broadcast on TV about the Brexit talks.

Theoretically in seven to eight hours everything should be clear.

It is still undergoing changes and the basic foundations of this agreement are ready and theoretically we could accept a deal tomorrow ...

Yesterday evening I was ready to bet on it ... today again certain doubts have appeared from the British side ...

Everything is going in the right direction, but you will have noticed yourselves that with Brexit and above all with our British partners anything is possible.

And here is the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on cabinet.

From RTE’s Tony Connelly

This afternoon’s cabinet is over. Sky’s Beth Rigby has some lines from ministers as they were coming out.

Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, and Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister, leaving cabinet today.
Andrea Leadsom, the business secretary, and Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister, leaving cabinet today. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Ipsos MORI has also published some polling on Brexit today. Its headline finding is that the people think a no-deal Brexit is more likely than an election, a deal, a second referendum or the UK staying in the EU.

But what is likely to attract most interest at Westminster is what the polling says about party leaders and Brexit. When voters are asked if they are satisfied with how Boris Johnson is handling Brexit, he gets a net satisfaction rating of -9 (satisfied minus dissatisfied). That is not great, but it is better than his ratings in August and September.

However, it is far better than Jeremy Corbyn’s rating on the same measure. His net Brexit satisfaction score is -57. Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, is on -33 and Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, is on -23.

Polling - leaders and Brexit
Polling - leaders and Brexit Photograph: Ipsos MORI

Johnson even beats Corbyn when people are asked if they trust leaders to tell the truth. He has a three-point lead over Corbyn on “tells the truth in general” (22% over 19%) and an eight-point lead over Corbyn on “tells the truth about Brexit” (23% over 15%).

This is remarkable because it is very hard to square with any reasonable assessment of the two men’s honesty. Johnson has twice been sacked from jobs for lying, and he is widely seen as someone who is cavalier about the truth. He was described as “the father of lies” recently in no less a venue than the supreme court. By contrast, at Westminster Corbyn is generally seen as someone who is not prone to dissembling and who finds it hard to say something he does not mean.

These figures also suggest that the entire, ongoing three-year demolition of Johnson’s “We send the EU £350m a week” claim by the fact-checking lobby has been in vain.

One explanation for Corbyn’s appalling performance on this measure might be that voters detect the inherent contradiction in a lifelong opponent of the EU leading a pro-European party (although, to be fair, Corbyn has never pretended to be a huge fan of EU membership). Another explanation might be that these figures are a consequence of Corbyn’s overall approval ratings being lower than Johnson’s.

Polling - leaders and trust
Polling - leaders and trust Photograph: Ipsos MORI

Updated

Tusk says 'everything should be clear' by tonight

Here is the full quote from Donald Tusk, president of the European council.

Theoretically in seven to eight hours everything should be clear.

Tusk was speaking to journalists in comments broadcast on private news channel TVN 24.

Veteran Brexit observers will know that whenever anyone sets a deadline in this process, it tends to be missed. In fact, you don’t have to be a veteran Brexit watcher; anyone reading this blog only yesterday will recall Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, being quoted as saying that the UK and the EU would have to agree legal text by last night for a deal to be possible at this week’s summit. That legal text has still not been finalised, but the negotiators have not given up hope of there being some agreement at the EU summit.

Donald Tusk
Donald Tusk Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters

Updated

From Sky News

Varadkar tells Irish MPs deal possible, but he's not sure when

Here is the full text of Leo Varadkar’s statement to Irish MPs about the EU summit starting tomorrow.

The Irish taoiseach (PM) said he still thought a Brexit deal was possible, but he could not say when. Here is the key passage.

I do not think it would be helpful today to say too much about the precise state of play of the discussions or the exact timeframe in which an agreement may be possible.

I said last week that I thought that there was a pathway to a possible agreement. That is still my view. However, the question is whether the negotiators will be able to bridge the remaining gaps in advance of tomorrow’s council. What’s important now is that all focus is kept on achieving a deal that delivers for everyone.

Updated

This is from Sky’s Stephen Murphy.

From Reuters’ Peter Thal Larsen

DUP leader Arlene Foster denies report that her party has agreed to new plan for consent mechanism

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has dismissed the report from RTÉ’s Tony Connelly (see 1.28pm) saying her party has agreed to what is being proposed on consent.

