Theresa May pleaded with her EU counterparts to give ground in a key speech just days before MPs vote on her Brexit deal.
Speaking in Grimsby on Friday, the prime minister said “no one knows” what will happen if her plan is rejected, warning Brexiteers: “We may never leave at all”.
Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier reacted to Ms May’s speech in a series of tweets. He said the UK would have the unilateral right to leave the customs union, but also made clear Northern Ireland would have to stay inside it.
However, the apparent concession was dismissed by the DUP as neither “realistic nor sensible”. Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay suggested the EU plan was simply a return to an earlier version of the backstop which had already been rejected.
Ms May accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of supporting “a divisive second referendum that would take the UK right back to square one”.
Mr Corbyn fired back by warning the prime minister not to make a third attempt to ram through her deal if it’s defeated next week, saying it must be “the end of the road”.
Here's how the day unfolded:
Theresa May makes last ditch plea for EU to give ground in Brexit talks ahead of critical vote
Theresa May is to make a last ditch plea to the European Union to give ground and allow changes to the proposed Brexit deal that would allow her party’s MPs to back it.
The prime minister will give a speech saying that the actions of Brussels negotiators will have a material impact on the outcome of the critical vote next week.
Her intervention comes as her chief negotiator is expected to head back to Brussels on Friday in a bid to secure something which will allow the government to say it has won some kind of alteration.
Gordon Brown calls for year-long Brexit delay to avoid 'impending national disaster'
Former prime minister Gordon Brown says Brexit should be delayed for a year to “consult” voters and prevent an “impending national disaster”.
The ex-Labour leader said the Article 50 negotiating period should be extended to allow MPs to listen to the public’s views on the current Brexit proposals through a “citizen’s consultation”.
Speaking just 22 days before Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union, he said: “The logic of extending Article 50 is now inescapable to avoid chaos on 29 March and prevent an impending national political disaster.”
Theresa May’s cabinet in chaos as three top ministers under fire over gaffes
Theresa May’s cabinet descended into disarray on Thursday after three of her most senior ministers made gaffes that left them facing calls to apologise or resign.
A raft of senior Irish and Northern Irish politicians demanded the PM’s close ally Karen Bradley quit over inflammatory comments about killings by British soldiers during the Troubles.
Pensions secretary Amber Rudd apologised minutes after sparking outrage by referring to Labour’s Diane Abbott as a “coloured woman”.
“Just as MPs will face a big choice next week, the EU has to make a choice too.“We are both participants in this process.“It is in the European interest for the UK to leave with a deal.“We are working with them but the decisions that the European Union makes over the next few days will have a big impact on the outcome of the vote.”
Immigration policy should be stripped from Home Office post-Brexit, new report suggests
Ministers must consider stripping immigration policy from the oversight of the Home Office post-Brexit, a new report has suggested after a string of high-profile failures at the department.
Citing "unrealistic" migration targets, the Windrush scandal and outrage over DNA tests, researchers at the Institute for Government (IfG) said the UK government's immigration policy "appears to be lurching from crisis to crisis".
Questioning the suitability of the department to deliver immigration reforms after the UK quits the EU, the IfG raised the possibility of the creation of a separate government department or public body.
People will blame the EU 'if Brexit ends in acrimony', Jeremy Hunt claims
Jeremy Hunt has warned that future generations will blame the European Union if the Brexit talks "end in acrimony".
With only days to go until MPs vote on Theresa May's deal, the foreign secretary issued a stern rebuke to Brussels, saying they needed to be "flexible in the negotiations" and accept that the UK has a "very clear ask" on the changes needed to get the deal over the line.
The prime minister will use a speech in Grimsby to appeal to the EU to give ground on the divisive Irish backstop but the mood among her top team is grim, as attempts to secure tweaks to her deal have floundered in recent days.
After Amber Rudd - the work and pensions secretary - was forced to apologise for referring to Diane Abbott as a "coloured woman" during a BBC radio interview on Thursday, the deputy chairman of the Conservative MP has defended her.
Conservative deputy chairman James Cleverly told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that unfortunate comments were inevitable in politics: "We all do a lot of talking on really, really sensitive matters and people sometimes make mistakes at work.
"When I've dealt with soldiers or police officers or people in local government, if I chewed them up every time they make a mistake, we'd have nothing done."
Asked about Ms Rudd's remarks, Mr Cleverly said: "The point that I've always taken is you look at what people are doing perhaps slightly more than what they are saying."
Answering a question about internet trolling during a radio interview on Thursday, Ms Rudd said: "It definitely is worse if you're a woman, and it's worst of all if you're a coloured woman.
"I know that Diane Abbott gets a huge amount of abuse and I think that's something we need to continue to call out."
Mr Cleverly told Today: "At that point, what Amber was doing was showing huge solidarity with Diane Abbott, who's been the recipient of a horrific, unbelievable, huge volume of misogynistic and racist abuse.
"Amber was showing solidarity. She used a terrible, terrible word and now we are talking about that word (rather than her message)."
