Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Kevin Rawlinson

May hints at possible need for election, saying MPs 'reaching limits' of Brexit process - as it happened

Closing summary

That’s all from us this evening – thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

  • MPs rejected the prime minister’s Brexit deal for a third time, throwing the plan for an orderly Brexit in May into chaos. A delay until 22 May, agreed with the EU last week, was dependent on the deal passing. A series of leave-supporting Conservative backbenchers, who had previously balked at the deal, reversed their positions after Theresa May said she would leave Downing Street if it passed.
  • Competing pro-Brexit rallies were held in Westminster on the day many attendees had assumed would see them celebrating the UK’s exit. Five people were arrested during the demonstrations, which attracted figures from the far-right, as well as more moderate Brexiters.
  • MPs may be asked to vote again on the deal, amid indications the prime minister may be willing to call a general election. May told the Commons: “I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this house,” which has been interpreted in some quarters as a warning that, should MPs fail to back her, she could go to the country.
  • The EU said the vote meant a no-deal Brexit was now likely and that a managed such process would not be on offer. The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, underlined this, saying it did not appear clear the fact was appreciated in London.

If you’d like to read yet more, my colleagues Heather Stewart and Jessica Elgot have the full story:

Updated

Scotland Yard has now updated the arrest figures for today’s rallies:

The first three mentioned above have been added since 5.30pm. The other two arrests were made before that time.

Updated

As of 5.30pm, there had been two arrests at today’s pro-Brexit rallies, Scotland Yard says.

One male was identified as being wanted for an offence in Hertfordshire and subsequently arrested.

One male was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.

Both suspects have been taken to a central London police station, where they remain in custody.

Police are unable to say at this point what offence the first person was arrested on suspicion of.

Supporters of Yaxley-Lennon have marched to Downing Street. Many of his backers have begun to engage in heated exchanges with the police officers there, according to the Press Association. They chanted “we want our country back” and “we want Brexit”, before turning on a television crew.

The rallies in Westminster are dying down but Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the far-right activist also known as Tommy Robinson, has returned to the stage. With a much-diminished crowd, the chants of “oh Tommy Robinson” continued as he led a singalong of Rule Britannia.

Yaxley-Lennon, who’s serving as an adviser to the Ukip leader, Gerard Batten, had previously told the crowd that Nigel Farage, the party’s former leader, “does not care about you, he is exactly the same as the establishment”. Farage was speaking at a rival rally nearby.

And, just now, a report has emerged of tensions between Yaxley-Lennon’s supporters and the police beginning to simmer. According to the Press Association, some have been engaging in a tug of war with officers over metal railings. Some Robinson backers are wearing yellow vests, while others have masks on, and appeared to be swearing and shouting at the police.

Earlier, the SNP MP, Joanna Cherry, tweeted:

The Labour MP, Lisa Nandy, had also said she was the object of abuse.

Opposition leaders in Ireland have voiced their disappointment at rejection of the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons. The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, has said:

The behaviour of the DUP has been reckless and outrageous. They have been seduced by the games at Westminster at the cost of farmers, the economy and the views of the majority in the north.

Our economy, the rights of citizens and our hard-won agreements cannot be collateral damage to Westminster.

Sinn Fein is due to meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and other European leaders in Brussels on Monday. McDonald added:

We will be pressing the case that in a crash-out Brexit, the EU must continue to act in the interests of all Ireland and support for our agreements, rights and economy.

The Fianna Fáil leader, Micheal Martin, said a further extension to article 50 was needed to ease tensions. He told RTÉ Radio One:

We now are in an extremely serious situation. It’s time perhaps to give time to it in terms of an extension and to calm things down ... A no-deal [Brexit] would be devastating for the agri-food industry in Ireland. It would devastate the British economy, and the time for putting politics before the livelihoods of people is long over. There’s a need now to think of businesses, to think of jobs.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon has offered further clarity on what her MPs may or may not support on Monday. The SNP are a significant voting bloc at Westminster and, inevitably, there’s much speculation now about whether they could be persuaded to shift their position on some of the indicative vote options. They could, for example, have swung the customs union amendment on Wednesday, had they not abstained.

But while the Scottish Conservatives accused the SNP of hypocrisy in not compromising over that amendment, Sturgeon was quick to point out yesterday that there was nothing in Wednesday’s range of options that met the full continued single market/customs union arrangement put forward as a compromise by the Scottish government in 2016.

And she had further clarified on Twitter this afternoon:

Freedom of movement remains hugely important to the Scottish government, given the unique demographic challenges faced by the country and its heavy reliance on EU nationals, especially in the health and social care workforce.

Updated

The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of sneaking out an impact assessment (pdf) that suggests a trade deal between the EU and Vietnam will “increase the welfare of UK households” and boost UK exports to the country by nearly £500m per year.

The party notes that the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has signed only eight trade deals that will maintain the relationships the UK currently has as an EU member, once it leaves the bloc.

The Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, Tom Brake, has said:

Today, at one minute past 11pm, was supposed to be trade deal day for Liam Fox – the day he would roll over all our EU trade deals.

This was the day when his vision of a buccaneering Britain would reach fruition. We would sign off trade deals worth tens of billions of pounds with countries across the globe.

Unfortunately, his vision has collided with hard reality. Even when he gets the deal signed with Vietnam, the number still remain fewer than 10.

On a day in which the government has witnessed yet another embarrassing defeat of the prime minister’s deal, they have clearly decided today is a good day to bury bad news.

Fox has failed. He should pay the price and walk.

As an EU member, the UK benefits from trade deals that cover more than 70 countries.

Updated

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite trade union, has called for a general election or a free vote in the Commons to break the Brexit impasse. He has said:

Theresa May’s Brexit deal is now dead. It has been rejected by the House of Commons three times. Its demise is testament to the prime minister’s failure to act as a national rather than a party leader. Her efforts to reach out beyond the ranks of the Tory hard right have been too little and too late.

It is now beyond urgent that politicians of all parties agree on a new approach. Uncertainty is costing jobs and investment. Britain’s economic future is being held hostage by political paralysis.

The deadlock can only be broken by a general election or by a free vote across the Commons on the range of options available. On Monday, MPs should agree a new approach based around a customs union between Britain and the EU.

I would very much hope that those MPs in all parties who did not support this commonsense solution to the crisis in this week’s indicative vote will do so in a free vote on Monday.

In particular, I would urge the Scottish National party, supported as it is by many working people in Scotland, to vote to put economic security, jobs and prosperity first.

Updated

Vote Leave drops appeal and agrees to pay fine

While those events are going on, it has been confirmed this evening that Vote Leave has dropped its appeal against the Electoral Commission’s finding that it broke the law. The commission says:

Vote Leave has today withdrawn its appeal and related proceedings against the Electoral Commission’s finding of multiple offences under electoral law, committed during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

Vote Leave was the designated lead campaigner for the leave outcome at the referendum. We found that it broke the electoral rules set out by parliament to ensure fairness, confidence and legitimacy at an electoral event. Serious offences such as these undermine public confidence in our system and it is vital, therefore, that they are properly investigated and sanctioned.

We have been advised that Vote Leave has paid its £61,000 fine and look forward to receiving the sum in full.