Updated

MPs likely to push for vote on confirmatory referendum on Saturday, says senior Labour MP

On the World at One Andrew Bridgen, one of the 28 Tory “Spartans” who voted against Theresa May’s deal three times, said he thought the pro-remain opposition would try to seize control of the Commons timetable for Saturday to allow MPs to vote for a referendum on any Brexit deal secured by Boris Johnson. He said:

What they want is to humiliate the prime minister by preventing him from even bringing forward a vote on his deal, and forcing him to send the letter in line with the Benn act ... They may well bring forward a confirmatory referendum which, in my view, would be disastrous.

Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Commons Brexit committee, was interviewed on the programme immediately after Bridgen. Asked if he knew whether what Bridgen was saying about opposition plans was correct, Benn at first did not answer the question directly. But he did say, if there were an agreement, he would expect to see it brought to the Commons on Saturday. When the presenter, Sarah Montague, asked a second time whether Bridgen was right, Benn replied:

There are many MPs who are in favour of a confirmatory referendum, as am I. If the government brings a deal before the house on Saturday, then it would not surprise me at all if an effort were made to say, OK, but subject to a confirmatory referendum. That is not a surprise to anyone given the growing support that there is for that idea.

Asked whether that would involve opposition MPs trying to take control of the order paper (by using standing order 24), as opposed to just tabling a confirmatory referendum amendment, Benn said that would depend on how the government planned to organise the vote for Saturday.

Andrew Bridgen.
Andrew Bridgen. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media

Updated

Earlier I quoted some ComRes polling claiming that more than half of voters want the UK to leave the EU. Other pollsters have criticised the way ComRes presented those findings, arguing that it was misleading because people were asked to choose between three options, not two. I have posted an updated at 9.56am explaining this. You may need to refresh the page to get it to appear.

Updated

It wouldn’t be Brexit if we didn’t have a contrary view. This is from the Atlantic’s Tom McTague.

Updated

From RTÉ’s Tony Connelly

Updated

A fresh legal challenge to prevent the prime minister crashing out of the EU without a deal is to be heard in the London courts on Friday, the civil rights organisation Liberty has revealed.

The judicial review action, similar to the case already heard in Edinburgh, is an attempt to ensure that Boris Johnson respects the Benn act and seeks an extension to UK membership in the absence of an agreement with Brussels.

The case is due to be heard on Friday before three senior judges in the court of appeal. As well as Liberty, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has also submitted an application on behalf of three low-paid workers who, it is said, will suffer if there is a no-deal Brexit.

Confirmation of the hearing signals a fresh round of Brexit-related legal battles in the courts. The Scottish hearing has effectively been stayed pending the outcome of this week’s negotiations with the EU.

The Benn act, passed with the support of Labour and the broader rebel alliance in parliament, states that the government must ask the EU for an extension if MPs do not approve a Brexit deal by 19 October.

Liberty launched its action last month after Johnson said he would flout the European Union (Withdrawal) (No 2) Act (also known as the “Benn act”). The English courts have been significantly slower than their Scottish counterparts in agreeing to hear the claim.

Updated

Theresa May urges Priti Patel to reconsider her plan to introduce 'regional visas'

In her speech the former prime minister Theresa May said she was “a little concerned” by reports that the government will have different immigration rules for different regions of the country after Brexit. She said the idea that visas could be issued on condition that people went to work in a particular part of the country sounded like a system for “regional visas”. She went on:

I would urge [Priti Patel, the home secretary] to look very carefully at how that can operate logistically because it has some very real challenges. And, indeed, I hear from the SNP benches some muttering that it is an issue that has been rejected in the past by the independent migration advisory committee.

In the opening of her speech Theresa May said government should not just be about positive headlines and great oratory, PoliticsHome’s Matt Honeycombe-Foster reports.

That will obviously be seen as a dig at her successor, Boris Johnson, who is far better than May ever was at coining “arresting phrases”.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

The Times’s Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield has posted a useful Twitter thread on the state of play in the Brexit talks. It starts here.

This, from the Times’ Henry Zeffman, backs up the impression given by what Sammy Wilson was saying in the Commons Brexit committee hearing. (See 12.39am.)

This is not May’s first speech from the backbenches. She spoke recently in the second reading debate on the domestic abuse bill, which was her first Commons speech as a backbencher since her resignation in July.

