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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Kate Lyons (now), Mattha Busby , Andrew Sparrow and Matthew Weaver (earlier)

May calls on MPs from all parties to 'put self-interest aside' – as it happened

We’re going to wrap things up, folks. Thank you for following along. Andrew Sparrow will be back in the morning to shepherd us all through the day’s political happenings. Until then, thanks for reading, it’s been a pleasure.

Here is Emmanuel Macron laying out what he sees as the three options facing the UK at this point in Brexit negotiations. Macron was speaking on Wednesday in Normandy after the May’s disastrous loss on her Brexit deal.

ICYMI, as we say on the internet, a group called Led By Donkeys have had some fun in Dover last night, putting up billboards showing quotes from various Conservative MPs on the subject of Brexit, which now seem a little, well, the words “egg” and “face” come to mind.

We’ve got a full story on that here:

Conservative Party MP Tobias Ellwood told Australian radio that ‘it is really difficult to understand what leave really means’.
Conservative Party MP Tobias Ellwood told Australian radio that ‘it is really difficult to understand what leave really means’. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Tobias Ellwood, a Conservative defence minister, who is pro-remain, has been on Australian breakfast radio where he said that while the vote was tight it was “a distraction from the bigger question of where we go with Brexit.”

He also has an interesting take on what the no-confidence vote was about, saying: “The question wasn’t about confidence in the government, it was a question of do you want Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister?”

This might be what motivated a lot of Conservatives in their decision to support the PM today, but, needless to say, was not, technically, what the vote was about.

Ellwood says any further moves to destabilise May by calling for another no-confidence vote would be “irresponsible”.

“Let’s say you had a general election, we’re up against a deadline of March 29th otherwise we end up with either a no-deal Brexit, or you have to extend [the deadline]. Why on earth would you call a general election in the middle of that? It’s deeply irresponsible.”

Ellwood said May’s Brexit deal was voted down “not because you have another big idea waiting to slide into view, but because you have different caucuses join together in a coalition of convenience to vote this deal down.”

He said that in his own constituency, he is being asked by voters to “vote for no deal, vote for the Norway option, vote for a second referendum, it really is difficult to understand what leave really means, because it was never pointed out, there was never a manifesto statement that says this is what leave looks like. But we all have to be responsible members of parliament and perhaps step back from our original positions and see if there is compromise so we can move forward and agree something prior to the deadline that is approaching.”

The Brexit drama of this week has led to renewed calls for another referendum on Scottish independence.

The front page of the Scottish National paper has the headline: “Independence is the only way out of this mess”.

The Scottish Herald publishes a poll showing 56.55% of people think Scotland should have a referendum on independence if the UK leaves the EU of 29 March.

Yvette Cooper has also thrown her support behind the idea of citizens assemblies as a way of widening the Brexit debate, which is one of the suggestions Lucas says she is going to take into her meeting with Theresa May tomorrow.

Good evening, political-people, this is Kate Lyons taking over from Mattha Busby, which means this blog has now come full circle – I launched it about 18 hours ago, and will see it through until we put it to bed.

If you’ve been reading the blog that whole time, firstly, thank you, we appreciate you, our wonderful, devoted readers. Secondly, you must be exhausted, please get some sleep.

But before you switch off for the night, perhaps you may want to send Caroline Lucas a quick tweet. The Greens MP will be meeting with the PM at 9am tomorrow and is inviting people to get in touch with her to tell her what message they want to convey to May in their meeting.

Lucas has said she will tell May “loud and clear” that “the threat of no deal Brexit must come off the table and that there should be a People’s Vote.”

Any other suggestions? @ her.

Updated

That’s all from me tonight. I will now hand over to my colleague Kate Lyons who will continue our coverage of political developments following events in Parliament today and Theresa May’s statement in Downing Street this evening.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has predicted that the opposition parties will now take the lead on delivering Brexit.

“I think what will happen now is the Labour Party, along with the other opposition parties, and with other members of Parliament, will take the lead in this now because the Government significantly failed to come up with anything they can get through their own party,” he told Peston on ITV.

Its live here if you would like to tune in:

The main takeaways from the prime minister’s statement:

  • She did not mention the prospect of no-deal, which most opposition parties are demanding.
  • MP’s must set out what they want, rather than what they don’t want and ‘put self-interest aside’.
  • The door remains open to talks with Jeremy Corbyn.
  • May stressed the fact she recognises it is her duty to deliver on the British people’s instruction to leave the European Union.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has been told that one former cabinet May loyalist has told her she is “deluded”.

Meanwhile, on Newsnight, Liam Fox has said no Brexit would be “democratically unacceptable”.

Updated

What makes the prime minister tick? I hear you ask.

The Guardian’s political editor Heather Stewart has delved into what underpins Theresa May’s “extraordinary inflexibility”.

Labour’s David Lammy, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, has responded to the prime minister’s statement tonight:

The prime minister is like a broken record. After two and a half years of damaging the country’s economy and international standing while failing to get consensus in parliament, her refusal to change tack is a historic mistake.

If the prime minister really cares about the national interest, she would give the public the final say over this Brexit mess, with the option to stay in the EU.

Updated

Here are some of tomorrow’s front pages:

The Mail blames “wrecker Corbyn” for not attending May’s impromptu talks.

The i reports that the UK is heading for close ties with Europe, according to ministers.

The Times also leads on Corbyn’s apparent refusal to accede to May’s demand for cooperation.

The National renews its call for Scottish independence.

The Telegraph splash on the leaked recording of Hammond’s conference call with business leaders.

Brexican stand off, says the Metro.

The FT heralds the beginning of May’s search for Brexit inspiration.

Updated

Theresa May’s full statement:

This evening the government has won the confidence of parliament. This now gives us the opportunity to focus on finding a way forward on Brexit. I understand that people getting on with their lives outside of Westminster, the events of last 24 hours will have been unsettling.

Overwhelmingly, the British people want us to get on with delivering Brexit, and also address the other important issues they care about. But the deal I’ve worked to agree with the European Union was rejected by MPs and by a large margin. I believe it is my duty to deliver on the British people’s instruction to leave the European Union and I intend to do so.

So now MPs have made clear what they don’t want, we must all work constructively together to set out what parliament does want. That’s why I’m inviting MPs from all parties to come together to find a way forward, one that both delivers on the referendum and can command the support of parliament. This is now the time to put self-interest aside.

I have just held constructive meetings with the Leader of the Liberal Democrats [Vince Cable], and the Westminster leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, [Ian Blackford and Liz Saville Roberts, respectively]. From tomorrow meetings will be taking place between senior government representatives, including myself, and groups of MPs that represent the widest possible range of views from across parliament, including our confidence and supply partners, the Democratic Unionist party.

I am disappointed that the leader of the Labour party [Jeremy Corbyn] has not so far chosen to take part, but our door remains open. It will not be an easy task, but MPs know they have a duty to act in the national interest, reach a consensus and get this done.

In a historic vote in 2016 the country decided to leave the EU. In 2017, 80% of people voted for parties that stood on manifestos promising to respect that result. Now, over two-and-a-half years later, it’s time for us to come together, put the national interest first – and deliver on the referendum.

Updated

MPs will stop no-deal, Hammond tells business chiefs - report

The chancellor Philip Hammond has reportedly told business leaders that the “threat” of no-deal Brexit could be taken “off the table” in a number of days.

The Telegraph reported that Hammond said this could potentially lead to article 50 being rescinded – therefore extending the period of Britain’s membership of the EU, according to a leaked recording of a conference call.

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond arrives at No10 Downing Street in London, Britain, 16 January 2019.
Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond arrives at No10 Downing Street in London, Britain, 16 January 2019. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

When asked for assurances from the head of Tesco that the government would not oppose such a motion, Hammond apparently suggested that ministers may even back the plan. He went on to explain how a backbench bill could stymie the prospect of no deal.

The director general of the British Chambers of Commerce has tweeted:

Updated

Here are some takes on Theresa May’s statement:

Updated

This is the Labour party political broadcast that aired on the BBC tonight:

Updated

The prime minister says she is disappointed Corbyn has chosen not to talk part in talks, “but the door remains open”.

In her closing remark, she says: “In a historic vote in 2016 the country decided to leave the EU. In 2017, 80% of people voted for parties that stood on manifestos promising to respect that result.

“Now, over two and a half years later, it’s time for us to come together, put the national interest first and deliver on the referendum,” she concludes, before immediately turning around and walking back into No 10.

That’s it. The prime minister has kept it short and sweet, without creating much news.

Full transcription follows.

Updated

May says now is the time to put self-interest aside, noting that she has just held constructive meetings with Lib Dem leader Vince Cable and the Westminster leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru Ian Blackford and Liz Saville Roberts. “From tomorrow meetings will be taking place between senior government representatives, including myself, and groups of MPs that represent the widest possible selection of views from across parliament,” she says.

Updated

May reiterates that she understands it is her duty to deliver on the British people’s instruction to leave the European Union: “And I intend to do so.”

Updated

Mays says government victory gives 'us all an opportunity to find a way forward on Brexit'

May says she understands that people getting on with their lives outside of Westminster must have found the last 24 hours “unsettling”.

Updated

The BBC’s news bulletin is in progress and the prime minister is expected to appear any moment.

It is believed that Theresa May has held some talks with unspecified party leaders tonight.

Laura Kuennsberg says she does not expect any “dramatic departure” from her established positions.

Updated

May’s statement is due in the next few minutes at 10pm. This will be her fourth public appearance during what must have been one of the most testing days in her political career.

The podium is erected in front of Number 10 Downing Street. You can watch it live if you click on the video feed at the top of this blog. Or here:

Updated

Southampton’s third round FA cup replay with Derby has gone to extra time, meaning that BBC1 programmers have a small dilemma on their hands.

It has now been reported - and this is unconfirmed – that May’s statement will now air on the BBC News Channel. How British.