Updated

In Westminster, where rival pro-Brexit rallies are taking place, the rhetoric is taking an aggressive and somewhat troubling turn, as my colleague Ben Quinn reports:

The Labour MP Lisa Nandy says she has also been subjected to abuse:

The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been speaking and it seems he may have drawn some supporters away from the event held by his old party:

To chants of “Nigel, Nigel, Nigel”, Farage said if Britain does not leave without a deal on 12 April and the country takes part in European elections on 23 May, he “will fight them”. He claimed:

And if the worst-case scenario occurs, if they force us to fight a second referendum, we will beat them by a bigger margin than last time.

Updated

The SNP has been criticised for not voting for the customs union amendment during the indicative votes on Wednesday. This tweet from Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, seems to be suggesting the SNP could back the customs union plan next week.

That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is taking over now.

Updated

More from my colleague Ben Quinn, who has been covering the rival pro-Brexit rallies outside the Houses of Parliament.

The Mark Francois jibe seems to have been provoked in particular by a recent comment from James Naughtie (not even a Today presenter any more, but never mind).

Naughtie infuriated Tories in the European Research Group by saying:

Somebody put it to me the other day, look, in any other European country, the Conservative party wouldn’t exist in its current form. The ERG, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s group, in France would be in the National Front because that’s what they believe, and in Germany they’d be in the AfD. It’s only because of our system that the carapace of this party keeps them in, and I think on both sides of the aisle that can’t last.

Naughtie subsequently apologised, saying his words had been ill-chosen.

Updated

A UK snap election would not end the EU requirement that Britain stage European parliament elections if it wishes to remain in the EU beyond 23 May, the date of the European elections, Norbert Röttgen, the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee chair, has said.

Röttgen, who has been in London for talks with David Lidington, the de-facto deputy prime minister, said:

If Britain decides to be members on the European Union on the day of the European elections then European citizens have the right to take part in the European elections. You cannot deny citizens the right to take part in European elections. That is clear.

He also insisted any request for an extension of article 50 beyond the month of May would have to come from the British government and not via parliament.

And he warned any Conservative candidate for the party’s leadership election who promised to unstitch a signed EU withdrawal agreement would be making “simple, legally meaningless pledges that cannot be fulfilled under international law”.

He added if any Tory candidate sought to renegotiate a signed withdrawal agreement, the reaction would be “this is a done deal, full stop”. Röttgen said:

We would notice the announcement of bad faith, particularly by people who are perhaps acquiring power in your country.

Updated

More from Sky’s Faisal Islam on the delegation of ministers going in to see Theresa May.

May’s comments in the Commons earlier strongly implied she has no intention of tacking towards a no-deal Brexit. (See 3.08pm.)

Updated

Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Westminster, has told the BBC he would rather see the UK stay in the EU than put the place of Northern Ireland in the union at risk, Nicholas Watt reports.

Updated

This is what Chris Grayling, the Brexiter transport secretary, told the BBC about the result.

What the house has just done is to vote effectively to leave this country either leaving the EU on 12 April with no deal, reversing Brexit or kicking it into the far long grass.

I don’t think that’s what the majority in this country wants. We are going to have to think very hard over the next few hours how we respond to that. This is a hugely disappointing response that is absolutely not in the national interest.

Updated

From the BBC’s Ross Hawkins.

Updated

This is from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

Updated

This is from Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, with footage of the March to Leave rally at Westminster.

Updated

From the Times’ Sam Coates.

Updated

A mass of protesters ranging from British far-right activists through to Trump-voting Americans and French supporters of a ‘Frexit’ and others are among those attending a Ukip event outside the House of Parliament “sponsored”, in the party’s words, by Tommy Robinson.

As supporters of the separate March to Leave event in Parliament Square assembled in front of a big screen, members of both crowds walked between it and the Ukip event, which was due to be addressed by the party’s leader, Gerard Batten.

To cheers, a number of Loyalist marching bands made a loud entrance to Parliament Square shortly after 4.30pm.

Rabia Ouchikhe, a French citizen from the island of Réunion who was gathered with others from France’s Eurosceptic UPR movement, said: “Brexit is a huge inspiration to us and we want France to follow.” She said about 800 people had travelled from France.

Other speakers were due to include Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as well as the YouTube figure Carol Benjamin.

Homemade placards and outfits ranging from yellow vests to military fatigues, as well as polo shirts of the various football fan groups that have come together under the banner of the Football Lads Alliance, were visible in the crowd.

Barbara Parish, a former nurse from Nottingham, was wearing a crown and the sash of the suffragettes, and carrying a placard tracing UK democracy from the Magna Carta to universal suffrage and beyond. “Don’t let the EU and parliament destroy it,” was her message.

The gathering was watched by attendees who had floated across from the other rally. They included Louise Peart, a former police officer and NHS worker from Surrey, who described the parliamentary impasse as a “shambles”.

“We’re tired of getting tarnished as far right or racist or the other. We’re just working, middle-class people who want democracy to be carried through,” she said.

Tommy Robinson addressing a Ukip rally outside the Houses of Parliament
Tommy Robinson addressing a Ukip rally outside the Houses of Parliament. Photograph: Matthew Chattle/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

EU says no-deal scenario now 'likely' and managed no deal won't be on offer

Here is the full statement from the European commission following the vote in the Commons.

The commission regrets the negative vote in the House of Commons today. As per the European council (article 50) decision on 22 March, the period provided for in article 50(3) is extended to 12 April. It will be for the UK to indicate the way forward before that date, for consideration by the European council.

A “no-deal” scenario on 12 April is now a likely scenario. The EU has been preparing for this since December 2017 and is now fully prepared for a “no-deal” scenario at midnight on 12 April. The EU will remain united. The benefits of the withdrawal agreement, including a transition period, will in no circumstances be replicated in a “no-deal” scenario. Sectoral mini-deals are not an option.

The final two sentences refer to a claim often made by Brexiters at Westminster that, in the event of a no-deal departure, the UK and the EU would in practice negotiate a series of mini-agreements to mitigate the worst consequences. This is sometimes referred to as a managed no deal.

Updated

Irish PM says UK may not fully appreciate risk of no-deal Brexit

The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has said the UK does not realise a no-deal Brexit is still an option, and a growing possibility. In a statement just issued, he said:

Ireland has been preparing intensively for a no-deal scenario. But no one should underestimate the difficulties that a no deal will present, for all of us, including the UK. It is not clear that the UK has fully understood that no deal is not off the agenda. Rather, it’s a growing possibility.

He said it was up to the UK to decide what to do now. And he went on:

I believe we must be open to a long extension should the United Kingdom decide to fundamentally reconsider its approach to Brexit and put back on the table options previously ruled out. I believe that will result in a generous and understanding response from the [EU]27.

Leo Varadkar
Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Updated

Pro-Brexit campaigners at Westminster.
Pro-Brexit campaigners at Westminster. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

The DUP’s deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, has hinted the door is not closed on his party supporting Theresa May and her deal.

He confirmed the party’s position was a “principled” one, centred on the union of the UK and the threat the backstop posed to that.

But in a statement, he suggested the problems were not insurmountable in the DUP’s view:

In our recent discussions with the government, good progress has been made on how domestic legislation would assist in ensuring the economic integrity of the UK as a whole and recognising Northern Ireland’s particular situation sharing a land border with the European Union.

