Labour has joined with MPs from other parties, including senior Conservatives, to launch a fresh bid to block a no-deal Brexit. The party will force a vote on Wednesday on a motion to stop the government taking Britain out of the EU without an exit deal.
The news came shortly after the EU dismissed Tory leadership candidates’ claims that they will be able to renegotiate Theresa May’s deal. A spokesperson for the European Commission insisted the bloc would “not change the parameters of what is on the table”.
Boris Johnson picked up further endorsements from Tory Brexiteers to succeed Ms May. Launching his leadership bid on Tuesday evening, Rory Stewart attacked the credentials of Mr Johnson and jokingly compared him to a “prancing elephant”.
Welcome to today's live coverage from Westminster.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary and one of the Tory leadership candidates, has said he would hold an immediate House of Commons vote in his Brexit plan if he becomes prime minister.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme:
"As prime minister I would propose to put my plan, which I have already published, to the House of Commons, in principle, immediately and therefore show the European Union that this plan is deliverable through the House of Commons."
He insisted the EU could agree to put a time-limit on the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, despite it having said repeatedly that it will not.
He claimed:
"They nearly proposed a time limit on the backstop before, but they didn't think that the prime minister, Theresa May, would be able to get it through the House of Commons."
Boris Johnson picked up more endorsements overnight but was criticised by senior Tories over his plan to cut taxes for the wealthy
Boris Johnson attacked by Tory rivals over tax-cut pledge that would benefit rich pensioners and himself
Frontrunner also accused of a Brexit plan that would ‘annihilate’ party and put Jeremy Corbyn in power ‘by Christmas’, and of ‘hiding’ from scrutiny
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Rory Stewart's walking tour of Britain continues - but not all of his conversations are going entirely to plan.
He's tweeted this video of one such example, which contains some strong language:
Andrea Leadsom is currently launching her campaign in Westminster, promising to deliver "decisive and compassionate leadership" if she becomes prime minister.
In attendance are her husband Ben and MPs includuing Chris Heaton-Harris, Tim Loughton and Derek Thomas.
She starts by saying that leaving the EU on 31 October "is, for me, a hard red line".
She says "the uncertainty and failure over Brexit" are overshadowing other important issues that the government should be addressing.
Defending her decision to remain in the cabinet despite being "uncomfortable" with Theresa May's deal, she says she believed it that "staying in government to fight for Brexit was the right thing to do".
Andrea Leadsom says politics has "failed dismally" in the past three years to deliver on "the biggest democratic decision in our history".
She says, "The next prime minister must have a clear plan for a managed exit by the end of October" and sets out plans for a final exit summit in Northern Ireland in September.
Andrea Leadsom says she was raised by a single mother for four years after her parents divorced.
She says this taught her the importance of "loving family and strong community" and the "vital need for the state to provide support when it is needed".
Attending a girls' grammar school taught her that "expectations and opportunities are crucial to success", she adds.
Andrea Leadsom says:
"The deficit is at last under control, austerity is over and we can start to invest again."
She says her priorities as prime minister would be "enabling working people and businesses to keep more of their hard-earned income" and supporting start-up businesses.
She promises an action plan within 12 months to achieve a zero-carbon future for the UK, as well as a cross-party commission on social care, to report before the next election. She said she would "share the proceeds of growth" between investing in public service priorities like schools and the police and reducing the national debt.
Wrapping up her campaign launch speech, Andrea Leadsom says she is offering herself as "an optimistic yet realistic Brexiteer with a range of transformational policy ideas for the modern Britain of the 2020s".
She says:
"In all circumstances, we are leaving the EU on 31 October this year. Our country and our party cannot afford any more indecisiveness."I do not think that parliament has the ability to prevent us leaving at the end of October."
Answering questions after her speech, Andrea Leadsom, who gave Theresa May a clear run in 2016 by pulling out of the leadership contest when it was down to the final two, says:
"Of all the candidates, I am the one who will not be withdrawing under any circumstances. I think we have tested that to destruction over the last three years. If I come second, I am absolutely going all the way."