Here’s our live blog for the game:

Updated

For anyone catching up on development’s tonight, here are several reports from the Guardian’s lobby team:

And for anyone who fancies a giggle:

No 10 confirms PM will address the nation tonight

A No 10 spokeswoman has confirmed that Theresa May is to make a statement in Downing Street at 10pm.

Tom Newton Dunn, the Sun’s political editor, claims May will reassure the public that she’s still in charge, and is delivering Brexit.

Labour’s shadow education secretary has her own prediction:

Updated

SNP say a people's vote 'must now be on the table'

The Scottish National party has called on Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to support a people’s vote, saying it “must now be on the table” for cross-party Brexit talks to take place with the prime minister.

Ian Blackford called on May to make concessions on her withdrawal deal after she survived tonight’s confidence vote, saying the the SNP want guarantees that ruling out a no deal and extending article 50 will be possible options.

Ian Blackford
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, London on Wednesday January 16, 2019. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/UK Parliament/PA

“The SNP is committed to working constructively with the prime minister, however the option of ruling out a no deal, extending article 50 and holding a people’s vote must now be on the table,” Ian Blackford the party’s Westminster leader said.

“I have written to Jeremy Corbyn along with other opposition leaders calling on him to support a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal.

“Last night’s historic vote, which saw the UK government humiliated, was a clear indication of the strength of opposition to the Prime Minister’s deal from across the House. We must see concessions from the prime minister, as well as Jeremy Corbyn, to break the Brexit impasse.”

Ahead of any talks, the SNP wrote a cross-party letter with the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens to the Labour leader.

It argues that “now that the government and the official opposition’s options have been tested before the House, we believe the only way now which presents a real chance of breaking the Brexit deadlock is to put the decision to the people by backing a people’s vote.”

Updated

Nick Dearden, a spokesperson from Another Europe is Possible, has spoken to the BBC

71 Labour MP’s today signed a letter saying that they would support a second referendum – that amounts to around 28% of the parliamentary party.

Dearden conceded that this does not amount to a majority, but he countered: “If you look at the opinion polls we see over and over again that the Labour party is overwhelmingly in favour of remain, still, and an increasing number of people in favour of another referendum.

“And who can be surprised, we’ve left it to this government, we’ve left it to the politicians, they have failed to deliver anything which I think whether you voted remain or whether you voted leave, nobody voted for the constitutional crisis that we now have on our hands.

“We have to put this back to the people and get a popular mandate, one way or another,” he added, saying that he believes most Labour members would vote remain if it was on the ballot paper.

Updated

Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, says May’s emergency statement tonight will take place at 10.03pm.

Corbyn says a no-deal must be taken off the table

Earlier this evening, Corbyn’s spokesman told reporters that Downing Street contacted the Labour leader’s office ahead of the vote about the prospect of a meeting, but said that he was not expected to go to Number 10 on Wednesday evening.

Explaining why the Labour leader wanted no-deal taken off the table, the spokesman said: “The blackmail is that by attempting to run down the clock and hold the threat of the country going over a cliff-edge into a no-deal outcome... that makes it more difficult to reach a real and effective deal.”

The spokesman said May must recognise the “reality” facing her Withdrawal Agreement.

That deal is dead. No number of tweaks or sweeteners from Brussels are going to change that. That is absolutely clear. If there is going to be a deal that is going to work for the country and have a majority in Parliament, Theresa May is going to have to abandon her red lines.

However, he acknowledged this would cause problems in her own party, saying: “Any change in the Government’s red lines is going to cause them internal splits. That’s the fundamental reason why they are unable to govern.”

The spokesman said Labour was not ruling out another no-confidence vote, but refused to be drawn on timing.

Updated

Vince Cable is likely to meet with Theresa May tonight, along with Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, who is apparently set to demand a “people’s vote” from the PM face-to-face, according to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Earlier she tweeted that the secretary of state for international trade, Liam Fox, has told her he has “consistently opposed a customs union”.

Updated

Richard Branson, the business magnate, has urged Theresa May to abandon her red lines.

Updated

May's offer of talks is "a little too late" – Labour party chair

Ian Lavery, the Labour party chairman, says May’s offer of talks and a degree of rapprochement on Brexit in the national interest is “a little too late” and that “she hasn’t listened until now”.

Its two years since these negotiations started, and for the prime minister to make a claim to meet with the leaders of the party’s is a little too late. She hasn’t at any stage .. sought to seek the advice .. of the opposition parties at all. I find that very distasteful. Its probably why we’ve ended up in this situation.

He went on to call May’s deal “the worst possible from Brussels” and that Labour will look to see what the government’s plan B will be on Monday. “We want to see some sort of remedy to this situation.”

After obfuscating in his response to what has a credible chance of getting through the house, Lavery was asked whether there is any possible scenario where Labour could help get Brexit through. He reiterated Labour’s opposition to no deal and said:

We want to ensure that there’s a Brexit for the people, we want to make sure that whatever Brexit is there for jobs, for the economy, for businesses.

We will have one red line in these discussions with Theresa May, and that will be an absolute guarantee that there will not be a no-deal Brexit. So, everything’s on the table, it’ll be up to Theresa May to accept what the Labour party might wish to put forward. I hope she listens because she hasn’t listened until now.

Updated

Corbyn refuses to meet for substantive talks with May - report

Christopher Hope, The Telegraph’s chief political correspondent, has tweeted:

Here’s a reminder of Corbyn’s demand earlier:

Updated

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, has said tonight’s vote was a “big rejection” of Jeremy Corbyn, and that the Labour leader must change his position on the principle of a people’s vote.

“It’s a big rejection of Jeremy Corbyn,” he told the Press Association. “Just as last night was a big rejection of her [Theresa May’s] Brexit. I think we are narrowing the options. I think the one step forward that we are looking for from Jeremy Corbyn is he has got to change his position and accept some movement on the principle of a ‘people’s vote’.”

On Brexit talks with May, Cable said: “If she wants to reach out we are up for it.”

Vince Cable walks past as Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament on January 15, 2019.
Sir Vince Cable walks past as Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament on January 15, 2019. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Cable also told the BBC that while he would meet May he would have conditions on Brexit.

“As I said in parliament this afternoon of course we will talk to the prime minister,” he said.

“But I will make it absolutely clear that no deal has to be taken off the table and there has to be a sensible discussion about the ‘people’s vote’.”

Updated

PM: no-deal will not be taken off the table

Theresa May’s spokesman has told reporters that the Westminster leaders of Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the SNP and Plaid Cymru have been invited to meet the prime minister later this evening.

However, a no-deal Brexit will not be taken off the table, despite Corbyn’s insistence it was a prerequisite for talks, he added.

The spokesman said: “The prime minister has been very clear that the British public voted to leave the European Union.

“We want to leave with a deal but she is determined to deliver on the verdict of the British public and that is to leave the EU on 29 March this year.”

A Number 10 source told the Press Association: “What we are talking about tonight is party leader-level talks between the prime minister and her opposite numbers in other parties, should they wish to accept that.”

It is understood that the prime minister will be making a further statement at 10pm tonight. It is unclear what will be said. She may well reprise parts of her earlier speeches today, but the party talks – if they do indeed happen – could prove crucial in shaping her approach going forward.

Updated

Caroline Lucas, the former Green party leader, has urged Jeremy Corbyn to hold a second referendum after his confidence motion was voted down.

In a clip posted to Twitter, the Brighton Pavilion MP said: “The leader of the opposition was right to try to bring down this toxic, failing government. But now MPs have had their say on the Brexit deal, he needs to give the people a say over our future relationship with our nearest neighbours.”

Lucas added that to do otherwise would be a “betrayal” of the “majority of his party’s members” and young supporters who were unable to vote in the referendum two years ago.

Earlier this evening in parliament, she said:

Updated

Nigel Dodds, the DUP deputy leader, has highlighted the fact the government would have been unable to command half the support of the Commons tonight without the support of the Northern Irish unionist party, with whom the Conservatives have a confidence and supply agreement.

Its worth mentioning here that the DUP have 10 MPs, and the result of tonight’s vote was 325 to 306, out of 650 MPs overall.

Updated

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, has renewed calls for a “people’s vote” and criticised Jeremy Corbyn for sitting on the fence. He tweeted:

Updated

James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, is the first cabinet minister to give an interview to the BBC News channel following this evening’s vote. He said that tonight’s events show that Theresa May commands the “profound” confidence of the majority of MPs.

Well the prime minister said yesterday that she wanted to test the opinion of the house, to see that we have the confidence of the House of Commons, which we profoundly do - that’s the vote we’ve had tonight. And therefore now to move on to discussions with other party leaders. As the prime minister said, wanted to work with other parties, parliamentarians, to test the support on the things that need to happen so we can ensure we make Brexit happen, and therefore following through as she said she would do.

He then criticised Jeremy Corbyn, suggesting he does not want to act in the national interest, and saying that its “extraordinary” that the Labour leader sought to “attach some conditionality” to the prime minister’s offer of talks, beginning this evening. “I hope he reflects on that because otherwise it looks like this is all about party political manoeuvring, rather than acting in the national interest. That is what the prime minister is determined to do.”

Updated

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has tweeted:

Updated

Here are the remarks Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn made in the House of Commons following the confidence vote, in full.

The prime minister said:

I’m pleased that this house has expressed its confidence in the government tonight. I do not take this responsibility lightly and our government will continue its work to increase our prosperity, guarantee our security and to strengthen our union. And yes we will also continue to work on the solemn promise we made to the people of this country to deliver on the result of the referendum and leave the European Union. I believe this duty is shared by every member of this house and we have a responsibility to identify a way forward that can secure the backing of the house.

To that end I’ve proposed a series of meetings between senior parliamentarians and representatives of the government over the coming days and I would like to invite the leaders of parliamentary parties to meet with me individually and I would like to start these meetings tonight. Mr Speaker, the government approach is to hold these meetings in a constructive spirit and I urge others to do the same but we must find solutions that are negotiable and command sufficient support in this house.

And I’ve said we will return to the house on Monday to table an amendable motion and to make a statement about the way forward. The house has put its confidence in this government, I stand ready to work with any member of this house to deliver on Brexit and to ensure this house retains the confidence of the British people.

