Monday
Theresa May updates MPs on the progress of the Brexit negotiations after Brussels rebuffed her plan to replace the EU’s Northern Ireland backstop with a UK-wide one. In the early evening she will meet the leader of the Irish republican party Sinn Féin, Mary Lou McDonald.
Pro-Brexit cabinet members are expected to discuss the state of play in a caucus meeting.
Tuesday
The prime minister chairs a critical cabinet meeting in the morning, at which ministers will discuss the status of Brexit talks after her former Brexit secretary, David Davis, called for them to rebel against her authority.
Davis wants Brexiter cabinet members to ensure any UK-wide customs backstop Britain signs up to is clearly time limited, with some wanting a date written into its provisions.
There has been speculation that some ministers – Andrea Leadsom, Penny Mordaunt and Esther McVey, the most frequently cited – could quit.
Wednesday
May faces Jeremy Corbyn at prime minister’s questions at lunchtime, before heading to Brussels for the start of the crucial European council, which will take stock of the Brexit negotiations and decide whether further talks should take place at an emergency summit in November.
The 27 EU leaders are due to discuss the state of play over dinner without May present, though the prime minister will make a presentation to them before the substantive discussion begins. It is expected that a decision on whether to negotiate into November will be taken.
Thursday
The prime minister remains in Brussels, where the EU will hold a discussion on migration and internal security. A press conference traditionally follows at the end of European summits – at the last one, in Salzburg, in September, May was thrown unexpectedly on the defensive when the EU council president, Donald Tusk, declared that “Chequers will not work”.
May remains in Brussels for the Asia-Europe Meeting, a convention of 51 heads of state or governments, and attends a formal dinner. The prime minister will hold bilateral meetings with Asian leaders to prepare the ground for trade talks post-Brexit.