Our second campaign launch of the morning - Mark Harper's - is coming up shortly. In the meantime, Sajid Javid has launched his official campaign video, and it's quite slick:
Present at former Tory chief whip Mark Harper's campaign launch in Westminster arehis proposer and seconder MPs: Jackie Doyle-Price and Steve Double.
His slogal appears to be: "Time for a party where everyone is invited...Delivering Brexit...Taking our country forwards."
Mark Harper is now speaking at his campaign launch.
Removing his jacket as he takes to the stage, he says he is going to speak without notes and then answer "any questions you want". He says there are "a very, very difficult next few months" ahead for whoever becomes PM. He stresses his working-class background as the son of a labourer and a correspondence clerk and the first person in his family to go to university, saying: "I want that opportunity to do as much as you can do to be there for everyone".
He turns to Brexit, saying his plan is "realistic and credible". He says, having listened to the candidates, that it is the only one that is.
He says he is "prepared and comfortable" for the UK to leave the EU without a deal but his preference is for leaving with a deal. He says it is "not credible" to suggest that a renegotiated Brexit deal could be agreed by 31 October and so some further delay to Brexit is probably inevitable.
Condemning his rivals, he says:
"Everyone else in this race has at some point in the last three years been sat around the cabinet table and has participated in the decisions that have led to us not leaving the EU three years after the referendum. Everyone single one of them has participated in the fundamental misjudgements that have got us to where we are."
Mark Harper says:
"It's not going to be possible to leave on 31 October... It's not credible to say you can renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and get it through both houses of parliament by 31 October. It's not credible to say you can somehow make parliament to vote for the existing, unchanged deal by 31 October."
He also said it was not credible to suggest that parliament would be unable to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
Mark Harper says he would aim to take Britain out of the EU in time for the local elections in May 2020, saying:
"I don't think the Conservative Party can survive forcing our voters to vote for other people time after time."
He added: "Rushing headlong towards 31 October isn't a credible plan."
In a swipe at Boris Johnson's promise to raise the higher-rate tax threshold, he said:
"It's obvious to me that some of the choices set out by other candidates I don't think are the right choices... I want to focus tax cuts on people at the lower end of the spectrum... I don't think we should be making promises we can't keep."
Mark Harper says: "I accept I am the underdog in this race, but I think I'm a serious underdog."
In comments seemingly directed at Boris Johnson, who has been criticised for his lack of visibility, he says his message to all candidates is:
"I think you have to be prepared to set out your stall and open yourself to questioning. You have got to level with people about the challenges and be prepared to be questioned about it."
He says that the experience of Theresa May's poor performance in the 2017 election shows the dangers of choosing a leader without first exposing them to the scrutiny of a full-blown leadership contest.
Mark Harper tweeted this video shortly before his campaign launch this morning...
Mark Harper has just finished taking questions from journalists after his campaign launch.
Asked if it was time for Boris Johnson to make a clear statement on whether he has taken illegal drugs in the past, he said:
"I think all candidates in this race owe the public clear answers. I haven't taken any illegal drugs in my entire life. I come from a background where people didn't do that sort of thing. I don't get invited to those sorts of parties and I don't hang out in those sorts of circles."
He added:
"I think we should all answer questions like this, if you want to be prime minister. If are not prepared to answer these questions now, you are going to be asked them in a general election campaign. If I'm a Conservative MP in a marginal constituency, I want the person who's going to be leading my party to answer these questions now, I don't want them to be answering these questions in three years' time when it's my marginal constituency up for grabs. Everyone has to answer these questions and then my colleagues will ask questions about how frank we've been. If you have got nothing to hide, you won't mind answering questions."
Mark Harper also warned against suspending parliament under the process known as "prorogation" in order to force through a no-deal Brexit.
This "would test our constitution to destruction, it would drag the monarch into the most difficult political decision, which as a Conservative I would deprecate," he said.
Asked whether he thought Boris Johnson had a workable plan for Brexit, he said Tory MPs and members would have to decide whether each candidate "has the skills to deal with our European partners in an appropriate way that is going to get them round the table to negotiate a deal" as well being able to unite Tory and DUP MPs behind their proposals.
NEW: The EU has told Tory leadership contenders that it will not change the Brexit deal for a new prime minister