In the Commons Theresa May, the former prime minister, has just started speaking in the Queen’s speech debate.

At the moment she is having a go at Brexit - rehearsing the ancient arguments about whether the last Labour government spent too much ahead of the financial crash.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson spells out in detail his party's objections to PM's plan

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, used his questions to Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, in the Brexit committee hearing to spell out in some details the DUP’s objections to the plan for a replacement to the backstop being negotiated by the UK and the EU.

He did not say his party would oppose the plan (the full details of which have yet to be revealed) in all circumstances. But he sounded sceptical, particularly on the latest thinking on “consent”. (Some commentary has implied that the most serious problems relate to customs, but Wilson’s questioning implied consent could turn out to be more of a stumbling block.)

Here are the key points Wilson made.

  • Wilson claimed that removing what was seen as the DUP veto over the arrangements would breach the Good Friday agreement (or the Belfast agreement, as unionists like Wilson call it). The Northern Ireland assembly has a “petition of concern” process that means key decisions have to have significant support from both unionists and nationalists in the assembly. In practice, this means the DUP and Sinn Féin both get a veto. Sinn Féin wants Northern Ireland to be aligned with Ireland and the EU, and so in practice, when Boris Johnson put forward double-majority consent plans in his paper (pdf) earlier this month, he was proposing a DUP veto. The Irish government and the non-unionist parties in Northern Ireland said this was unacceptable, and Johnson is now said to be looking at another “consent” mechanism – perhaps a simple majority in the assembly. Wilson said this would be contrary to the Good Friday agreement, because the agreement includes the principle of “cross-community consent”. He said abandoning the current plan (ie, the one giving the DUP a veto) would be:

Not just against the spirit of the [Good Friday] agreement, but it is explicitly against the terms of the agreement.

Wilson repeatedly asked for an assurance that the government would not consent mechanism involving just a simple majority in the assembly. And he told Barclay:

What we are told time and time again in this committee [is that the Good Friday agreement] is an internationally binding agreement which, very clearly - in fact, in very explicit and detailed terms - sets out how cross-community support has to be measured in the the assembly. So all I want to hear from you today are that the terms of the Belfast agreement ... will be the terms on which consent for opting into arrangements which diminish the powers of the Northern Ireland assembly, which will treat Northern Ireland differently, to a certain extent, from the rest of the United Kingdom, that that consent by sought on the basis of the agreement.

Barclay failed to give Wilson the assurance that he wanted. He just said the government was committed to the Good Friday agreement.

  • Wilson said the plan being considered by the government would “diminish” the powers of the Northern Ireland assembly. (See quote above.) He made this point even though the assembly has been suspended for almost three years.
  • He said he hoped the government was not planning to keep Northern Ireland in the EU customs union for practical purposes. Talking about this idea, he said:

I hope that first of all the government is not contemplating that.

This sounded like a ritual objection. Everyone knows that is exactly what the government is now considering.

  • He quoted figures saying including Northern Ireland in the EU customs union for practical purposes could cost Northern Irish businesses an extra £500m.
  • He signalled that Northern Ireland businesses would expect compensation for these extra costs. Barclay said the government was planning a new deal for Northern Ireland, but that did not seem to satisfy Wilson.
  • Wilson said he was worried EU state aid rules could prevent compensation being paid in these circumstances. He said:

One of the suggestions that has been made is that, if there are additional costs, Northern Ireland could be compensated for those additional costs. If we sign up to abiding by some EU regulations, then state aid rules would apply and support could not be given to businesses which were caught with those additional costs.

Barclay did not specifically address this point, although he said the government wanted a new deal for Northern Ireland.

  • Wilson demanded details of exactly what new infrastructure would be needed for imposing customs checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland would work. Barclay said he could not give details at this point.

Updated

The Stephen Barclay hearing is now over.

The most significant points were made not by Barclay himself, who studiously avoided saying anything very revealing about the detail of the ongoing Brexit talks, but by Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman.

I will post the key quotes in a moment, but the Times’ Steven Swinford has the gist of it here.

Q: By Saturday will we have clarity on what infrastructure might be in place under these plans?

Barclay says the first thing to do is to get a deal. After that, there will be an urgent need to bring the matter back to the Commons, and to then inform MPs.

Q: Is it government policy to oppose customs checks in the Irish Sea?