We have encouraged the government to, as Dominic Raab has said [see 12.43pm], return to Brussels on these issues and not simply to accept the position of the European Union as being unalterable. The government must use the remaining time to deal with widely held concerns across the House of Commons.

Nigel Dodds
Nigel Dodds Photograph: House of Commons/PA

Updated

The list at 3.15pm is of all MPs who voted against Theresa May’s agreement at MV2 and voted for it today - not just Conservative MPs as I originally wrote. Sorry. That has been corrected now.

Here is some business reaction to the vote.

From Josh Hardie, the CBI deputy director general.

All eyes are now on Monday to discover what parliament is for. The UK’s reputation, people’s jobs and livelihoods are at stake. No deal is two weeks away. This winner-takes-all approach means everyone loses. Indicative votes must deliver. Only MPs can end this nightmare for businesses.

And this is from Edwin Morgan, the interim director general of the Institute of Directors.

The Brexit merry-go-round continues to spin, but the fun stopped a long time ago. We are running out of words to express how sick business leaders are of being stuck in this spirit-sapping limbo. The inability to make any decision is doing lasting damage to enterprise.

As the ones who are actually negotiating with the EU, the government must be ready to make clear its own preferred route forward. It can’t entirely absent itself from this process, even if parliament is crucial for the next steps.

Updated

This is from my colleague Heather Stewart.

And this is from the Times’ Sam Coates.

On Sky News, Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Tory Brexiter who voted against the agreement this afternoon, said he thought there would now have to be a long article 50 extension. At least after it was over, the UK would be able to leave the EU without conditions, he argued.

(Although most Brexiters oppose a long article 50 extension, some of them read with interest this recent article by Martin Howe, a Brexiter QC, saying a long article 50 extension would be better than Theresa May’s deal. What Jenkin was saying seemed to overlap with the arguments in the Howe piece.)

Asked how he would feel about the UK having to take part in the European elections, Jenkin said he did not like the idea. But he suggested the Conservative party could refuse to take part.

Updated

How parties voted on Brexit agreement

The full division list is here. This is how the parties divided:

For the agreement

Conservatives: 277

Labour: 5 (Sir Kevin Barron, Rosie Cooper, Jim Fitzpatrick, Caroline Flint and John Mann)

Independents: 4 (Ian Austin, Frank Field, Sylvia Hermon and Stephen Lloyd)

Total: 286

Against the agreement

Labour: 234

SNP: 34

Conservatives: 34

Independents: 16

Lib Dems: 11

DUP: 10

Plaid Cymru: 4

Green: 1

Total: 344

Updated

This is from Martin Selmayr, the European commission secretary general.

Here is the Guardian guide to how MPs voted:

And here is the list of MPs who voted against the withdrawal agreement at the second meaningful vote (MV2), but voted for it this afternoon:

Lucy Allan, Richard Bacon, Crispin Blunt, Conor Burns, Rehman Chishti, Simon Clarke, Damian Collins, Rosie Cooper, Robert Courts, Richard Drax, Iain Duncan Smith, Charlie Elphicke, Michael Fabricant, Sir Michael Fallon, Jim Fitzpatrick, James Gray, Chris Green, Mark Harper, Gordon Henderson, Eddie Hughes, Boris Johnson, Gareth Johnson, Daniel Kawczynski, Pauline Latham, Andrew Lewer, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Jonathan Lord, Esther McVey, Anne Main, Sheryll Murray, Tom Pursglove, Dominic Raab, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps, Henry Smith, Royston Smith, Bob Stewart, Ross Thomson, Michael Tomlinson, Craig Tracey, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Shailesh Vara, John Whittingdale.

Updated

Theresa May’s defeat hits the pound as investors worry UK could crash out of EU without a deal.

After the result of the vote was announced, sterling fell through the $1.30 mark against the US dollar for the first time since 11 March.

The pound had earlier rallied to $1.314, as Conservative MPs, such as Dominic Raab, threw their support behind May. But it turned south as soon as traders heard the government had lost by 58 votes.

The possibility of a general election is also unsettling the markets, following May’s warning that parliament is “reaching the limits of the process”.

The currency expert Jeremy Thomson-Cook, of the foreign exchange company World First, said he couldn’t see the pound recovering until the Brexit crisis had eased.

Updated

May hints at possible need for election, saying MPs 'reaching limits' of Brexit process

Number 10 is holding a briefing now, but we learned quite a lot about Theresa May’s thinking as to what happens next from the statement she gave to MPs. (See 2.54pm.)

  • May seems determined to avoid a no-deal Brexit. One plausible response to the defeat, and the one that would have cheered Brexiters, would have been for May to resign herself to a no-deal Brexit on 12 April - or possibly 22 May, if the EU were to agree (as Katya Adler suggests they might - see 11.51am.) But May did not say she was going to do this, and she did not even seem to accept it as a possibility. She said MPs had been clear they would not allow it. And she ended saying:

This government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.

  • May implied (although it was no more than this) that, if MPs could agree an alternative approach that would involve accepting the withdrawal agreement, she would support it. But she said there would have to be a further article 50 extension and that this would almost certainly involve the UK taking part in the European parliamentary elections - a condition that could turn out to be unacceptable to MPs.
  • She said she thought MPs were “reaching the limits” of attempts to find agreement. That sounded like an admission that she does not think the plan outlined above - an extension tied to MPs agreeing on a new plan - would work. It also sounded like a hint that she might go for a long article 50 extension tied to an election - although there would be considerable opposition to that amongst her own MPs too.
Theresa May
Theresa May Photograph: UK Parliamentary Recording Unit/EPA

Updated

Pound falls after MPs reject withdrawal agreement

The pound has fallen following the announcement of the result.

Full text of May's statement to MPs after defeat

Here is the full text of the statement Theresa May made to MPs after the result was announced.

On a point of order Mr Speaker, I think it should be a matter of profound regret to every member of this House that once again we have been unable to support leaving the European Union in an orderly fashion.

The implications of the House’s decision are grave.

The legal default now is that the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union on 12 April.

In just 14 days’ time.

This is not enough time to agree, legislate for and ratify a deal, and yet the House has been clear it will not permit leaving without a deal.

And so we will have to agree an alternative way forward.

The European Union has been clear that any further extension will need to have a clear purpose and will need to be agreed unanimously by the heads of the other 27 member States ahead of 12 April.

It is also almost certain to involve the UK being required to hold European parliamentary elections.

On Monday, this House will continue the process to see if there is a stable majority for a particular alternative version of our future relationship with the EU.Of course, all of the options will require the withdrawal agreement.

Mr Speaker, I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House.

This House has rejected no deal. It has rejected no Brexit. On Wednesday it rejected all the variations of the deal on the table.

And today it has rejected approving the withdrawal agreement alone and continuing a process on the future.

This government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.

Updated

Donald Tusk, the European council president, has called an emergency EU summit for Wednesday 10 April in light of this vote.

That is two days before the new deadline for the UK’s departure.

Updated

Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Wesminster, asks May to consider what Dominic Raab said in the debate about the backstop. She should use the time available to sort this out, he says.

