Theresa May will urge European Union leaders to approve an agreement to move Brexit talks on to a second phase after an embarrassing parliamentary defeat.
The Prime Minister will repeat her case for moving the talks on to trade negotiations, which she sees as crucial to offering certainty for businesses.
The 27 other EU leaders are all but certain to approve the deal to move to "phase two" on Friday, after Ms May has left Brussels, launching a new stage of talks that could be hampered by divisions at home and differences with the EU.
On Wednesday, Ms May suffered a humiliating defeat in the House of Commons as Parliament voted in favour of an amendment requiring a meaningful future parliamentary vote on any final Brexit deal.
Up until the last minute of an often bitter debate, the Prime Minister's team tried to convince MPs in her party to block the measure, which the Government fears will weaken its hand in Brexit negotiations. But enough Conservatives rebelled to carry it narrowly by 309 votes to 305.
"This defeat is a humiliating loss of authority for the government on the eve of the European Council meeting," opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement.