Barclay says the government says Northern Ireland must be part of UK customs territory.

As for the details, those are part of the negotiations. It would be better to discuss them when there is “further clarity”, he says.

In the Brexit committee Sammy Wilson, the DUP Brexit spokesman, is asking about customs arrangements.

Q: What assessment has the government made of the impact of imposing EU tariffs on goods coming to Northern Ireland from Great Britain?

Barclay says the negotiations are still ongoing.

The government wants to understand the impact of any such plan.

These ideas are subject to “live discussions”, he says. He says it would not be appropriate to go further.

Q: Would Northern Ireland businesses be compensated?

Barclay says the government has already proposed a new deal for Northern Ireland. This is part of the PM’s desire to “level up” those parts of the UK that are less prosperous.

Sammy Wilson
Sammy Wilson Photograph: HoC

Updated

Corbyn plays down suggestions Labour MPs could lose whip for backing PM's Brexit deal

Jeremy Corbyn is playing down suggestions that he could remove the whip from any Labour MP who votes for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.

If Labour MPs were to lose the whip for voting with the government on this, they would be unable to stand for the party as a candidate at the next election.

Nineteen Labour MPs recently signed an open letter saying that they were opposed to extending Brexit (Labour’s official policy) and that they wanted to vote for a deal. No 10 hopes many or all of these MPs might back a deal, potentially compensating for the lack of DUP support.

From my colleague Rowena Mason

Back in the Commons Stephen Barclay claims that, if the UK leaves the EU this autumn, the negotiation of a future trade deal with the EU could conclude by the end of next year, when the transition is due to end.

He says the political declaration will provide a framework for the future deal. And he says the trade negotiators will be able to meet more easily than in, for example, the EU-US trade talks, when negotiators had to fly over from America.

From my colleague Daniel Boffey in Brussels

This is from PoliticalPics, a Twitter account run by the photographer Steve Back, who regularly covers Downing Street.

Back in the Commons committee Barclay says he cannot say what papers would be available to MPs before a possible Commons vote on Saturday. The Tory Richard Graham wanted to know if MPs would be able to read the text of the withdrawal agreement and political declaration.

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn

Q: What engagement has the UK government had with the Scottish and Welsh governments this week about progress in the talks? Cherry says her suspicion is that there has been none.

Barclay says he is not aware of the details, because he has been travelling, but he says he will write to the committee.

Cherry says the Scottish and Welsh government are getting far less information than the DUP and the ERG, which have been called in to No 10.

Barclay says the SNP has said it will vote against the deal anyway.

Barclays plays down suggestions government could use 'two-letter' strategy to sabotage Benn act

Back in the Brexit committee the SNP MP Joanna Cherry, one of the people who took the government to court in Scotland seeking an assurance that Boris Johnson would obey the Benn act, is asking the questions now.

Cherry asks Stephen Barclay if he agrees with the passage in the judgment from Lord Pentland, who said there was no need for the court to issue an order instructing the government to comply with the Benn act because the government had given assurances it would. Pentland said:

I approach matters on the basis that it would be destructive of one of the core principles of constitutional propriety and of the mutual trust that is the bedrock of the relationship between the court and the crown for the prime minister or the government to renege on what they have assured the court that the prime minister intends to do.

Barclay said the government would obey the law, but he did not endorse Pentland’s actual words.

Q: Does the government have a plan to send two letters to the EU, one asking for an extension in line with the Benn act and another saying the government does not want an extension, as Andrea Leadsom suggests.

Barclay said he was not aware of any plan to that effect.

  • Barclays plays down suggestions government could use a “two-letter” strategy to sabotage the Benn act.

Updated

These are from RTE’s Tony Connelly.

ITV’s Robert Peston say the DUP are going back to Downing Street for another meeting.

Varadkar suggests another EU summit later this month might be needed because 'many issues' to be resolved

Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (prime minister), has been speaking this morning, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports. He said he had spoken to Boris Johnson and to the European commission this morning. He said that he was still confident but that there were “many issues” to be resolved and that another EU summit later this month might be needed.

Updated

The Tory Brexiter Craig Mackinlay goes next. He says he welcomes what the government is saying about the political declaration (covering the future relationship). There was too much “vassalage” in Theresa May’s version, he says.