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, says it is grotesque that May cannot recognise her deal is dead.

Updated

Heidi Allen, the interim leader of the Independent Group, says May must recognise that her deal is dead. “We must have a people’s vote now,” she says.

Updated

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says May should consider revoking article 50.

And, echoing Corbyn, he says there should be a general election.

Corbyn says May should call general election if she is not willing to change deal

Jeremy Corbyn says the deal must change.

If May cannot accept that, she must quit and let the country decide the future through a general election.

  • Corbyn says May should call a general election if she is not willing to change her deal.

Updated

May says she will continue to fight for ‘orderly Brexit’

Theresa May says the implications of this are “grave”. The UK is due to leave the EU now on 12 April. That is not enough time to legislate for a deal.

The UK could ask for a further extension. But that would mean holding European elections. MPs will consider further options on Monday. May says:

I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this house.

She says she will continue to press the case for an “orderly Brexit”.

  • May says she will continue to fight for ‘orderly Brexit’.

Updated

MPs reject May's Brexit agreement for third time by majority of 58

MPs have rejected Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement for the third time, by 344 votes to 286 – a majority of 58.

Updated

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

This is from my colleague Dan Sabbagh.

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

Reminder: this is what Jacob Rees-Mogg told LBC last week about how he would not vote for the PM’s Brexit deal if the DUP were voting against it. He said:

Ultimately, the United Kingdom is more important to me than the European Union. So if the DUP felt the United Kingdom were being divided up in the deal then that would mean it were impossible to vote for the deal under any circumstances.

Updated

This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

MPs start voting on May's Brexit agreement

May says she is commending this motion to the house “with all my heart”.

MPs are now voting.

Yasmin Qureshi, a Labour MP, says May said this was about the country. But it wasn’t, she says. She says Brexit has always been about the Conservative party.

May says MPs from all parties voted for the referendum.

Updated

Labour’s Wes Streeting says MPs have to think who might succeed May.

He says she may have sacrificed her own career for the country. But there are plenty of people who want to follow her who put their own careers first, he says.

May says, whoever succeeds her, the balance of votes in the House of Commons won’t change.

Updated

May urges MPs to “put aside self and party” and accept their responsibility to the British people.

She says that is what she has done.

Labour’s Geraint Davies asks May to accept that her Brexit will make the UK poorer, more divided and more isolated. She knows that in her heart of hearts, he says.

May says the government’s own assessment shows this Brexit deal delivers the best outcome consistent with the referendum result.

Updated

May says, if the deal is not passed today, the UK will have to leave the EU on 12 April. To avoid that, the UK would probably need a long extension, which would mean taking part in the European elections.

She says she does not accept this is a “blind Brexit”.

She says a withdrawal agreement would be required whatever deal is obtained.

And she says the government is engaging in the Letwin process, which could lead to changes to the political declaration.

She repeats the pledge made by Geoffrey Cox earlier to implement the Snell amendment. (See 10.02am.) And the Labour MPs behind that amendment will be consulted on the legislation, she says.

Theresa May
Theresa May. Photograph: House of Commons

Updated

May tells MPs this is 'the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit'

Theresa May is now winding up the debate.

She says the fact that the UK is not leaving the EU today is a matter of deep regret.

She says people ask why she has brought the issue back today. They say she might leave, she says. But she is doing it because this is “the last opportunity to guarantee Brexit”.

Corbyn says he hopes the Commons retakes control on Monday. He hopes MPs enter those debates in the spirit of compromise.

And he says the people should have the final say. If MPs cannot agree on Monday, there should be an election, he says.

MPs should vote down this deal, he says.

Many people fear for their jobs, and they worry about whether their friends can stay in the UK.

We need to rebuild our communities, he says. A botched Brexit deal, like the one here today, will only deepen divisions.

He urges MPs not to be cajoled by this “third-time lucky strategy” and to vote down the deal.

Updated

Corbyn says the government lost by the biggest majority in history in the first vote on the deal.

The PM then tried begging, bullying and bribery. But the government then lost again, by the fourth-biggest margin in history.

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn. Photograph: House of Commons

Updated

Sylvia Hermon, the independent MP from Northern Ireland, intervenes. She says Labour should be proud of the Good Friday agreement. Yet, by voting against the withdrawal agreement, it is voting against the backstop, and undermining the Good Friday agreement.

Corbyn says he does not agree with that. Labour backs the Good Friday agreement, he insists.

Updated

In the Commons, Jeremy Corbyn is now winding up for Labour.

He says today’s vote is “an affront to democracy”.

In January, the PM said the withdrawal agreement had to be taken alongside the political declaration, he says.

But now the government is trying to separate the two.

He says Labour will not vote for a “blindfold Brexit”. Passing the withdrawal agreement on its own would be doing just that, he says.

Updated

The campaign group Change.org UK is seeking legal advice over the use of the name Change UK (see 1.01pm) for the new political party formed by members of the Independent Group of MPs, the Press Association reports. In a statement, the campaign group said:

Change.org UK or UKChange is a movement of 17 million people in the UK. We empower ordinary people to start petitions and campaign to create the change they want to see.

Change.org UK, or UKChange as we are interchangeably known, is totally independent of party politics, always has been and always will be.

It is said that imitation is a form of flattery. But the movement that we have built in the UK to win campaigns for ordinary people is ours – all 17 million of us. We are seeking guidance on the proposed use of our brand name by those reported to be setting up a new political party.

Updated

This is from Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform.

In the context of what Grant is saying, it is worth flagging up this from jimbo246 BTL – which sounds like “just in case” contingency planning, but could turn out to be prescient.

User avatar for jimbo246

@Andrew

Just had a very interesting voicemail. Until last year I was secretary of an athletics club before moving to London. The local council hires its clubhouse for elections general or council. The voicemail was asking about hiring the clubhouse for potential European elections on the 23rd May. Is it possible that returning officers are already being asked to prepare for a long extension to article 50 or the possibility of no Brexit? Or would they be making preparations as a matter of 'just in case'?

Updated

Here are two BBC takes on the DUP/ERG relationship.

From Nicholas Watt:

From Laura Kuenssberg:

Updated

Steve Brine, who resigned as a health minister this week to vote for the Letwin amendment setting up the indicate votes process, tells MPs he thinks the government will lose the vote today. He will back the government, he says. But he says the prospect of the PM losing explains why the next indicative votes debate on Monday will be so important.

Updated

The SNP’s Deidre Brock speaks next in the debate and quotes what an unnamed cabinet minister told Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.

“It’s like the living dead in here.” Perhaps it was the PM herself who said this, Brock says.

She also says she thinks Theresa May will be replaced by “a more vicious version of the Bullingdon Club”.

Updated

The Tory Brexiter David Jones says he will continue to vote against the deal. If the deal had changed, he would have considered changing his mind, he says. But it has not.

He says this was meant to be the day when the bells would be pealing to celebrate Brexit.

Updated

The pro-Brexit March to Leave going through London
The pro-Brexit March to Leave going through London, heading for Westminster. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Updated

The Tory Brexiter John Baron tells MPs he is going to carry on voting against Theresa May’s deal.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says the political system at Westminster is broken. The people of Wales deserve better than this “failed empire of a union”, she says.