The leader of the opposition said:

Thank you Mr Speaker. Last night the house rejected the government’s conclusion of its negotiations with the European Union.

Heckles from Tory MP’s prompted an intervention from the Speaker, who said May was listened to in “relative tranquility”, suggesting Corbyn was not extended the same courtesy.

Corbyn continued:

Last night the house rejected the government’s deal, emphatically. A week ago the house voted to condemn the idea of a no-deal Brexit. Before there can be any positive discussions about the way forward the government must remove, clearly and once and for all, the prospect of the catastrophe of no deal and all the chaos that would come as a result of that, and I invite the prime minister to confirm now that the government will not countenance a no-deal Brexit from the European Union.

Updated

Evening summary

  • Theresa May has comfortably won the no-confidence vote, by 325 to 306 - a majority of 19. The vote came after a debate in which Jeremy Corbyn accused her of leading “a zombie government”, and Tom Watson, the deputy Labour leader, closed the debate with a powerful speech saying May does not “possess the necessary political skills, empathy, ability, and most crucially the policy, to lead this country any longer”. (See 7.23pm.)
  • Opposition party leaders have refused an invitation from May to join her for talks about an alternative approach to Brexit until she abandons some of her red lines. After the vote May said she would like talks to start tonight. But Corbyn and the Lib Dems said they would not engage with her until she ruled out a no-deal Brexit. And the SNP said she would have to be willing to discuss extending article 50 and holding a second referendum before they agreed to participate.

That is all from me for tonight. My colleague Mattha Busby is taking over now.

Updated

Extracts from Tom Watson's damning speech about May

Tom Watson’s speech was one of the most gently damning anyone has delivered about Theresa May since she became prime minister. Here are some key extracts.

First let me say very clearly that I am not one of those people who questioned [May’s] motives.

I agree with [Tory MP Stephen Kerr] who claimed she was motivated by public duty.

I don’t doubt that she has sincerely attempted to fulfil the task given to us by the voters in the referendum.

I have no doubt that she has tried her best and given it her all. But she has failed. And I’m afraid the failure is hers. Hers alone ...

Throughout history prime ministers have tried their best and failed. There is no disgrace in that. That’s politics.

But this prime minister has chosen one last act of defiance – not just defying the laws of politics, but defying the laws of mathematics.

It was a Disraeli who said “a majority is always better than the best repartee”. She is a prime minister without a majority for her flagship policy, with no authority and no plan B.

Mr Speaker … that’s not a mere flesh wound.

No one doubts her determination, which is generally an admirable quality, but misapplied it can be toxic.

And the cruellest truth of all is that she doesn’t possess the necessary political skills, empathy, ability, and most crucially the policy, to lead this country any longer ...

We know [May] has worked hard. But the truth is she is too set in her ways, too aloof to lead.

She lacks the imagination and agility to bring people with her.

She lacks the authority on the world stage to negotiate this deal.

Ultimately she has failed. It is not through lack of effort. It is not through a lack of dedication.

And I think the country recognises that effort. In fact the country feels genuinely sorry for the prime minister.

I feel sorry for the prime minister. But she cannot confuse pity for political legitimacy, sympathy for sustainable support.

Updated

Lib Dems also say May must rule out no-deal Brexit before talks can start

Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem MP, says the Lib Dems also want May to rule out a no-deal Brexit before talks can start.

SNP's Ian Blackford says he will only engage in talks if second referendum and extending article 50 are options

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says he will only engage in talks with May if she is prepared to have extending article 50 and holding a “people’s vote” as options.

Updated

Corbyn says May must rule out no-deal Brexit before talks can start

Jeremy Corbyn says he does not want to start talks with Theresa May until she rules out a no-deal Brexit.

May says she wants to start talks with opposition leaders tonight on alternative Brexit plan

Theresa May has just announced, on a point of order, that she wants to start talks with the leaders of the opposition parties tonight about a way forward on Brexit.

May wins confidence vote with majority of 19

The government has won by 325 votes to 306 - a majority of 19.

This is from the BBC’s Joey D’Urso.

Here is the Labour MP Lisa Nandy on Michael Gove’s speech.

MPs vote on motion of no confidence in government

MPs are now voting on the no-confidence motion.

It is a very simple motion. It just says:

That this house has no confidence in Her Majesty’s government.

The SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the Green party have also signed it. You can read the signatories on the order paper here (pdf).

Updated

Gove mentions investments that have been coming to Britain – all of those, “in the words of the BBC”, despite Brexit.

The government is spending more on the NHS. And the country has two new aircraft carriers, he says.

He says Corbyn wants to leave Nato and get rid of the nuclear deterrent. And he claimed that Corbyn once questioned why countries need big armies.

Corbyn was present when a wreath was laid to commemorate those involved in the massacre of Israeli athletes. Corbyn said he was “present but not involved”, Gove says. Gove says that sums up Corbyn’s stance on national security. When the Commons voted to oppose Islamic State, Corbyn was also present but not involved.

And Gove goes on to claim that Corbyn would not stand up to Putin. If he won’t stand up to Putin, how will he stand up for the national interest?

Labour MPs are shouting “shame” very, very loudly. (The claims that Gove is making are to a large extent contested.)

Gove finishes, with Tory MPs shouting “more” enthusiastically.

Updated

Michael Gove's speech

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, is winding up for the government now.

He says Tom Watson failed to mention Jeremy Corbyn in his speech. Gove and Watson have things in common, he says. They have both lost weight. And they both think Corbyn is unfit to lead the Labour party.

Turning to the SNP, Gove says Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, did not say anything in his speech about the common fisheries policy, which is deeply unpopular with Scottish fishermen.

Updated

Tom Watson’s speech is getting rave reviews on Twitter – deservedly, because it was very good.

Here is some comment from other journalists.

From CityAM’s Owen Bennett

From the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy

From the BBC’s Jon Sopel

From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

Updated

Watson says the question for MPs is whether it is worth giving May another chance to go back to Brussels, another chance to humiliate the UK, another chance to waste precious time.

He says it was May who laid down impossible red lines. She refused to guarantee the rights of EU nationals. And she tried to shut out parliament. She has treated MPs with disdain, he says.

He says parliament is now having to assert its authority.

At every turn, May has promoted division instead of unity.

She has chosen to placate the most extreme of her colleagues, he says.

What happened to those burning injustices that May said she would fight: Racism? Classism? Homelessness? Insecure jobs? All these problems have got worse.

May will forever be known as the “nothing has changed” PM.

But something must change. May is too aloof, too set in her ways. She lacks the agility to bring people with her.

It is not through lack of effort or dedication. The country feels sorry for the PM. Watson says he feels sorry for the PM. But that is not enough, he says.

He says Tories may feel loyal to May. But they know in their hearts she is “not capable of getting a deal through”.

That is why we need a general election, he says.

Updated

Watson says he is not one of those people who questions Theresa May’s motives. He accepts she is motivated by duty, and that she is trying to honour the result of the referendum. But she has failed, and the failure is hers alone.

He says he admires her resilience. Other people would not have been able to put up with the humiliations she has endured. But May has failed.

He says she has no majority for her flagship policy, no authority, and no alternative. She lost the vote by 432 votes to 202. That is not a mere flesh wound, he says.

He says May does not have the empathy or political skills to carry on as prime minister.

Tom Watson's speech

Tom Watson, the deputy Labour leader, is winding up now for the opposition.

He says the UK is “more divided and fearful for the future than ever before”.

In Cardiff the Welsh assembly has passed a Plaid Cymru motion rejecting a no-deal Brexit in any circumstances. After the vote Adam Price, the Plaid leader, said:

I’m very pleased that the Welsh government and our national parliament supported Plaid Cymru’s motion in rejecting in any circumstances an exit from the European Union with no deal. The agreement on our motion is a good sign that there is an emerging understanding in this place that we must come together to face problems that are crowding around Wales and the Welsh economy, threatening a perfect storm.

According to the Times’ Sam Coates, Labour is considering giving its MPs a free vote on what should happen next over Brexit. He explains how this might work in a Twitter thread starting here.

Brexit protesters shelter under an umbrella outside the Houses of Parliament
Brexit protesters shelter under an umbrella outside the Houses of Parliament Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Wesminster, has tweeted this picture of himself and Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, meeting Theresa May in the Commons earlier.

On Radio 4’s PM programme Norman Lamont, the Brexiter former Conservative chancellor, said that Theresa May would split her party if she adopted a Brexit policy designed to appeal to Labour MPs, such as keeping the UK in the customs union. He explained:

It would be suicidal for her to try to pass legislation of this kind, a measure of this kind, with a huge amount of Labour support, alienating perhaps 100 in her own party.

I simply don’t think that she could survive that, I don’t think any prime minister of a Conservative bent could survive that.

When Ken [Clarke, a fellow guest on the programme] says there is a majority for a customs union, there may be a majority for a customs union composed of a very large part of the Labour party.

But there is no way a Conservative prime minister is going to survive on the back of the vote being largely Labour supported. That would be to destroy the Conservative [party].

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has put out this statement about her talks with Theresa May earlier. She said:

We have had a useful discussion with the prime minister. These are critical times for the United Kingdom and we have indicated that first and foremost we will act in the national interest.

Lessons will need to be learned from the vote in parliament. The issue of the backstop needs to be dealt and we will continue to work to that end.

In keeping with our commitments in the confidence and supply agreement, which has benefitted every sector of society in Northern Ireland, the DUP is supporting the government this evening so that we can concentrate on the real challenges ahead of us.

We will have further engagements in the coming days.

Here are some more quotes from the no-confidence debate.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, said the government should resign.

The prime minister is beholden to the DUP but the DUP will only support her in very certain circumstances. This is not just about the defeat of the government last night on Brexit, it is a government that is stuck, that can’t get its legislative programme through.

It has no majority support in this house, it is a government that [is] past its time. And if the government had any humility, had any self respect it would reflect on the scale of that defeat last night ... The government should recognise it has no moral authority, the government quite simply should go.

Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Westminster, said the DUP would be backing the government.

We believe it’s in the national interest to support the government at this time so the aims and objectives of the confidence and supply agreement we entered into can be achieved. Much work remains to be done on those matters.

I don’t think the people in this country would rejoice at the prospect tonight if a general election were to be called. I’m not convinced that a general election would significantly change the composition of the house and of course it doesn’t change, whatever the outcome, it doesn’t change the choices that lie before us all.

The timing of this motion, as we well know, has got much more to do with the internal dynamics of the Labour party than a genuine presentation of an alternative programme for government.

The Conservative MP Neil Parish, chair of the Commons environment committee, said people wanted the government to come together and deliver Brexit.

We are the party of government, we were elected to govern this country and so therefore we have to make a decision. We can’t sit contemplating our navels forever as to whether we’re going to make the decision or not.

John Woodcock, the former Labour MP who now sits as an independent, claimed some Labour MPs thought Jeremy Corbyn was unfit to be PM.

With a heavy heart I have to tell the house that I cannot support the no-confidence motion tonight and some of my friends mutter disgrace, I hear some of them tutting.

I have to say that many of them have privately said: ‘Thank God that you have got the freedom to actually not support this,’ because they are wrestling with their consciences, wanting desperately a Labour government, knowing that the leader of their party is as unfit to lead the country as he was when they voted against him in the no-confidence motion of the party those years ago.

Updated

This is from the BBC’s Mark Devenport.

The SDLP, Labour’s sister party in Northern Ireland, which used to be represented at Westminster until it lost its three seats in 2017, has criticised Labour’s stance on Brexit. In a statement released by the People’s Vote campaign, the SDLP Brexit spokesperson Claire Hanna said:

The British Labour party in parliament say that membership of the customs union would mean there was no need for an Irish backstop. This simply is not true. There is no Brexit deal available that does not require a backstop.

To be frank in the SDLP we are disappointed by the approach of the Labour leadership, who appear to place wooing DUP votes over protecting the Good Friday agreement. We absolutely acknowledge the concerns of many MPs about the impact of the withdrawal deal on their constituents, but the backstop does not fall into that category.

The choices are between a deal with a backstop or a people’s vote with an option for the UK to stay in the EU, keeping the whole of the island of Ireland in the EU and removing any question of a backstop.


Here is Emmanuel Macron’s take on where Britain stands after last night’s Brexit vote. He says the mendacious leave campaign has left MPs with the task of trying to implement the impossible.

George Osborne, the Evening Standard editor who was chancellor until he was sacked by Theresa May, reckons Macron has come up with a more realistic summary of Britain’s situation than the prime minister.

Here is the full transcript of what Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, told the European parliament this morning about the Commons Brexit vote, when he said: “The risk of a no deal has never been so high.”

The transcript also includes the comments from Frans Timmermans, the European commission vice president, on the same subject. In the light of claims that a lot of the Brexit debate is driven by fantasy, it is appropriate that he ended his remarks with this (rather good) quote from CS Lewis.

Let me end with a quote by CS Lewis: “We cannot go back and change the beginning. But we can start where we are and change the ending.”

Updated

Another independent MP, Sylvia Hermon, who represents North Down in Northern Ireland, has said she will not be voting for the motion of no-confidence in the government, the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire reports.

Updated

John Woodcock, who was elected as a Labour MP but now sits as an independent after leaving the party because of his opposition to Jeremy Corbyn and over a disciplinary case, has told the Commons he will not be voting for the motion of no-confidence in the government this evening. He said he thought Corbyn and John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, were not fit to hold high office.

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The Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who delayed her caesarean section so that she could vote in last night’s division, and who had to be taken through the lobby in a wheelchair, will be “nodded through” tonight. That is a procedure normally used for MPs who are seriously ill. As long as they are on the parliamentary estate at the time of the vote, and witnessed by a whip, their vote is counted as if they had gone through the division lobby in person.

In a series of Tweets, Siddiq said she was doing this because she had received a personal assurance from the prime minister that the Tories would honour the system.

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Next move has to come from London, says EU

At his regular press briefing in Brussels earlier today, Margaritis Schinas, the spokesman for the European commission, said it was up to London to decide what happened next in the Brexit process. He said:

The next move has to come from London. There is nothing else we can do from here at this stage. What matters at this stage … is that we know what to expect from the UK, and that we don’t know.

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The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said Theresa May should resign – but also argued that if she survives the confidence vote she ought to be given a few days to find a way through the impasse. Speaking in the Senedd in Cardiff, Drakeford said:

We need a new House of Commons and a new government to find a fresh way forward. That approach should rule out a no-deal exit and protect jobs and the economy here in Wales.

Any prime minister who finds herself defeated in the way this prime minister has been when attempting to discharge the single most important responsibility that will ever fall to her should resign. That is the constitutionally proper form of action.

The greatest threat to Wales is that we crash out of the European Union with no deal at all, with all the damage that will cause to business, to jobs.

He said the point may come when a people’s vote is the only way to break the impasse.

But Drakeford also said May had told him in a telephone conversation that she would work with devolved administrations as well as parliamentarians to find a way through. He said:

If she is in a position to do that after today, I think we have to allow her the few days at her disposal to see if that can be brought about. If there is a deal that she can do that meets the tests set out by my party, there may yet be a deal to be done. If that is not the case then I agree in those circumstances that the decision will have to go back to the people.

Drakeford met today with members of Plaid Cymru and Welsh Tories to discuss no-deal contingencies. He said he had not met members of Ukip because they did not believe there was any need to prepare for no-deal.

Mark Drakeford
Mark Drakeford. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

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MPs should be given indicative votes on what happens next, says Brexit committee

The Commons Brexit committee has published a report (pdf) saying MPs should be given a series of indicative votes on what happens next. Voting in the Commons is normally binary – MPs either vote for or against a proposition – but on Brexit there is increasing support for an alternative approach that would enable MPs to vote on a series of options, so as to show which had most support.

The committee suggests MPs should be given a vote on four options. It explains them like this.

1. To hold another vote on the draft withdrawal agreement and framework for the future relationship.

2. To leave the EU with no deal on 29 March with no agreement on future relations in place and with no transition/implementation period.

3. To call on the government to seek to renegotiate the deal to achieve a specific outcome, be it a variation of the terms of the separation set out in the withdrawal agreement or providing clarity about the end state of future relations as set out in the political declaration. The main renegotiation possibilities would be: 1) Seeking changes to the text in the withdrawal agreement on the backstop arrangements; 2) Seeking a Canada-style deal: 3) Seeking to join the EEA through the EFTA pillar and remaining in a customs union with the EU or a variation on this.

4. In addition to these policy choices about the UK’s future relationship, parliament could decide to hold a second referendum to allow the British people to decide either which kind of Brexit deal they want or whether they wish to remain in the EU.

The committee, which is chaired by the Labour MP Hilary Benn, agreed the report by a majority. Four pro-Brexit members – the Tories Sir Christopher Chope, Craig Mackinlay, John Whittingdale and the DUP’s Sammy Wilson – voted against.

The government has not yet said when, or how, MPs will get to hold the debate that must take place following the Commons decision to vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal yesterday. But in response to a point of order after the vote last night, John Bercow, the Speaker, indicated he would do what he could to ensure that debates and votes do take place. He said:

Of one thing I am sure: that which members wish to debate and which they determine shall be subject to a vote will be debated and voted upon. That seems to me to be so blindingly obvious that no sensible person would disagree with the proposition. If MPs want to debate and vote on a matter, that opportunity will, I am sure, unfold in the period ahead.

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Opening of no confidence debate - summary

Anyone who thought that the first no-confidence debate in the Commons for almost a quarter of a century was going to be a vintage occasion will have been disappointed – at least by the opening statements. Jeremy Corbyn’s speech was a little rambling and definitely not one of his best. Theresa May’s was not hugely better, although she did seem to be enjoying herself more than the opposition leader (bizarrely, in the circumstances, but who knows how the May psyche works). It did not generate big news, but there were some interesting lines. Here they are:

  • May signalled she is not willing to consider keeping the UK in a customs union for good (which is a Labour demand) when she opens cross-party talks on a new approach to Brexit. When asked about this explicitly by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, May replied:

What I want to see is what the British people voted for. They voted for an end to free movement, they voted for an independent trade policy, they voted to end the jurisdiction of the European court of justice. And it is incumbent on this parliament to ensure that we deliver on that.

Being in the customs union would be incompatible with an independent trade policy, because the UK would not be free to strike its own trade deals. When the pro-European Tory Ken Clarke tackled her on the same issue, saying he had not met anyone who said they voted leave because they wanted to leave the customs union, May made a similar point. She said:

When they were [voting in the EU referendum] I believe they did vote to ensure we continue to have a good trading relationship with our nearest neighbours in the EU but also to improve our trading relationships with others around the world.

  • May was accused of being in denial about the extent of her difficulties over Brexit. Corbyn said the government was “not recognising the scale of the defeat they suffered last night”. Cooper said: “The problem is the prime minister seems to be talking as if she lost by 30 votes yesterday, not 230.” Labour’s Angela Eagle criticised May for “just repeating the lines to take that we have heard for the last five months ad nauseam” instead of accepting the need to change tack. And the SNP’s Pete Wishart said:

She’s lost a quarter of her cabinet, 170 members of her backbench want her gone, she’s experienced the biggest defeat in parliamentary history - what shred of credibility has her government got left? For goodness’ sake, prime minister, won’t you just go?

  • Corbyn revealed that, despite May saying she wants to hold cross-party talks with senior parliamentarians, she had not been in touch with him. He said:

There has been no offer of all-party talks, there has been no communication on all-party talks – all the prime minister said was she might talk to some members of the house. That isn’t reaching out.