Barclay says there is a “shared desire” with the EU to move on to that stage of the talks.

Q: You and Michael Gove have both said you would back Theresa May’s deal. But it would stop us negotiating good trade deals, wouldn’t it? I am concerned about you thinking along those lines.

Barclay says Boris Johnson has been clear about the kind of trade deal he is seeking.

Updated

Barclay says he would oppose even short, technical extension

The former Tory cabinet minister Stephen Crabb goes next.

Q: What makes this deal better than Theresa May’s deal?

Barclay says the key difference is that the Boris Johnson plan would be deliverable. Johnson is looking for something that would get through parliament.

Q: So why were ERG (European Research Group) MPs so angry after being briefed in No 10 last night?

Barclay says he cannot say, as he was not there.

Q: Is it fair to say we are moving to a Northern Ireland-only backstop, not a UK-wide one?

Barclay says the PM said in his letter to President Juncker earlier this month that the UK must leave the EU whole and entire.

Q: Do you acccept, though, that Northern Ireland will be treated differently.

Barclay says the sovereignty of the UK must be respected, and that includes in relation to the customs union.

Q: Would you be comfortable with a short, technical extension to allow more time for the details to be finalised?

No, says Barclay. He says the Commons can legislate quickly. These issues have been discussed extensively. No one thinks MPs have not had enough time to debate Brexit, he says.

  • Barclay says he would oppose even a short, technical extension.

Stephen Timms, the Labour MP, is asking the questions now.

Q: HM Revenue and Customs says a no-deal Brexit would cost business £15bn. Your party used to be opposed to burdens on business.

Barclay says the government wants a deal.

Q: Would the government help businesses cover these costs?

Barclay repeats the point about wanting a deal.

From Bloomberg’s Dara Doyle

Sammy Wilson is the DUP’s Brexit spokesman.

From Bloomberg’s Nikos Chrysoloras

These are from Sky’s Beth Rigby

From my colleague Daniel Boffey

The Tory Brexiter Andrea Jenkyns is asking questions now. She says she was critical of Theresa May’s handling of Brexit (she is one of the 28 “Spartans”, who voted against May’s deal three times) but she says she supports what Boris Johnson is doing.

Q: Do you think the Benn act has weakened the government’s negotiating stance?

Barclay says it has been “unhelpful”.

Updated

Benn is now asking questions about the plan for an alternative to the backstop published by Boris Johnson earlier this month. The government’s explanation of those plans is here (pdf).

Q: The plan says, if Northern Ireland withdraws consent, the customs rules default to existing rules. What are they?

Barclay says they would be the rules that would be in place if there were no deal.

Benn says that means there would be a hard border in Ireland.

Q: How can the government propose something that would lead to a hard border, if Northern Ireland withdrew consent, when the UK government is opposed to a hard border?

Barclay says the UK government is opposed to a hard border. It would not put up infrastructure at the border.

Two Tory Brexiters on the committee, Craig Mackinlay and Andrea Jenkyns, complain about Benn’s questioning, saying he is taking up too much time and could be seen as biased, because he put through the Benn Act.

Benn asks Barclay how long it would take the government to pass the withdrawal agreement legislation if there is a deal.

Barclay tells him that his own bill (the Benn Act - the law requiring the PM to request an extension if there is no deal) showed that it is possible for the Commons to pass legislation very quickly.

Q: If there is no agreement reached, will the PM write the letter he has to send by the end of Saturday requesting a Brexit extension?

Barclay says the PM will comply with the Benn Act, and with the undertakings given to the court in Scotland.

Q: Why did the PM spend so long saying he wouldn’t?

Barclay says the government is committed to leaving by 31 October.

Q: How will the UK leave the EU on 31 October if the PM sends the extension letter. The two things are incompatible.

Barclay says there are a number of variables.

The best way to leave on 31 October is to get a deal, he says. The government is “absolutely committed” to this. He says he had 11 bilateral meetings with counterparts in Luxembourg yesterday.

Q: If the PM sends the letter, and the EU grants an extension until 31 January, we cannot leave on 31 October, can we?

Barclay says Benn is getting “several steps ahead”.

  • Barclay refuses to tell MPs how the government could meet its commitment to leave the EU by 31 October if it has to comply with the Benn Act.
Stephen Barclay
Stephen Barclay Photograph: HoC

Q: Are you negotiating a revised political declaration with the EU?