She also says she does not see why the Tories should be allowed “multiple shots” at trying to get a deal through when the public are being denied a second referendum.

A good question from BTL

User avatar for TrevorHarker4324

Is there anyone who is keeping track of how many Tories have switched and will now support it? Just wonder if anyone has any links or something.

We were doing our own before MV1, but these are quite labour-intensive exercises, and in recent days the situation has been changing fast, which has not made things any easier.

The most recent list I have seen is this one, by Alex Wickham at BuzzFeed. But it was last updated on Tuesday. At that point Wickham had counted 30 Tory MPs who had switched since MV2, and 45 Tories were were still saying they were opposed to the deal.

Updated

The Tory Brexiter Owen Paterson says he has already voted against this deal twice, and he will vote against it again. He does not want to lose his “integrity and reputation”, he says.

He says that under the PM’s plan, the UK would be subject to laws made by the EU27. They would have no incentive to act in the UK’s interests, he says. He says the backstop would create an entity called UKNI. That could be contrary to the Acts of Union 1801, he says.

Updated

At the end of her speech in the Commons, Anna Soubry said the Independent Group of MPs were now registering themselves as a political party, under the name Change UK. She said that could be the only good thing coming out of Brexit.

Updated

The Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick, who represents the remain-voting Poplar and Limehouse constituency in London, is voting for the PM’s deal. He told the Press Association:

I don’t want a no deal. I’ve voted against it twice, but this is a different proposition. It’s separating the withdrawal deal, it gives us the opportunities to influence the final political situation and therefore, from my point of view, it’s a better offer. I’ve been saying for some time if it’s a choice between her deal or no deal, then I’d take her deal.

Updated

This is from the Lib Dem leader, Sir Vince Cable.

Anna Soubry, the former Conservative who is now part of the Independent Group, says she does not see why MPs are allowed to vote on the PM’s deal two or three times, while the government refuses to give the public another say in a referendum. And she says Tories who say they are only backing the deal now because Theresa May is resigning are hypocritical.

Updated

Outside the Houses of Parliament, pro-Brexit campaigners have brought traffic to a halt by blocking the road, the Press Association reports. They chanted “We shall not be moved” and “Leave means leave.”

Updated

The Tory Brexiter Sir Christopher Chope tells MPs he is still voting against the PM’s deal.

The March to Leave demonstration going past the Thames on the way to Westminster, with someone waving an EU flag at it.
The March to Leave campaigners going past the Thames on the way to Westminster, with someone waving an EU flag at them. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Dominic Raab is speaking in the debate now. He says he resigned at the end of last year because he opposed the PM’s deal. And he still thinks it is a bad deal.

But the government has effectively taken no-deal off the table, he says. It has not ruled out a further, long extension of article 50. This could lead to the UK ending up staying in the single market.

But he says MPs need to proceed with realism.

There is a choice between a risk of being trapped in the backstop, and a significant risk of Brexit not happening.

He says the UK is left with these choices because of the flawed decisions taken by the government.

This is not a third meaningful vote, he says. But it has significant legal and practical implications. It is necessary to get the extension until 22 May. It is necessary to avoid the UK having to hold European elections, he says.

John Baron, the Tory Brexiter, intervenes. Urging Raab not to change his mind, he says MPs must make a decision based on the facts available, not on what might happen in the future. This is a bad deal, Baron says.

Raab says there is a balance of risk. He cannot countenance a longer article 50 extension, or the UK taking part in European elections.

The choice now is between the risk of being held in the backstop by the EU for a period, without being able to control our exit, and on the other hand a significant risk of losing Brexit altogether.

Neither are palatable. Both could have been avoided if the government had shown the requisite resolve and will.

He says the government should use the extra time available to get an exchange of letters with the EU giving effect to the Brady amendment.

When the EU says it won’t accept legally binding changes to the backstop, he says it is always assumed that the EU will hold firm, and that the UK must compromise. That mindset got us into this problem in the first place, he says.

He says he is voting for the motion, but without prejudice to his position on the next meaningful vote.

Dominic Raab
Dominic Raab Photograph: HoC

Updated

In the debate, the Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse says Theresa May could get her deal over the line if she combined it with a referendum.

Updated

Ukip flags outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of the rally that the party is holding there later.
Ukip flags outside the Houses of Parliament, ahead of the rally that the party is holding there later.
 Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images

The Tory Brexiter Priti Patel says if MPs vote for this deal, they will be voting for a deal drawn up by the EU. She says her constituents voted leave. And leave should mean leave, she says. She says people are getting fed up of these endless debates.

She implies that she is voting against the deal, but she does not say so explicitly.

Updated

The BBC’s Ross Hawkins says there does not seem to be much sign of Labour MPs switching, and deciding to vote for the deal. (See 11.01am.)

And ITV’s Robert Peston thinks Theresa May is heading for a substantial defeat.

The Tory Brexiter Anne-Marie Trevelyan is backing the PM’s deal, ITV’s Joe Pike reports. She has opposed it until now.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

Michel Barnier’s senior adviser, Stefaan de Rynck, has defended the Irish backstop, saying it is just as much an issue for the EU as it is for Ireland.

He told the UK in a Changing Europe conference in London:

It’s really a mistake [to think of this as an Ireland-only issue]. This is also a European backstop. This is about the integrity of the internal market and protection of internal states, as much as about the protection of the Good Friday agreement … When I speak to businesses in France, in Belgium, in Denmark, the backstop comes up.

He said businesses in the Benelux and Denmark are worried the border will not be robust enough after Brexit.

Concerns cited previously over the border for non-Irish member states are British or other cheap but high-value goods from the likes of China flowing at industrial levels across the Irish border and on to the continent.

De Rynck said if the UK crashed out of the EU with no deal on 13 April, the EU would act “unilaterally” to protects its interest and take temporary measures on aviation and lorry transport.

Most favoured nation tariffs would apply to goods entering the bloc, as would regulatory checks on animals and food.

“The member states are prepared, that doesn’t mean there will not be disruption, but it is manageable on our side,” he said.

De Rynck did not say how this would apply on the Irish border, something that will be discussed at a summit between Angela Merkel and Leo Varadkar in Dublin on Thursday. (See 11.05am.)

Updated

Andrew Mitchell, the Conservative former chief whip, was one of the 39 Conservatives who voted against the deal at MV1 but in favour at MV2. He is still in favour, he tells MPs.

Updated

The Labour Brexiter Kate Hoey has just intervened during Sammy Wilson’s speech to say anyone voting for the deal today will be seen as not supporting the right of Northern Ireland to remain in the UK. Hoey often votes with the government on Brexit, but she did vote against the deal as a whole at MV2 and will again today, she is implying.

Updated

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, is speaking in the Commons now. He says the DUP has not changed its position. People say this is not a meaningful vote, he says. But is it meaningful to the DUP; if they back the deal, Northern Ireland will be stuck in the backstop.

Dominic Grieve, the Tory pro-European and former attorney general, says he will not be voting for the deal because it will not deliver the benefits people claim it will. He says he agrees on this with John Redwood, the Brexiter – they both think the agreement does not deliver what was promised at the referendum.

His Tory colleague Bob Seely intervenes. Doesn’t Grieve accept the need to compromise?