  • Corbyn accused May of heading a “zombie government” and said any previous government would have resigned if it had lost as badly as May’s did last night. He said:

Last week they lost a vote on the finance bill, that’s what’s called supply. Yesterday they lost by the biggest margin ever, that’s what’s regarded as confidence. By any convention of this house, by any precedence, loss of both confidence and supply should mean they do the right thing and resign …

This government cannot govern and cannot command the support of parliament on the most important issue facing our country. Every previous prime minister in this situation would have resigned and called an election and it is the duty of this house to lead where the government has failed.

  • May said holding an election was “not in the national interest”. She said:

It would deepen division when we need unity, it would bring chaos when we need certainty, and it would bring delay when we need to move forward, so I believe this house should reject this motion.

At this crucial moment in our nation’s history, a general election is simply not in the national interest.

  • May criticised Corbyn’s record on security and said he would bring “national calamity” to the country if he became PM. She said:

This is the leader of the party of Attlee, who called for the dismantling of Nato, the leader of the party of Bevan, who says Britain should unilaterally disarm herself and cross our fingers that others follow suit, the leader of the party that helped deliver the Belfast agreement, invited IRA terrorists into this parliament just weeks after their colleagues had murdered a member of this House.

His leadership of the Labour party has been a betrayal of everything that party has stood for, a betrayal of the vast majority of its MPs and a betrayal of millions of decent and patriotic Labour voters.

I look across the house and see backbench members who spent years serving their country in office in a Labour government, but I fear that today this is simply not a party that many of its own MPs joined.

What he has done to his party is a national tragedy; what he would do to the country would be a national calamity.

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Cameron says he does not regret calling EU referendum

David Cameron, the former Conservative prime minister, has told the BBC he does not regret calling the EU referendum. He said:

I do not regret calling the referendum. It was a promise I made two years before the 2015 general election, it was included in a manifesto, it was legislated for in parliament.

Obviously I regret that we lost that referendum. I deeply regret that. I was leading the campaign to stay in the European Union and obviously I regret the difficulties and problems we have been having in trying to implement the result of that referendum.

Cameron also said he backed Theresa May and he supported “her aim to have a partnership deal with Europe”. He continued: “That is what needs to be put in place. That is what parliament needs to try to deliver now.”

Updated

David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, has told the Commons European scrutiny committee there would be “quite visible anger” among the public if the UK has not left the EU or begun a transition process to withdraw by April. He told the committee:

I think we will see quite visible anger from the public at large, and not just those who might be counted as leavers.

I have met quite a lot of erstwhile remainers who have said to me ‘I have changed my mind and next time I will vote leave’ or ‘Why is this proving such a difficult process?’

If they don’t see a delivery on the vote of 2016, it will be really serious indeed.

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Civil servants could be temporarily moved from education department to work on no-deal Brexit, MPs told

Appearing before the Commons’ education committee this morning, Damian Hinds, the education secretary for England, said he might have to second civil servants to other departments for no-deal Brexit planning.

Asked about no-deal planning, he said:

There’s a broader cross-governmental question about making sure that if there were to be a no deal, that those functions that are truly mission-critical, in the very sharpest sense, that government is collectively able to deliver. And that does involve departments like ours being asked to see who if needed we could release on a temporary basis to support those other departments.

Is there a risk of civil servants being taken out of the DfE to go to other departments? On a temporary basis, absolutely. That is the reality of no deal – across government we would have to find resources to be able to make sure that mission-critical things for people’s way of life, supply of food and medicines and so on, that those things are protected.

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Long-Bailey says it is not 'automatic' Labour would back second referendum if it fails to get election

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, has said that it is not “automatic” that Labour would back a second referendum if it fails to trigger a general election.

Speaking at a conference in Westminster this morning held by Social Enterprise UK, she said “all options are on the table and that includes a peoples vote”, although only in the event the party cannot first force an election.

Describing the party’s Brexit policy agreed at the party’s conference, she said

Now, it wasn’t an automatic let’s go straight to a people’s vote. It was a determination to consider all of the options. There will be a lot of discussion after tonight about what happens next.

Long-Bailey, who said Labour was still working for a “successful outcome” in tonight’s vote, said she could “completely understand” why supporters of a second referendum were angry after two years of “chaos” from the government.

However, she insisted Labour still needed to look at other options before throwing its weight behind the people’s vote campaign.

I think our position certainly hasn’t moved dramatically from respecting the referendum and wanting to exhaust all of the possibilities that are available to us. But equally I think we’ve got a duty to make sure that we don’t hurtle towards a no-deal Brexit. We’ve got to do everything in our power to stop that as well.

What we want to see is a general election. Because it’s not just Brexit that’s an issue, and managing to have a government that’s in power who can negotiate productively with the EU and get a deal that would provide consensus. It’s also about dealing with all the other issues – the economic flaws that we currently see in our economy.

Rebecca Long-Bailey
Rebecca Long-Bailey Photograph: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Here is a Guardian graphic showing the timetable if Theresa May wins her confidence vote tonight (as everyone expects she will):

Timetable if May wins vote
Timetable if May wins vote

And here is the timetable in the unlikely event of her losing:

Timetable if May loses vote
Timetable if May loses vote

Updated

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, has denied having secret plans to introduce checks at the border with Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.

Scottish government intensifying preparations for no-deal Brexit, MSPs told

The Scottish government is stepping up its preparations for a hard, no-deal Brexit, including a public information campaign and contingency plans to ensure medicines, food supplies and transport are protected, its Brexit minister has said.

Mike Russell, the Scottish constitutional affairs secretary, told MSPs in an emergency statement at Holyrood his devolved government was poised to expand its rapid response team of civil servants preparing for a hard Brexit. A public information campaign was in the final stages of development, he added.

He continued:

We’re making initial decisions on issues such as medicine, medical devices and clinical consumables stockpiling, emergency transportation, support for supply chains, diversion of local produce and a host of other issues.

All of this activity has become a significant focus of our resources and efforts, as it has to be for a responsible government. However, it remains something that the UK could and should choose to remove as a risk, and as a cost, today.

Updated

I will post a summary from the opening of the debate shortly. After that I won’t be covering all the speeches, but I will post any highlights, as well as keeping up with all the other Brexit developments.

May says a general election will not help the country find a solution to Brexit. And a Labour government would not help either, she says.

She says the government is fighting injustices, And, as it leaves the EU, the country must raise its ambitions.

She is proud of what the government has achieved. The government has the confidence of the country. Now it is asking for the confidence of MPs too, she says.

And that is it. May has finished her speech.

Updated

Labour’s Liam Byrne says May has built “a cage of red lines” around her Brexit policy. That led to her deal being rejected last night.

May says she will talk to a range of MPs across the Commons to find what will secure their support.

She says Byrne intervened just as she was getting to the point in her speech where she was going to talk about the economy. Byrne was the Labour Treasury who left a note for the Tories saying there as no money left.

Byrne says he was leaving a note for his successor in accordance with a tradition going back to Churchill. He was proud to be part of a Labour Treasury team that stopped a depression, he says. He says the Tories backed Labour’s spending plans. And now, under the Tories, the debate has double.

May says, when Russia launched a chemical weapons attack on the streets of Salisbury, she said Russia should be held to account. Corbyn wanted the nerve agent to be sent to Russia so Moscow could say whether or not it was responsible.

On the issue of launching a strike against Syria, May says she was in favour. But Corbyn wanted Russia to have a veto.

She says, as a backbencher, Corbyn invited IRA terrorists into the Commons after they had bombed the prime minister.

And she says he has tolerated antisemitism in the Labour party.

Updated

Peter Kyle, the Labour MP, says May is talking about engagement with MPs, but she want to court to stop the Commons having a say on triggering article 50.

May says she has frequently come to the Commons to answer questions about her Brexit policy.

May says the government is building a country that is fairer and that works for everyone. It will carry on doing that, acting in the national interest, she says.

She says she wants to engage with opposition MPs on Brexit. The question is, will the Labour leadership rise to the occasion. She fears that they won’t, she says. She says Jeremy Corbyn is not showing leadership. All he is offering is vague aspirations, she says.

She says last night Corbyn said it was important, not just to be against something, but to be for something too. But Corbyn did not say what. And on Sunday, when asked what he would campaign for in regard to Brexit at an election, Corbyn refused five times to say, she adds.

Updated

My colleague Jessica Elgot thinks that after the confidence vote is over Theresa May may be able to exercise more leeway.

Updated

May says people voted for Brexit because they felt people were not listening to them. That is why it is important to implement the result of the referendum, she says.

No 10 says May will not abandon her opposition to UK remaining in customs union in cross-party talks

Outside the chamber, No 10 has been even more specific about customs union membership being ruled out, my colleague Heather Stewart reports.

Updated

Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, says no one has told him they voted leave because they wanted to leave the customs union. Isn’t it the case that there is nowhere in the world where two close countries have open borders without some form of customs union?

May says people voted for a close trading relationship with the EU. But they also wanted the UK to forge new trading links with other countries.

(That is a way is signalling that she is opposed to staying in the customs union. If the Uk were to do that, it would not be able to strike its own trade deals.)

Labour’s Angela Eagle says May is offering nothing new. She is just repeating the lines to take she has been using for months.

May says she has a duty to implement the referendum result.

Labour’s Yvette Cooper says May seems to be talking as if she lost by 30 votes, not by 230 votes. Is May saying she will rule out under any circumstances the UK joining a customs union?

May says the government must deliver what people voted for.

Updated

May quotes some Labour MPs who have urged her to reach out to the opposition. Given what they have said, it would be odd for them to vote for an election, she says.

May says the Commons delivered a clear message last night.

She repeats the points she made in her response to the vote in the chamber.

Asked by the SNP’s Stewart McDonald which of her red lines she will change, May says she answered this earlier. (See 12.36pm.) McDonald says May is guilty of “robotic fantasy”.

Updated

May says that, however good the government’s Brexit deal was, Corbyn would vote against it.

And however bad the EU’s Brexit offer was, Corbyn would support it, she says.

Updated

James Morris, a Conservative, asks May to rule out a second referendum.

May says the country has had a referendum. There is no guarantee an election would deliver a majority for any course of action, she says.