Yes, says Barclay. He says the UK and the EU are discussing revised text.

Q: Would that be published at the same time as the revised text of the withdrawal agreement?

Barclay says the government would want to give as much information to MPs as possible.

Q: But MPs would be voting on both?

Barclay says that is not necessarily the case. The third “meaningful vote” was only on the withdrawal agreement (WA). The first two were on the WA and the political declaration.

Stephen Barclay gives evidence to Common Brexit committee

Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, has just started giving evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

Hilary Benn, the committee chairs, asks if the Commons will meet on Saturday if there is no deal. Barclay says that will be something for Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, to announce.

ComRes has released some Brexit polling this morning, which was commissioned for a Channel 5 programme going out tonight, Live Brexit Referendum. It was an unusually large poll, featuring 26,000 respondents. Most polls involve 1,000 or 2,000 people taking part.

Here are the key findings.

  • More than half of voters want the UK to abide by the referendum result and leave the EU, when don’t knows are excluded, the poll suggests. Some 50% want the UK to leave the EU against 42% who want it to remain in. But, when don’t knows are excluded, those figures amount to 54% for leave and 46% for remain.

UPDATE: I have quoted the way ComRes presented these figures. But Anthony Wells, who works for YouGov, argues (persuasively) that these headline statistics are misleading. He explains here.

Updated

The Irish agriculture minister, Michael Creed, said this morning there was some room for optimism in relation to Brexit. He said:

This time last week we were probably engulfed in darkness and depression in the context of Brexit.

There is some room for optimism now but we’re not there yet. However I would countenance if we do get a deal in Brussels on Brexit we have been here before with the withdrawal agreement which didn’t get through the House of Commons so there are some hurdles to be cleared yet and I’m not underestimating those in any way.

They are significant and reflective of the magnitude of the challenge but we remain hopeful.

From Bloomberg’s Nikos Chrysoloras

DUP says it is 'untrue and nonsense' to say it has been offered billions for Northern Ireland to back deal

The DUP is denying multiple reports this morning that it had been offered “billions” in Downing St talks in the past two days.

A DUP spokesman said: “This is categorically untrue and utter nonsense.“

The DUP secured £1bn in investment for Northern Ireland as part of the confidence and supply deal with Theresa May after the 2017 election returned a hung parliament.

Reports in Ireland suggest what might be on the table is a package involving the EU, Ireland and the UK.

The EU has already promised it will continue, whatever the outcome of Brexit talks, the Peace IV programme which has invested millions in cross-community initiatives.

Northern Ireland also benefits from the Interreg regional programme for bordering countries, which also includes Scotland.

Those reports prompted this tweet last night from Nick Macpherson, a former permanent secretary to the Treasury.

Updated

Mark Francois, the deputy chair of the European Research Group, which represents Tories pushing for a harder Brexit, has just told Sky’s All Out Politics that he and his ERG colleagues have “a number of concerns” about what is being proposed by Boris Johnson. But he refused to give details.

He also said that he would give “very strong weight” to the views of the DUP when deciding whether or not to back any deal negotiated by Johnson (backing up what David Davis told the Today programme – see 9.03am.)

He also said that, if no deal is agreed in Brussels this week, he would not expect the emergency sitting of the House of Commons planned for Saturday to go ahead.

Asked if he would be willing to accept another extension, keeping the UK in the EU beyond 31 October (which many EU figures believe would be essential, even if a deal is agreed this week, to allow time for the details to be finalised), Francois did not firmly rule it out. But he said that most people in the country, particularly outside London, just wanted to see this matter sorted out.

Francois is one of the so-called “Spartans” – the 28 ERG Tories who voted against Theresa May’s deal on all three occasions.

Mark Francois
Mark Francois. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

DUP views will help determine whether Tory Brexiters back deal, says David Davis

David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, told the Today programme this morning that some Tory Brexiters would be strongly influenced by the DUP in deciding whether or not to back Boris Johnson’s deal. In an interview this morning the presenter Nick Robinson pointed out that the DUP have 10 votes in the Commons. Davis said that understated their influence.

You said 10 votes, by the way earlier. Just as an aside on that, there will be quite a lot of Tory MPs who will take their line from what the DUP do.