Grieve says compromise is only possible if people can take a settled view on an outcome. He says some of his Brexiter colleagues want to rework the Brexit settlement in the next stage of the talks.

Updated

The BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, has an interesting Twitter thread on the latest thinking in Brussels on what happens next. It starts here.

She says, if the PM’s deal fails again, and the UK opts for a no-deal Brexit rather than a long extension, the EU would probably delay that until 22 May.

Updated

But the Labour MP Gareth Snell has told the BBC he is “minded” to vote for the government today, presumably in part because of Geoffrey Cox accepting his amendment. (See 10.02am.)

Updated

Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, is speaking in the debate now. Using a metaphor that his Labour colleague Sir Keir Starmer was using on the Today programme this morning, he says voting for the withdrawal agreement without the political declaration would be like buying a house without knowing were you were going to live next.

Updated

The Scottish Conservative Ross Thomson has posted a thread on Twitter explaining why, after voting against the PM’s deal twice, he is now backing it. It starts here.

Back in the chamber, the Tory Brexiter Sir John Redwood is speaking now. He says his constituents do not want the withdrawal deal. At best around a quarter of the public is in favour, he says. He says it would require legislation that would, in practice, keep the UK in the EU for several years. The EU would be able to decide new laws for the UK during that period, and the UK would have to accept.

He also says the UK would be committing to open-ended payments to the EU.

Who on earth would agree to pay unlimited, unknown bills and not have genuine independent arbitration over the purpose?

The Labour MP Lisa Nandy also signed the Snell amendment. But she is going to vote against the government today even though the government has accepted it. (See 10.02am.) This is from ITV’s Daniel Hewitt.

European commission says UK can leave with deal without passing political declaration

The European commission has said that the UK only has to pass the withdrawal agreement for the UK to be able to leave the EU with a deal (ie, with the transition). This is from Sky’s Tom Rayner.

Labour’s Meg Hillier is speaking in the debate now. She says, if the UK has to take part in the European elections to be able to get a long article 50 extension, she would be happy with that.

Melanie Onn is one of the Labour MPs who signed the Gareth Snell amendment, which Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, accepted in his speech at the start of the debate. (See 10.02am.) But, from this tweet, it does not sound as if she is being brought round.

Updated

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory Brexiter and former party leader, is speaking in the debate. He says he will vote for the deal. Until now he has been voting against it.

He says some of his colleagues believe that, if they vote against the deal today, the UK will leave the EU on 12 April without a deal. But he is not convinced that that is what would happen, he says. He says the EU would want the UK to stay in.

Labour’s Kevin Brennan intervenes to say Duncan Smith described the deal at one point as the “final deceit”.

Duncan Smith says all the people opposing the government today want the UK to get another extension from the EU before 12 April. He says voting for the motion is the one way of ensuring that the UK will leave on 22 May.

Iain Duncan Smith
Iain Duncan Smith Photograph: HoC

John Bercow, the Speaker, says there will now be an eight-minute limit on speeches.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is to visit Dublin next Thursday amid high expectation that Theresa May will fail to win parliamentary support for the UK-EU Brexit deal this afternoon.

The taoiseach Leo Varadkar is also travelling to Paris to meet Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

No-deal planning will be high on the agenda with no clear picture as to what the EU and Ireland will do on the Irish border in the event of a no deal to protect the single market.

A German official told the Irish Times “This is not a social call.”

Confirming the summits with the EU’s two key leaders, the taoiseach said in a statement:

Both leaders have been strong and consistent allies of Ireland in responding to the unique challenges we face from Brexit. I will again express the government’s gratitude for their continuing solidarity. We will take stock of the latest developments on Brexit when we meet, efforts to secure ratification of the withdrawal agreement and no-deal planning.

Both Merkel and Macron raised the issue of the Irish border at the meeting of the European Council last Thursday.

“What will happen if there is a no-deal Brexit on 12 April?” Macron asked of the Irish taoiseach. “Would you be fine?” Varadkar replied: “We can cope”.

Under EU rules Ireland would have to impose tariffs and sanitary and phytosanitary checks on the Irish border on any food, plants and animals coming from Northern Ireland raising questions about cross-border food and drink production.

At the weekend Varadkar insisted: “I am not under any pressure from chancellor Merkel or anyone else on this issue”.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is suggesting on Twitter that Labour MPs could rescue Theresa May.

At MV2 only three Labour MPs voted with the government. The Cox announcement about the Snell amendment (see 10.02am) might help to win some more over, but to win the vote, Theresa May would need a sizeable Labour revolt and there is no evidence yet that that is going to happen.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, is speaking in the debate now. He says Theresa May has made no attempt to engage with opposition MP, or with the devolved administrations.

He says he and other opposition leaders met May last week. But she refused to accept any of the arguments they were making.

Ian Blackford
Ian Blackford Photograph: HoC

This is from the Sun’s Steve Hawkes.

The Tory MP James Cartlidge asks Cash to accept that, if the vote is lost today, the UK could end up staying in the EU forever.

Cash says he does not accept that. The legislation repealing the European Communities Act 1972 has already been passed, he says. He says he cannot imagine the Commons repealing it.

Sir Bill Cash, the Tory Brexiter, is speaking in the debate now.

He says the backstop “drives a coach and horses through our precious union”. That is why the DUP will vote against the government today, he says.

Sir John Redwood, another Tory Brexiter, intervenes. He says the government is not publishing its EU withdrawal agreement bill today because it would make it clear that, under the backstop, Northern Ireland would remain bound to the EU.

Cash says he agrees. He says MPs should be able to see the bill today, so that they know what they are voting for.

Bill Cash
Bill Cash Photograph: HoC

Scottish secretary David Mundell has warned that MPs “can’t have it both ways” over today’s vote on the withdrawal agreement. He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland:

They can’t say, ‘I don’t like the future relationship that the prime minister has negotiated’ and then on other hand say, ‘We can’t not tie down the future relationship because we want to have a say and shape it’. It is very disappointing that colleagues and other parties haven’t supported the deal. What we hadn’t anticipated was the level of politics that would be played with the deal.

Mundell - who himself broke the Tory whip last week to abstain on the vote to reject no-deal in any circumstances when his party was told to vote against it at the last minute - described himself as “disappointed” that some Tory colleagues were still not supporting the deal.

He also repeated accusations of SNP hypocrisy after the party voted against the customs union amendment on Wednesday after supporting such a compromise in previous statements, and urged “MPs of all parties to put the national interest ahead of narrow political objectives”.

This morning, new polling from Progress Scotland – the pro-independence research organisation set up by former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson – found that Brexit had overtaken the economy as the key factor in people deciding whether to vote for independence, with 43% of those surveyed citing it in their top three concerns.

However, the polling also suggested that overall support for independence had stalled, with 24% saying that they completely supported leaving the UK, compared with 40% who completely supported remaining. However, 56% of those still undecided about independence said they would be more likely to vote for it in the event of a no deal Brexit.

Back in the debate Labour’s Gareth Snell intervenes. If the government accepted the Labour version of Brexit, would Labour still want that to be subject to a confirmatory referendum?

Nick Thomas-Symonds says Labour has been arguing for the UK to stay in the customs union for months. He says it is the PM’s fault that has not been considered.