Here is the story from Thursday on Ms Rudd's comments
Female EU citizens in UK fear post-Brexit discrimination over maiden name confusion
Women from EU countries living in the UK fear discrimination after Brexitbecause the registration system is confused by their maiden names.
The glitch will be place them in danger of being denied jobs, housing or NHS treatment, campaigners say – even after being given “settled status” to stay with a promise of protected rights.
The warning is being issued to coincide with International Women’s Day, as part of wider fears that Brexit will be a “trap” for abused women, those who work part-time or have taken career breaks.
Muslim Labour MP Naz Shah has called for an apology from Andrea Leadsom after the Commons Leader suggested Islamophobia should be treated as a Foreign Office issue.
In a letter to Theresa May, Ms Shah said: "This comment exposes profound ignorance of race issues at the top of Government. This is not a trivial matter.
"In the face of rising hate crime and an emboldened far-right movement here in Britain, how can the Government hope to combat racism when its own ministers seem to lack an understanding of the ways in which it manifests itself?"
She continued: "This is while the former chair of your party, Baroness Warsi, has been for months asking that you and (Conservative chairman) Brandon Lewis take the issue of Islamophobia seriously, which you seem to be in complete denial of. We all must be better and braver against the scourge of racism across the political spectrum and broader society."
Belgium advises companies to halt exports to UK after Brexit day to avoid customs chaos
Belgium’s customs authority is advising companies that export to the UK to halt shipments after Brexit day to avoid customs chaos in the event of a no-deal.
Kristian Vanderwaeren, chief executive of Belgian customs, called for a “Brexitpauze” after 29 March and said firms should do as much of their exporting as they can before new controls have to come in.
“Who are we as customs to give the business world instructions? But we are still asking the SMEs and all other parties to wait. Do the necessary export to your customers before 29 March,” he told Belgian business newspaper De Tijd.
Tory Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley says 'I do not believe what I said, that is not my view'
Beleaguered Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley has said she does not believe her own controversial comments about Troubles killings by the security forces, insisting they were "not my view".
Ms Bradley apologised for the "enormous distress" caused her gaffe and distanced herself from her own words, saying: "I do not believe what I said, that is not my view".
The cabinet minister has faced calls to quit after she told MPs that killings carried out by the security forces during the Troubles "were not crimes" but actions of people "fulfilling their duties in a dignified and appropriate way".
Axeing student fees and renationalising the utilities are waste of money, says Chuka Umunna
Axeing tuition fees and renationalising the utilities are a waste of money, Chuka Umunna has said, in a first policy intervention since launching the Independent Group of MPs.
The former Labour politician also called for a big tax hike on shareholders receiving dividends, a “hypothecated” NHS tax and state funding of political parties to stop them being “the plaything” of the rich.
The “circus” of Prime Minister’s Questions should be scrapped and MPs moved to a new “horseshoe”-shaped chamber, instead of the big parties squaring off against each other, he added.
According to a new poll by The Irish Times published this morning, voters in Northern Ireland "overwhelmingly reject" a hard Brexit - and would rather remain in the EU.
Significantly, two thirds of those polled said the Democratic Unionst Party (DUP) - responsible for propping up Theresa May's government - is doing a bad job of representing the people of Northern Ireland at Westminster.
A further 69 per cent of people are also dissatisfied with party's leader, Arlene Foster.
Speaking during a visit to the Holloway prison site in north London where new homes are set to be built, he said: "We will not be supporting her deal next Tuesday - we will be voting to take no-deal off the table and we will once again be putting our proposals - our five pillars - which are a customs union, market access and protection of rights in this country that have been obtained through the EU.
"I've taken those proposals to the European Union - they are a good basis for negotiation - they are a way forward. It's time that she got on board and recognised there is a deal that could command a majority in the House."
A Number 10 spokeswoman said the conversations involved the changes Britain is seeking to the backstop as well as issues such as the status of expat citizens after Brexit.
The PM is expected to work through the weekend on Brexit from her Maidenhead constituency home, and there are currently no plans for her to travel to Brussels, the spokeswoman added.
Hardcore pornography and video games partly to blame for surge in violent crime, says Diane Abbott
Hardcore pornography and video games are contributing to the rise in violent crime by desensitising young people to vicious behaviour, Diane Abbott has said.
The shadow home secretary said boys as young as eight were accessing online pornography and suggested that exposure to extreme imagery could be partly to blame for violent crime.
Her comments come as Theresa May faced a mounting backlash over her dismissal of a link between a spate of fatal stabbings and the police cuts she presided over at the Home Office.
Why are MPs talking about codpieces during the Brexit debate?
There was a bizarre moment in the Commons on Thursday when MPs appeared more concerned with an item of Tudor attire that covered a man’s dignity, than they were with governing the country.
The codpiece, as modelled by Henry VIII in almost any portrait, is a sort of upturned pouch designed to shield and also draw attention to a gentleman’s crotch, writes Joe Watts.
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