Davis said he would not decide himself whether or not to back any deal negotiated by Johnson until he had read the detail. But he would take note of the DUP position, he said:

I will look at what they say. If the DUP says this is intolerable to us, that will be quite important.

When it was put to him that, when he was Brexit secretary, he said he would not accept any part of the UK being treated differently, and that the Johnson deal will treat Northern Ireland differently (because for practical purposes it would be in the EU customs union), Davis replied:

If we believe what we read, there is going to be complete openness between the British market, the rest of the UK market, and the Northern Ireland market for British goods sold in Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland goods sold in Britain. There would be a red channel, as it were, for outside goods. That’s what we are told. So that preserves that bit of it.

In terms of the union, we are not seeing a break-up of the union in those terms.

Davis voted against Theresa May’s deal in the first Commons “meaningful vote”. But in the two subsequent votes, he backed the deal.

David Davis
David Davis Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Updated

From Sky’s Michelle Clifford

Sir Tim Barrow, the Uk’s ambassador to the EU, and David Frost, the PM’s chief Brexit adviser, arrriving at thei European commission’s HQ this morning for the Brexit talks.
Sir Tim Barrow, the Uk’s ambassador to the EU, and David Frost, the PM’s chief Brexit adviser, arrriving at thei European commission’s HQ this morning for the Brexit talks. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

A Number 10 source has told the Press Association that the talks in Brussels went on until 1.30am this morning. “Constructive talks, worked into the night, continue to make progress, continue in the morning,” the source said.

Brexit talks resume

From the BBC’s Adam Fleming

Agenda for the day

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Sarah Marsh.

We will be focusing exclusive on Brexit today. Here are the main events in the diary.

9.30am: Simon Byrne, chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, gives evidence to the Commons Northern Ireland committee.

10am: Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, gives evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

10am: Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, gives evidence to the Commons international trade committee.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

1pm (UK time): Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is due to brief EU ambassadors on the talks.

3.30pm: Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, gives evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee.

4pm: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet

7.30pm: Johnson is due to address the Conservative 1922 Committee.

That’s it from me, I am handing over the live blog to Andrew Sparrow.

There are multiple reports that the DUP is being offered a significant cash deal alongside the Brexit pact.

The Financial Times is reporting sources as saying the DUP were being offered “billions not millions” as a sweetener.

The Irish Times also noted the offer of “a multimillion-euro package of investment funded by the EU, London and Dublin”. They are reporting indications that “political agreement had been reached on the main points and precise details were being worked through”.

ITV’s Robert Peston said Downing Street sources were downbeat about a deal. The issue seems to be what is on the table is not going to get the support of the DUP.

The DUP’s Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds had a second 90-minute briefing with Downing Street officials last night but declined to comment. A spokesman said “it would be fair to indicate gaps remain and further work is required”.

Updated

British and EU negotiators are to press on with more talks in Brussels this morning to try and reach a new withdrawal agreement before a summit of EU leaders tomorrow. The EU chief negotiator suggested a deal had to be reached by 11pm UK time to be approved at the summit.

With just two weeks until the UK’s scheduled withdrawal from the European Union on 31 October, the National Audit Office (NAO) said that mitigating the risks was now, to some extent, out of the government’s control.

The most significant risks to the operation of the border remain business-readiness, EU member states imposing controls, and arrangements for the Northern Ireland and Ireland land border.

In its report, the NAO said the government has made progress with putting in place the systems, infrastructure and resources required to manage the border if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October, but said “there is still some work to do to finalise arrangements in the short time that remains and bringing all these elements together for the first time in a live environment carries inherent risk”.

The report adds: “It is impossible to know exactly what would happen at the border in the event of no deal on October 31 2019.”

Updated

A delegation of cross-party MPs led by Dominic Grieve is heading to Brussels this morning for a series of meetings with EU diplomats.

The delegation is believed to include the Labour MP David Lammy, the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, the former Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, the leader of Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons, Liz Saville Roberts, and Peter Grant of the SNP.

They are not meeting EU officials but have a round of meetings with ambassadors for various EU countries.

Grant said in a tweet they were going “to ask the EU not to let Johnston [sic] crash us out without a deal”.

Updated

Swinson calls for referendum on any Brexit deal agreed by Boris Johnson

The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, has renewed calls for a second referendum, saying that what Boris Johnson is considering could be “worse for the economy than the hit during the financial crisis”.