Mark Francois, the Tory Brexiter, says he and May do not agree on Europe. But he says that when the vote is called, the whole of the European Research Group (the Brexiter faction that has opposed May’s Brexit policy) will be voting with her.

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Theresa May's speech

Theresa May is responding now.

MPs are being asked a simple question, she says. Should there be an election? But that would deepen divisions, she says.

She says the people want MPs to get on with implementing Brexit. An election would prevent this. It would mean article 50 having to be extended, she says, and it would create uncertainty.

Updated

Corbyn says, if Labour wins this debate, then there will be a wide-ranging debate about the future. But if the Commons does not pass this motion, then MPs should keep all options on the table. They should rule out no-deal, and the PM’s deal, which was roundly defeated yesterday.

He says “every previous prime minister in this situation” would have resigned. MPs have a duty to pass the no-confidence motion, he says.

And that’s it.

Updated

Corbyn says a general election would bring new impetus to the Brexit talks.

And it might bring new solutions for the problems faced by constituents, including low pay and the scandal of social care.

And homelessness is a particular scandal, he says. The homeless are looking to parliament for a better solution.

Corbyn says all MPs have a duty to call out abuse. Too many constituents have faced that since the toxic debate in the EU referendum. And the government’s hostile environment policy has not helped, he says.

Corbyn says both the Tories and Labour fought the last election on manifestos promising to implement Brexit.

But he says any government would be in a stronger position if it had a mandate for Brexit now.

Anna Soubry, the Tory, says Corbyn is making some valid points – although he is not making them well. But why did a poll at the weekend show Labour six points behind. Was it because he is the most hopeless leader of the opposition there has ever been?

Corbyn says he looks forward to testing public opinion at an election.

Labour’s David Lammy asks Corbyn to confirm that Labour would rule out a no-deal Brexit. Corbyn says he has ruled it out. And he says Greg Clark, the business secretary, agrees.

Updated

Corbyn attacks the government’s record on welfare.

He says only yesterday it used the Brexit vote to sneak out pension changes that could cost some pensioners thousands of pounds.

The government is not meeting its cancer and waiting time targets, he says.

Corbyn says May’s party is “fundamentally split” on the issue of Brexit. That is why the government can no longer govern, he says.

He says May shook her head yesterday when he said she had treated this as a party matter. But he says about half an hour after this happened the Tory MP Nick Boles said that is what May was doing.

The Conservative MP George Freeman asks, when the cross-party talks happen, which Scarlet Pimpernel will turn up: the Labour leader who campaigns against Brexit in London and the south, or the Labour leader who campaigns for it in the north.

Updated

Corbyn confirms May has not invited him to cross-party talks on Brexit

Corbyn says the blame for this mess lies with May.

The Tories say they want parliament to be sovereign. But when parliament objects, they do all they can to obstruct MPs from having a vote.

Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem, asks Corbyn if he will support a people’s vote if he loses the confidence vote. Corbyn says Carmichael knows Labour’s policy. All options would be on the table.

Labour’s Catherine West asks Corbyn if he has received a call from Theresa May inviting him to cross-party talks on Brexit. Corbyn says he has not had such a call.

  • Corbyn confirms May has not invited him to cross-party talks on Brexit.

Updated

Corbyn says it was shocking that the Labour MP Tulip Siddiq had to vote last night despite being heavily pregnant.

Anna Soubry, a Conservative, makes a point of order. Was Siddiq offered a pair?

John Bercow, the speaker, says his understanding was that Siddiq was offered a pair. But MPs have expressed their concern nonetheless, he says.

(The row was about Siddiq not being able to vote by proxy. A proxy vote would have meant she was recorded as voting against. Pairing just means that someone on the other side abstains too, which would have meant Siddiq being recorded as not having voted. And Siddiq expressed reservations about pairing, because the Tories have broken pairing arrangements in the past.)

Jeremy Corbyn opens debate on motion of no confidence in government

Jeremy Corbyn is opening the no-confidence debate.

He says last night the government lost the Brexit vote by more than 200 votes. No other government has lost a vote by that many. And last week the government lost a vote on the finance bill.

He says any PM who loses a vote like this should resign.

He says this is what happened in the past. When the Liberal government lost votes on Lloyd George’s budget in 1910, it went to the country.

(Corbyn is using arguments fleshed out in this Guardian article by Emily Thornberry.)

The SNP’s Pete Wishart asks what will Labour’s Brexit policy be if there is an election: will it be for Brexit or against?

Corbyn says Labour is a democratic party. The party will decide.

Updated

PMQs - Snap verdict

The most interesting question at Westminster today is that raised by Nicola Sturgeon earlier this morning (see 9.58am); in her cross-party talks with MPs about an alternative Brexit plan, is Theresa May willing to abandon any of her rigid red lines? To his credit, Jeremy Corbyn homed in on this in his very first question, and the topic was raised repeatedly by other MPs. (Or at least those who raised Brexit; it was surprising how many MPs seemed happy to stick with run-of-the-mill questions less than 24 hours after May broke all records for parliamentary humiliation.)

As usual, instead of properly engaging with the red lines question, May instead stuck to parroting the most recent line-to-take in her memory, the text of the statement she delivered to MPs last night about wanting “constructive” talks while still honouring the result of the referendum. She would not address the question about whether she might now agree to the UK remaining in the customs union for good in any meaningful way, but her tone conveyed the clear impression that her lines remain almost as red as ever and that she is not seriously contemplating a departure from what she has already proposed.

But on one issue, she did hint that she is having a rethink. Her response to Ken Clarke about extending article 50 (see 12.30am) implied that, if she is not exactly keen on extending article 50, she is at least less hostile to the idea than she was. (Some people assume that extending article 50 would automatically amount to a move in the direction of a softer Brexit, but that is not necessarily the case; she might want to extend it just to allow more time for no-deal preparations.)

Corbyn was probably at his best when he asked about Brexit. He quite successfully exposed the hollowness of May’s offer on cross-party talks. After that, he asked about poverty and other domestic policy issues, achieving some fairly easy hits but without saying anything especially memorable.

The real debate about May’s domestic record will probably start shortly.

Updated

Sarah Wollaston, the Tory pro-European, asks May to back a second referendum. May says MPs must accept the referendum result.

Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, welcomes May’s offer of cross-party talks. He says, as a former coalition colleague, May knows the Lib Dems will work with others in the national interest. But May should not even lift up the phone unless she is willing to rule out a no-deal Brexit and have constructive conversation about a people’s vote.

May says the way to avoid no deal is to back a deal. And she says some MPs are unwilling to hold constructive talks with her.

Updated

Labour’s Ian Lucas asks about the proposed Hitachi nuclear power station in north Wales in relation to her meeting with the Japanese PM last week.

May says she did raise this topic. But it is for the company to make a commercial decision about whether or not to go ahead, she says.

Updated

The Conservative Nicky Morgan asks May if she agrees that all MPs need to maintain maximum flexibility as they look for an alternative Brexit solution.

May says she will approach the talks in a constructive spirit. But it is important to honour the referendum result, she says.

Updated

Labour’s Ronnie Campbell says a recent survey said 4 million workers were living in poverty. Will May call a general election?

May repeats the point about the number of people in absolute poverty being at a record low.

Updated

The SNP’s Stewart McDonald asks May which of her red lines she is willing to give up.

May says she will approach these talks in a constructive spirit. But the government has to deliver on the result of the referendum, she says.

Phillip Lee, a Conservative pro-Euroepan who resigned as a minister because he opposed May’s deal, asks May if she accepts that she may now have to change her mind about her Brexit plan.

May says she will be talking to a wide range of MPs.

Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi asks about the drug primodos, and research showing it caused deformities.

May says a minister is leading a review looking at what impact it had. That study will be considered very carefully.

Tracey Crouch, a Conservative, asks about apprentices. May says she has met many young people who say that is the right approach for them.

Updated

May appears to soften her opposition to extending article 50

Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, says he listened to many hours of the Brexit debate. He says the only proposals for which there was majority support were rejecting no deal, extending article 50, and some form of customs union with the EU. Just as he has had to accept the need to leave the EU, will May accept the need to modify her red lines too?

May says it is because there are so many views that she is holding discussions with MPs. She says article 50 cannot be extended by the UK on its own. The EU would extend article 50 only if there were a plan moving towards a deal, she says.

  • May appears to soften her opposition to extending article 50. When asked about this in the past, she has said the UK will leave on 29 March, but today she sounded open to the prospect of extending. For that to happen there would have to be agreement in the Commons on an alternative plan, she said.

Updated

Labour’s Roberta Blackman-Woods asks about health inequalities. People in Durham have worse outcomes than people in Windsor. So why is spending on public health being cut?

May says the public health budget will be decided in the spending review. But it is not just the public health budget that affects people’s health.

Helen Grant, a Conservative, asks May if she agrees that if MPs fail to deliver on the referendum the public perception of politicians will be at an all-time low.

May says she agrees. “We need to deliver Brexit for the British people.”

Updated

Labour’s Seema Malhotra says last night May said she would hold talks with MPs in a constructive spirit. But now it seems she just wants to invite them in to tell them her deal is best. Is she prepared to change any of her red lines?

Mays says she will meet with parliamentarians, and look to see what can get the support of the house. But what this house must have in mind is the importance of delivering on the referendum result.

Updated

Trudy Harrison, a Conservative, asks May if she will meet with workers from the nuclear power plant in Copeland.

May says she is aware of how important the nuclear industry is in Cumbria. She suggests Harrison meets with a business minister.

Updated

Labour’s Peter Kyle says May’s defeat yesterday was historic and Titanic. Everything has changed, and May must change too. If May is not going to give people the power to have a say over this deal, then what has become of her promise to empower people.

May says people voted to leave the EU in 2016. She thinks the government, and parliament, have a duty to deliver on that.

Jeremy Lefroy, a Conservative, says the government has committed vast amounts of money to the NHS. But can May look at how money is allocated to CCGs [clinical commissioning groups].

May says changes have been made to the CCG allocations for 2019-20.