He does not address whether Labour would still insist on a confirmatory referendum if the government backed its version of Brexit.

(Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, told the People’s Vote rally last Saturday that he thought any deal should be put to a referendum. On Wednesday Labour backed an amendment saying this too. But Jeremy Corbyn wrote to his MPs saying the party was backing that amendment even though it did not agree with everything it said.)

This is from the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.

Boris Johnson says he is voting for May's deal because otherwise Brexit could be lost

For several months now Boris Johnson, the former Brexiter foreign secretary, has been denouncing Theresa May’s deal. It was “vassal state stuff”, he used to say.

But now he has confirmed in a series of tweets he will vote for it.

Asked which bits of the withdrawal agreement Labour cannot accept, Thomas-Symonds says Labour has always been clear that the WA and the political declaration must be taken together.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow solicitor general, is speaking for Labour now.

He says the government is asking MPs to accept a “blindfold Brexit”.

Not only is it a blindford Brexit, MPs would be going into a different room, led by a different prime minister.

He says Brexit should not depend on the outcome of a Tory leadership contest.

He says Labour will never leave a Tory PM free to rip up workers’ rights.

Nick Thomas-Symonds
Nick Thomas-Symonds Photograph: HoC

Cox is winding up now.

He says backing the amendment will guarantee the right to an article 50 extension. Any other extension could not be guaranteed, he say, and it would be subject to the EU agreeing. And it would require the UK to participate in European elections.

He urges MPs to vote for the motion.

Geoffrey Cox
Geoffrey Cox Photograph: HoC

Government will legislate to ensure MPs can set negotiating mandate for next phase of Brexit, Cox says

Cox says there will be new mechanism introduced that will ensure the Commons is consulted on the next phase of the negotiation.

He says the government would have accepted the Gareth Snell amendment had it been called.

Snell asks Cox for an assurance that the EU withdrawal agreement bill will contain the legislative proposals in the amendment.

Cox says the bill has not been published yet, but if Snell bring backs his plans as an amendment to that bill, the government will be “minded to accept”.

  • Cox says government will agree to legislate to ensure MPs can vote to set the negotiating mandate for the next phase of the Brexit talks.

For the record, here is the text of the Snell amendment.

At end, add “and further resolves that any bill introduced for the purposes of section 13 of that act to give effect to the withdrawal agreement in United Kingdom law should:

1. empower the House of Commons to pass a resolution or resolutions setting the negotiating mandate for the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the Europe Union before 1 July 2019;

2. require the prime minister to report at least every three months on the progress of negotiations and the extent to which the likely outcome of those negotiations reflects the negotiating mandate set by the House of Commons;

and 3. provide that the prime minister may not sign an agreement with the European Union on the future relationship unless authorised to do so by a resolution of the House of Commons.”.

Labour’s Chris Bryant says Cox is claiming passing the motion would provide certainty. But there would be no certainty. There would be no guarantee the EU withdrawal agreement bill would pass, he says.

Cox says, if MPs back the motion today, he would expect them to pass the EU withdrawal agreement bill.

Updated

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney general, says the extension until 22 May is a technical extension. If the UK has not passed the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration by then, the UK will leave the EU without a deal, he says. But he says at the moment the UK still has the option to request a longer extension, for a different sort of Brexit.

Cox says he knew Grieve was a distinguished lawyer, but he did not know he had a crystal ball. He says Grieve cannot be sure the EU would grant a second extension.

Cox accuses Labour of “cynicism” because he says it is voting against agreement it supports

Cox says Labour has not objected to a single clause or article of the withdrawal agreement.

Yet Labour still intends to vote against it, he says.

What kind of cynicism is that, Mr Speaker?

  • Cox accuses Labour of “cynicism” because he says it is voting against an agreement is supports.

Labour’s Hilary Benn says, if MPs pass the resolution today, the UK could go beyond 12 April, and after that it would not be able to get another extension beyond 22 May.

Cox says today MPs can guarantee an extension to 22 May. That offers certainty.

He says Benn’s plan would mean taking a chance on the EU offering a further extension.

Cox says the EU is open to changing the political declaration.

He says the Commons is in the middle of a process (indicative votes) that might propose changes to the political declaration.

If today’s motion is posed, the government will bring forward the EU withdrawal implementation bill within the next few days, he says.

Labour’s Ian Lucas asks Cox to admit that this motion does not comply with section 13 of the EU Withdrawal Act, which says that for the withdrawal agreement to be ratified, MPs must pass a resolution backing the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration.

Cox says the motion is not intended to be a resolution of the required under section 13 of the act.

Cox says the government fully accepts the Speaker’s ruling that it cannot bring back the same motion for a repeat vote.

Cox says today is MPs last chance to secure 'legal right' to extend article 50 until 22 May

Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, is opening the debate.

He starts with an apology. He is sorry MPs have had to come to the Commons today. (It was not meant to be a sitting day.) He says the UK should have been leaving today. But he won’t go through the reasons why that is not happening, he says.

He refers to the conclusion at the EU summit last week about an article 50 extension. He reads out a summary of what the summit decided.

Here is the key passage from the EU statement:

The European council agrees to an extension until 22 May 2019, provided the withdrawal agreement is approved by the House of Commons next week. If the withdrawal agreement is not approved by the House of Commons next week, the European council agrees to an extension until 12 April 2019 and expects the United Kingdom to indicate a way forward before this date for consideration by the European council.

Cox says, if MPs do not pass the WA today, then the article 50 extension until 22 May will lapse.

Any further extension beyond 12 April would have to be agreed unanimously by the EU, he says. That means any one member state could have vetoed the process.

He says, if the UK is going to leave the EU with any sort of deal, this WA will need to be passed.

All negotiated exits from the European Union will require this withdrawal agreement to have been approved.

  • Cox says any Brexit deal will require MPs passing this withdrawal agreement.

Cox says today’s debate is about ensuring the UK can guarantee its “legal right” to an article 50 extension until 22 May.

  • Cox says today is the last chance for MPs to secure the UK’s “legal right” to an article 50 extension until 22 May.

John Bercow, the Speaker, says he is not selecting any of the three amendments down. (See 9.24am.)

MPs debate May's Brexit withdrawal agreement

The Commons sitting has started.

MPs approve the business motion without a division.

According to a ConservativeHome survey, 60% of Tory party members now think MPs should back Theresa May’s deal. As ConservativeHome’s Paul Goodman explains, that is quite a turnaround. Previously the membership was strongly opposed.

The month before last, 19 per cent of Party member respondents to our survey said that the agreement was acceptable to them. Last month, the total saying that MPs should vote for it touched 40 per cent. This month, it has reached 60 per cent.

That’s the first time the deal has obtained the backing of a majority of replies in any form. Three in five is a clear-cut margin – although over one in three party members remain opposed, if our survey is anything to go by.

In an article for ConservativeHome, Mark Harper, the former Tory chief whip, explains why he has reversed his opposition to Theresa May’s deal. He explains:

It is now clear from the events of the last few weeks in parliament that there are many MPs who wish to frustrate the decision made by the British people in the EU referendum, and are prepared to stop at nothing to do so. The cabinet’s withdrawal agreement and political declaration remain a bad set of proposals. The passage of time hasn’t changed this.