Swinson said that any deal done in Brussels should be put back to the people for a vote.

The government is desperate to try to create a deal no matter how demanding that will be for our country. Let’s be clear at what it looks like [Johnson is] considering, which is some kind of free trade agreement ... [That could be] worse for our economy than the hit during the financial crash.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Swinson went on:

There is no deal that is better than deal we have as members EU. We will not support any deal but what we want to happen ... is that whatever Brexit deal is negotiated is put to people so the public can have the final say.

Updated

Brexit negotiations are to continue on a final day of efforts to get a deal ready for a crucial EU summit, after Tuesday’s talks ran into the small hours of the morning.

Time is running out for Boris Johnson to get an agreement in place so it can be approved at the Brussels summit starting on Thursday.

Reports had suggested a deal was close ahead of a midnight deadline imposed by the EU, with the prime minister said to be making major concessions on the Irish border.

But sources on both sides downplayed this, and Johnson’s official spokesman said: “Talks remain constructive but there is more work still to do.”

Updated

That’s it from me, I’m handing over to my colleague Sarah Marsh.

Jo Swinson is doing the rounds of breakfast media this morning. She just appeared on BBC Breakfast talking about palns to push for a people’s vote and will be on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme at 7:20am.

Updated

How the papers covered it

Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats has said a second Brexit referendum was ‘the best way to resolve the Brexit chaos’.
Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats has said a second Brexit referendum was ‘the best way to resolve the Brexit chaos’. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

The Guardian’s political correspondent Kate Proctor reports that the Liberal Democrats will try to push MPs to a fresh vote on a second Brexit referendum next week.

The party has tabled an amendment to the Queen’s speech requesting that any deal brought back from Brussels by the prime minister is put to another public vote.

The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, said:

The Liberal Democrats are the strongest party of remain and have been the leading voice in the People’s Vote campaign.

Boris Johnson is determined to have a general election, but the best way to resolve the Brexit chaos is to have a people’s vote and give the British people the final say about their future.

The best deal we have is as members of the European Union and we want to give the people the chance to choose to stop Brexit.

Full story here.

Updated

At the heart of all this is the Irish border. Here’s our explainer on the issue in relation to Brexit.

Counties and customs

Inside the EU, both Ireland and Northern Ireland are part of the single market and customs union so share the same regulations and standards, allowing a soft or invisible border between the two.

Britain’s exit from the EU – taking Northern Ireland with it – risks a return to a hard or policed border. The only way to avoid this post-Brexit is for regulations on both sides to remain more or less the same in key areas including food, animal welfare, medicines and product safety.

The 'backstop' in Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement was intended to address this - stating that if no future trade agreement could be reached between the EU and the UK, then rules and regulations would stay as they are. This has been rejected by Brexit supporters as a 'trap' to keep the UK in the EU's customs union, which would prevent the UK striking its own independent trade deals. 

There are an estimated 72m road vehicle crossings a year between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and about 14% of those crossings are consignments of goods, some of which may cross the border several times before they reach a consumer. Brexit supporters say this can be managed by doing checks on goods away from the border, but critics say it will be difficult to police this without any physical infrastructure like border posts or cameras, which could raise tensions in the divided communities of Ireland. 


Interactive: A typical hour in the life of the Irish border

Updated

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the day’s political happenings. It’s a pleasure to be with you on the day in which a draft text of a Brexit agreement might, possibly, who knows, finally be published.

Johnson appeared to be on the brink of reaching a Brexit deal yesterday after making major concessions to the EU over the issue of the Irish border. If Downing Street gives the final green light, the agreement could be published today, though it will still have to be voted on in parliament, and the deal, which is understood to include a customs border down the Irish Sea, would be unlikely to appeal to the DUP.

Yesterday, Michel Barnier had set Johnson a deadline of midnight Wednesday to concede to EU demands and agree to a customs border in the Irish Sea or be left with nothing to take to the Commons.

The prime minister will brief his cabinet on the situation at 4pm on Wednesday before addressing a scheduled meeting of the 1922 Committee in the evening.

Until then, we will be bringing you the news as it breaks. Thanks for following along. As always, please get in touch via Twitter or email (kate.lyons@theguardian.com). I’ll be at the helm of the blog for the next hour or so before I hand over to my wonderful colleagues.

Updated

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