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Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, said yesterday the attorney general said any new deal would be much the same as the old one. Will she admit that plan B will be much the same as plan A?

May says she wants to hold talks with parliamentarians to find out what will get the support of the house. But she repeats the point about honouring the result of the referendum.

Blackford says May has failed. It is an omnishambles. Westminster may have failed, but Scotland is united. She says the PM must seek the confidence of the people. May should extend article 50 and ask the people if they want her deal or remain. She should legislate for a people’s vote.

May says the Commons legislated for a people’s vote in 2016.

Updated

Robert Goodwill, a Conservative, asks about the ”northern powerhouse”, and company selling exports to China.

May says she has met this company. She cannot talk about its China contract, but this is what the northern powerhouse is about.

Updated

Corbyn says May knows his Brexit policy – he wants a customs union with the EU.

One of the problems with the government is its disregard for statistics. There are 21,000 fewer police officers. When May was home secretary, she would not accept police cuts had an impact on crime. Will she admit she got it wrong?

May defends her Home Office record. Corbyn only talks about money, she says. What matters also is what powers the police get. She says Corbyn consistently voted against more powers for the police.

Corbyn says a Labour government properly funded the police. Ask people if they feel safer now. We know that the answer will be, she says. He rattles of a list of areas where the government is failing, and it has failed on the most important issue, Brexit. Every previous PM would have resigned after last night’s defeat.

May says Corbyn has been calling for an election for weeks. Yet on Sunday, when asked if he would campaign to leave the EU in an election campaign, Corbyn refused to answer. He has let antisemitism run riot in his party. He would abandon our allies and wreck the economy. We will never let that happen, she says.

Updated

Corbyn says the Commons rejected May’s deal. Can’t she understand she needs to come up with something else?

But it is not just on Brexit she is failing. Poverty is rising. When will it fall while she is in office?

May says there are 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty, and 300,000 fewer children in absolute poverty. Labour would spend £1,000bn more, she says.

Corbyn says May is in denial on a customs union, in denial on no deal, in denial on the amount of money spent on no-deal planning, and on poverty ... At this point Tory MPs jeer. Corbyn says this is significant. “Tell that to people queuing up at food banks,” he says.

What is May’s greatest failure, he asks, listing various education policy problems.

May says this is a government delivering on education.

She says Corbyn has consistently failed to set out what his Brexit policy is.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn starts by saying he needs to correct the record. Last night he said this was the largest government defeat since the 1920s. In fact, it is the largest defeat in our democratic history.

Is May ruling out the UK staying in the customs union in her cross-party talks?

May says she wants to leave the EU in a way that respects the votes of the people in the referendum. That means ending free movement, getting control of laws and money, and having a good relationship with the EU.

Corbyn asks May to confirm that we can’t have a no-deal Brexit. Greg Clark, the business secretary, said that in a call with business leaders yesterday, he says.

May says she does not want a no-deal Brexit. MPs can avoid no deal by voting for a deal, she says.

Charlie Elphicke, a Conservative, says he believes in more jobs, lower taxes and stronger services. Does May agree the Conservatives have delivered that?

(I think we’re getting a preview of the no-confidence debate.)

May says we have seen 3.4 million more people in work under the Tories. Under Jeremy Corbyn there would be more borrowing, more taxes and fewer jobs.

Updated

Theresa May starts by condemning the Nairobi attack.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

I normally post a snap verdict straight after the May/Corbyn exchanges, but today I will do it at the end of the session, because May v the Commons as a whole is probably more interesting.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question:

PMQs
PMQs Photograph: HoC

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Scottish and Welsh first ministers demand urgent meeting with May to discuss Brexit

The first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford, have urged Theresa May for an urgent meeting in an effort to jointly agree a way out of the Brexit impasse.

As she arrived at Westminster to meet Scottish National party MPs, Sturgeon released a letter she had sent May, calling for the prime minister to host a joint ministerial committee involving all four of the UK’s governments (although Northern Ireland would be represented by UK civil servants since Stormont’s power-sharing government is suspended).

Sturgeon said Drakeford was also calling on May to arrange a JMC, and told May:

Your government has now clearly failed to bring the country together in support of your proposed deal. It is time to recognise that reality and change course, starting with a new approach which seeks to find a way forward by genuinely involving the four nations of the UK.

Up until now, despite stated intentions, the UK government has taken little or no account of the views of the people of Scotland or the position of the Scottish government.

[It] is important, contrary to our experience of the past two and a half years, that such a meeting must be more than window dressing. Urgent and meaningful discussions are needed in the next days to agree a way forward which can command a majority in the House of Commons, and which has the confidence and support of the devolved administrations.

The Scottish government believes that the best way of resolving the current impasse is to negotiate an extension to the article 50 period and hold a second EU referendum. Given the rejection of your deal we will now be intensifying work towards the achievement of that aim.

Nicola Sturgeon with SNP MPs at Westminster.
Nicola Sturgeon with SNP MPs at Westminster. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader, and Michael Gove, the environment secretary, will close the no-confidence debate tonight. Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May will open it, obviously.

Updated

Corbyn's call for Brexit renegotiation not realistic, say 71 Labour MPs as they demand second referendum

Seventy-one Labour MPs and 13 MEPs have signed a public statement calling for a second referendum on Brexit. They argue it is time for the party to commit to a second referendum and that a Brexit renegotiation, which at the moment is what Jeremy Corbyn is proposing, is “not a realistic prospect”.

Here is an extract from the statement.

We represent hugely diverse constituencies from the north to the south, from Wales to Scotland. Many of our constituencies voted to leave in 2016. We must listen to and respond to the reasons why people did so.

But we now face a moment of national crisis, where the facts and the views of many people have changed – and are continuing to change.

It is now clear renegotiation is not a realistic prospect. No deal would be a catastrophe which we must resolutely oppose. The government should seek an extension to article 50 to provide time for parliament to find a way forward. Theresa May has failed to bring this country back together.

Labour’s conference adopted a clear policy for this situation.

We must try and remove this government from office as soon as possible. But the removal of the government and pushing for a general election may prove impossible, so we must join trade unions, our members and a majority of our constituents by then unequivocally backing the only logical option to help our country move forward: putting the decision back to the people for a final say, in a public vote, with the option to stay and keep the deal that we have.

Defeat of the Tory deal in a public vote would give us all a chance to campaign for the anti-austerity policies and a Labour government that deals with the true causes of the Brexit vote, and a reformed Europe that works for all people.

The organisers say another 24 Labour MPs have publicly backed a second referendum, but haven’t signed today’s statement for administrative reasons.

Here is a full list of the MPs and MEPs who have signed the statement.

The initiative is intended to put pressure on Corbyn to commit the party to back a second referendum. Under the carefully negotiated compromise position agreed at party conference, the party is committed to calling for a general election first, with “all options remaining on the table” if an election does not happen, “including campaigning for a public vote”. Campaigners for a “people’s vote” believe that, if the government wins the no-confidence vote tonight, Corbyn will no longer have any reason not to back a second referendum, although Corbyn has serious reservations about this approach and he does not seem keen to commit the party to backing second referendum legislation in any great hurry.

A group Labour MPs calling for a new referendum on Brexit.
A group of Labour MPs calling for a new referendum on Brexit. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

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Speaking to the Guardian, the Greek MEP Stelios Koulouglou said Theresa May’s humiliating defeat last night highlighted the extent to which Britain had become a case study in the perils of nationalist demagogy. He said:

It has become a case study of how nationalist demagogy can destroy a country. It will be taught in universities. It is dreadful to see what is happening.

While insisting there was no desire whatsoever in Brussels for concessions, Koulouglou did not exclude Britain’s exit from the EU being extended. “Nobody wants to change the content of the agreement,” said the MEP, who represents Athen’s ruling leftist party Syriza. “There is absolutely no chance of that happening but there would be a will to extend the withdrawal if it meant avoiding the chaos of a disorderly Brexit.”

The Greek media have watched the tortuous Brexit negotiations with dismay after its own near-brush with Grexit and today there is rare agreement that Britain has entered unchartered waters.

“There is astonishment that a democracy as old as Britain has got itself into such a dead-end,” the prominent commentator told the Guardian.

It’s the sort of mess that Greece would get into. The feeling across the media, with the exception of the eurosceptic press, is that London should reconsider other options, like putting the whole idea on hold.

The Syntaktwn paper, which often reflects the views of prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s government, predicted that, while May would probably survive tonight’s confidence vote, the most likely scenario was an extension of the country’s exit date until July “in order to give London more time”.

The conservative Kathimerini, in particularly pessimistic mood, said the prospect of an alternative solution for the UK was far from optimistic. Citing last night’s European parliament reaction to May’s humiliating defeat, it underlined the dangers of a disorderly Brexit.

Updated

Here is Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, with her MPs outside the Houses of Parliament.

Mairead McGuinness, the vice-president of the European parliament, has said it would be wrong to start blaming Ireland’s insistence on the backstop for Theresa May’s historic defeat.

“We must not allow a narrative to evolve that this is an Irish problem and can be resolved by the backstop [being removed],” she told the Irish radio station Shannonside after chairing a debate in the parliament on Thursday morning.

McGuinness, who is an Irish MEP, said it was not up to the EU to “decipher” what deal can emerge from a House of Commons riven with “hard Brexiters and ardent remainers and those in between”.

In the radio interview, she said would not take lessons on the backstop from the former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a man who had power but refused to use it to help seal a Brexit deal.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is to meet Scottish National party MPs in London later as they sketch out their tactics after May’s crushing defeat in the Commons, with the first minister urging May to extend article 50.

Sturgeon tweeted earlier this morning she was travelling down from Edinburgh in advance of tonight’s confidence vote at Westminster, where the SNP will vote against May. (See 9.58am.) The prime minister called her on Tuesday evening after her Brexit deal was voted down, but it appears neither is shifting ground.

Sturgeon has reiterated her demands for a second Brexit referendum – a proposal the SNP now formally backs after some prevarication, but also said the crisis at Westminster underscored the case for independence.