However, I am prepared to compromise to ensure that we deliver Brexit.

Another Tory MP who voted against the deal at MV1 and MV2 but who is now switching is Lucy Allan. In a post on Facebook, she said:

No-one, but no-one, wants this uncertainty and chaos to continue.

A vote for the deal means we can leave in a few weeks - a vote against means we don’t. Tomorrow’s vote is a vote on Brexit: either we leave or we don’t.

My constituents voted 67% to leave and leave we must. I have a duty to deliver that, whatever I think personally about the deal.

Today we are likely to see a large number of Tory MPs who have previously voted against the withdrawal agreement at MV1 and MV2 - at least 30, according to one count - support the government. One of them is the Brexiter Daniel Kawczynski.

You can read the motion for today’s debate on the Commons order paper here (pdf).

Three amendments have been tabled. One is an SNP one saying the government should not take the UK out of the EU without the consent of the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly, and another is from the SNP’s Angus Brendan MacNeil saying article 50 should be revoked. Both of these, or versions of them, have been tabled before.

The third one is more interesting. Tabled by Labour’s Gareth Snell, and backed by Labour colleagues sympathetic to Brexit, it says the government should legislate to ensure the Commons can pass a resolution setting the negotiating mandate for the next phase of the Brexit process.

Guide to all previous Brexit votes

Today is the 10th big Brexit vote held in the Commons this year. But it is not technically another “meaningful vote”. MVs have been about trying to pass the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration at the same time, and we have had two of them already.

We’ve also had six “next steps” (NS) votes, scheduled to allow MPs to discuss alternative plans after the deal was rejected in an MV. And there has been one indicative votes (IV) debate.

Today we need a new acronym. It is a vote just on the withdrawal agreement, so that makes it WA1.

MV1- Tuesday 15 January: This was the night Theresa May suffered the biggest government defeat in the era of democratic politicswhen MPs voted down her Brexit deal for the first time, by a majority of 230. Some 118 Conservatives voted against.

NS1 - Tuesday 29 January: May managed to salvage a victory, but only by getting Tory MPs to unite behind the Brady amendment, which said her deal would only be acceptable if the backstop were “replaced” by “alternative arrangements”. As well as effectively having to vote against her own deal, May was also defeated when MPs passed the Spelman amendment, ruling out no deal. Some 17 Tories defied the whip to back it.

NS2 - Thursday 14 February: May suffered a surprise defeat when what was meant to be non-controversial motion just restating the NS1 result got voted down, by a majority of 45, because hardline Brexiters in the European Research Group did not want to be seen to be endorsing the Spelman result. The vote had little practical effect, but it was humiliating for May, whose defeat was decided entirely by a whipping decision taken by the ERG.

NS3 - Wednesday 27 February: Unusually May was on the winning side, as Tory and Labour MPs united to support a backbench amendment committing the government to allowing a vote on extending article 50 if it lost MV2. But it was an amendment tabled by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, underwriting a verbal promise only made by May to stop pro-European ministers resigning en masse.

MV2 - Tuesday 12 March: This was the second vote on the deal, taking place after a late-night rush by May to Strasbourg the night before to firm up new assurances with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president. But legal advice from Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, saying the legal risk of being stuck in the backstop remained “unchanged”, torpedoed any hope of victory, and the deal was voted down by a majority of 149, with 75 Tory MPs voting against.

NS4 - Wednesday 13 March: This was the debate on ruling out a no-deal Brexit. But the government motion only ruled out no deal on 29 March, and May was defeated twice as MPs voted to rule out a no-deal Brexit for good. Some 17 Tories defied the whip and voted against any no deal in the final vote, with another 29 Tories abstaining, including four cabinet ministers.

NS5 - Thursday 14 March: This was the debate where MPs approved, by a majority of 211, a government motion approving an article 50 extension until 30 June if MPs backed May’s deal. Unusually for a Brexit debate, May did not lose a single vote, after the Benn amendment saying parliament should take control was defeated by a majority of two, and a second referendum amendment was rejected by a majority of 249.

NS6 - Monday 25 March: After much talk for several weeks of MPs taking control of the Brexit process, finally the Commons approved the Letwin amendment enabling them to do just that. Three ministers resigned to join the 30 Tories who defied the whip to back Letwin, and the amendment was passed by a majority of 27.

IV1 - Wednesday 27 March: This was the first indicative votes debates, held because the Letwin amendment enabled MPs, not the government, to decide the Commons business for the day, and MPs voted in a paper ballot on eight options. Critics claimed the process was a failure after all eight options were defeated, but a customs union was rejected by just eight votes, suggesting where compromise might be possible.

May at risk of fresh defeat as MPs debate withdrawal agreement for third time

Today was the day that the UK was supposed to be leaving the EU, two years after Theresa May sent the letter triggering article 50. But instead the House of Commons is having another debate about Brexit. It has almost become our national sport; by my count, this is the 10th big Brexit vote MPs have staged this year.

Here is our overnight preview story.

Today’s vote will not be on the same proposition as the two “meaningful votes” on May’s deal that have been held already. They are voting just on the withdrawal agreement (WA), and not on the political declaration (PD) part of the deal. But it is the third time the WA has been put to a vote, and the debate is going ahead even though May is very likely to lose. My colleague Rajeev Syal explains why it is happening here.

Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt also tried to find out from a cabinet minister why the vote was going ahead. The answer he got was rather more colourful.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.15am: Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, speaks at a Chatham House event on Brexit.

9.30am: MPs begin the Brexit debate. After MPs approve the business motion, Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, will open the debate.

After 2pm: Theresa May winds up the debate. MPs will then vote at 2.30pm.

4pm: Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, meets March to Leave campaigners as they arrive in Westminster. At 4.30pm Ukip are holding their own Make Brexit Happen rally at Westminster.

Today I will be focusing exclusively on Brexit and, as usual, I will be covering the breaking news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply ATL, although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Record-setting Big Mac eater underwhelmed by McDonald’s new Big Arch
Donald Gorske has eaten nearly 36,000 Big Macs. His verdict on the new Big Arch? ‘I think the Big Mac is better’
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
'Human DNA' in Burgers? Lab Test Claims Spark Concern Over McDonald's Happy Meal Ingredients
Explore the viral claims about human DNA in McDonald's burgers and the truth behind these allegations. Learn about the origins of these claims and expert insights
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Bruno Mars 'It Was Sent to Silence Me': Viral Post Claims Alleged Threat, No Confirmation Yet
Viral post claims Bruno Mars was sent a message warning to stay silent. The alleged threat remains unconfirmed with no official statement yet.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
10 Photos of 'Top Gun' Star Tom Skerritt Who Fans Say Is 'Still Handsome' at 92 After Meet-and-Greet Event
At 92, Tom Skerritt remains a beloved figure in Hollywood. His recent public appearance has sparked renewed interest and admiration from fans.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
I’ve been using this coffee accessory for a year and it’s the best way to get professional-level espresso at home
I'm an ex-barista and coffee enthusiast, and the best method for making cafe-quality espresso at home is easier than you think.
Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Anaconda And Primate Are Streaming On The Same Day, And This Is My New Barbenheimer
Let's make it an Anacondate!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play