The first minister’s trip to London is very largely presentational: the SNP’s position on Brexit has been fixed for some months and, unlike Labour and the Tories, there are no open splits on policy or tactics in her Westminster group that require Sturgeon’s hands-on involvement.

And in keeping with the febrile atmosphere dominating UK politics, the Brexit crisis allows Sturgeon to shift the focus in Scotland away from her own deeply damaging crisis: the controversy over her government’s handling of the sexual harassment claims against Alex Salmond.

Party sources acknowledge privately that the domestic crisis has knocked Sturgeon’s plan to capitalise on Brexit to reinvigorate the independence questions off course.

Updated

Nick Boles' bill intended to prevent no-deal Brexit in 2019 published

And, talking about bills, the full text of Nick Boles’s EU withdrawal (number 2) bill has been published. It is also backed by fellow Tories Nicky Morgan and Sir Oliver Letwin, Labour’s Liz Kendall, Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn, and the Lib Dem Norman Lamb. You can read it here (pdf).

Under the bill, if the Commons fails to pass a Brexit deal by 11 February, the Commons liaison committee would be asked to come up with an alternative plan by 5 March, to be put to a vote by 7 March. And if that plan were voted down, the government would then be obliged to ask the EU to extend article 50 until the end of the year.

This is designed to ensure that there could be no no-deal Brexit in 2019.

Speaking about the bill on the Today programme this morning, Letwin said it was important to come up with a plan acceptable to a majority of MPs and acceptable to the EU. He explained:

There is no point in us discussing unicorns which are items that live in fanciful forests. We have to discuss real objects.

He also criticised Theresa May for laying down firm red lines at the start of the Brexit process. He said:

[May] put down right at the beginning of this process what she called red lines.

This is not a terrain in which you can have things you will definitely never do. You have to sit down and talk and come up with a consensus. That means being much more flexible than we have been so far.

Oliver Letwin
Oliver Letwin Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

As well as the no-confidence motion in the government, something else has been tabled for the Commons today – two new bills by ever-busy Conservative backbencher Dominic Grieve seeking to bring about a second Brexit referendum.

The bills from the former attorney general call for “preparations for a referendum about the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union” and provide for that referendum to happen.

Last week, Grieve joined with the Lib Dem leader, Vince Cable, and the Labour MP Chuka Ummuna in publishing draft legislation on a referendum.

While Grieve last week successfully had his amendment passed to shorten the time in which May has to update MPs after losing the vote on her deal, these bills have no chance of success without official support – which is showing no signs of happening yet.

Writing in the Evening Standard on Tuesday, before May lost her vote, Grieve said:

As a strong believer that Brexit is a very damaging mistake that becomes more obvious every day, I see sound democratic reasons for asking the electorate to confirm what it wants to do. But in doing so I entirely accept that if the choice is to leave the EU then we must do so, and both choices are now implementable.

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Tory Brexiters set out their 'plan B' proposal, involving free trade offer to EU and no-deal planning

Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister and deputy chair of the European Research Group, which represents Conservatives pushing for a harder Brexit, has drafted a statement that he thinks Theresa May should make to parliament. Under the EU Withdrawal Act, now that May has lost a vote on her deal, she is obliged to return to the Commons to say what will happen next. Here is a press notice (pdf) summarising the proposed Baker draft, and here is the full document (pdf).

The statement has also been signed by 21 other Brexiter Tory MPs.

Under his plan, the UK would commit to leaving the EU on 29 March and step up planning for a no-deal Brexit, while simultaneously, as an alternative, offering the EU (effectively on a take-it-or-leave-it basis) the legal text for an EU-UK free trade deal, including a customs facilitation agreement as an alternative to the backstop.

Baker said:

The Commons rejection of the withdrawal agreement and political declaration is a great opportunity to aim for a better deal that respects the referendum result and is focused on the UK’s trading priorities. We will offer the EU a better deal and we will be ready to trade on WTO terms with the EU if they decline.

If we leave on WTO terms, we will no longer be faced with handing over £39bn for little in return, seeing our United Kingdom broken apart or being forced to follow EU laws with no say. This document sets out a firm plan to take up the EU’s March offer of a best-in-class trade agreement respecting UK priorities, the EU’s legal order and allowing the UK to develop a truly independent trade and domestic regulatory policy.

Steve Baker talking to the media in Westminster
Steve Baker talking to the media in Westminster. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Updated

Sturgeon says cross-party Brexit talks will be pointless unless May willing to abandon red lines

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is coming to London today for Brexit talks, she says.

She has also posted a Tweet approving a point made by the Scottish journalist Kirsty Strickland.

At the moment it is not obvious that Theresa May will be willing to abandon her red lines. As Politico Europe reports, asked what principles would govern her approach to these cross-party talks, May’s spokesman told journalists:

We want to deliver an orderly Brexit with a deal. One that protects our union, gives us control of our borders, laws and money, and means we have an independent trade policy. It’s for others to set out their positions — but we want to identify what would be required to secure the backing of the house, consistent with what we believe to be the result of the referendum.

That does sound like a restatement of the red lines, only in slightly fuzzier terms than declared previously. The reference to a new approach being consistent with the result of the referendum implies that May will continue to rule out a second referendum. It also suggests May would have objections to a plan to keep the UK in the customs union for good - because that would stop the UK being able to strike its own trade deals.

Updated

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, was on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning. He said he thought parliament would not allow Brexit to happen on 29 March. He said:

These are extraordinary circumstances. What you have got, probably for the first in the history of our nation, is a parliament that refuses point blank to accept the will of the people. We voted for Brexit, we backed it up in a general election the following year and a majority of the House of Commons don’t want it.

Under the legislation, 500 MPs voted for article 50. It said explicitly if we don’t get a withdrawal agreement, we just leave on 29 March. That was backed up by the Referendum Act that just said we leave on 29 March.

However, let me be honest with you, I do not believe that Mr Bercow as speaker and our parliament will allow it to happen. If you want my prediction, I believe the article 50 leaving date will be extended.

He also said it was “bizarre” that Theresa May had not resigned.

It is absolutely bizarre … the rest of the world is looking on with incredulity at what they think is a great country being led so badly, in such a shambolic way. It’s not good for our standing in the world, it’s not good for investment into Britain. We need a resolution, there is a way out. It is the legislation, we should leave on 29 March.

Nigel Farage, the MEP and former Ukip leader, in the European parliament in Strasbourg this morning.
Nigel Farage, the MEP and former Ukip leader, in the European parliament in Strasbourg this morning. Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA

Updated

Here is a Guardian Opinion panel on what should happen next in the Brexit crisis, with contributions from Matthew d’Ancona, Katy Balls, Aditya Chakrabortty and Gaby Hinsliff.

Ireland would not object if Britain asked for an extension to article 50, the deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, told RTE.

He also brushed aside comments caught on mic on an off-guard moment last night in which he warned a fellow politician not to talk about potential checks at the border in the event of no deal for fear of a backlash.

“We need to hold our nerve this week,” he told RTE’s Morning Ireland. The ratification “didn’t go well, clearly.”

We will have to wait and see. There is an onus on the British parliament and the British government to propose an alternative that is viable if we are going to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Asked about the gaffe by Shane Ross, the transport minister, at yesterday evening’s no-deal contingency planning briefing by the government, when Ross said he anticipated checks on lorries coming from Scotland across the border into Ireland, Coveney said Ross had meant that there would be “minimal checks” and these could be done at sea.

In a private conversation with his transport minister caught on tape when he thought his mic was off, Coveney indicated ministers should not talk about the potential for border checks. He told Shane Ross:

Once you start talking about checks anywhere near the Border, people will start delving into that and all of a sudden we’ll be the government that reintroduced a physical border on the island of Ireland.

Ireland’s transport minister, Shane Ross (left), Simon Coveney (centre) and health minister Simon Harris at a no-deal Brexit briefing in Dublin
Ireland’s transport minister, Shane Ross (left), Simon Coveney (centre) and health minister Simon Harris at a no-deal Brexit briefing in Dublin. Photograph: Michelle Devane/PA

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May's plan for cross-party Brexit talks under fire as Labour condemns her plan to sideline Corbyn

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver.

The Andrea Leadsom Today programme interview, in which she played down the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn being included in the cross-party talks on an alternative Brexit plan that Theresa May is planning, does not seem to have gone down well.

Here is some political reaction.

From Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader:

From Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee (and exactly the sort of senior parliamentarian that May seemed to have in mind when she announced her plan for cross-party talks):

And this is from Lucy Powell, another senior Labour MP:

From the Labour party:

And here is some comment from journalists.

From the BBC’s Norman Smith:

From the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar

From the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot

Updated

Leadsom plays down prospect of May including Corbyn in cross-party talks on new Brexit approach

The leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, has defended the government’s failure to discuss a compromise plan with Labour’s frontbench.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today programme, she said:

The government has been collaborating across the house ever since the beginning of this parliament. It simply isn’t the case that the government isn’t engaging with senior parliamentarians.

Asked why the prime minister had not spoken to Jeremy Corbyn about a compromise, Leadsom said: “She will be speaking with senior parliamentarians.”

She also played down the prospect of Theresa May including Jeremy Corbyn when she reaches out to opposition MPs to discuss a possible way forward. She added:

Jeremy Corbyn had the opportunity yesterday to put to the house exactly what his alternative proposals were. He clearly has none. He needs to come to the table and tell us what he wants to do. The country wants to know what the Labour party is actually proposing.

  • Leadsom plays down prospect of May including Corbyn in her planned cross-party talks on an alternative approach to Brexit.

Leadsom insisted that the withdrawal deal that was defeated last night remained the best “basis” for a way to avoid a no deal.

And she claimed the government would not be seeking to delay or revoke article 50.

Leadsom said:

I have struggled with the prime minister’s deal but ultimately it is a deal that balances the various interests, the country has been divided on it but leaving the EU we have to deliver on that. And the prime minister has shown her determination to do that.

She added that the legal default position is that we leave in March without a deal so it is “vitally important” that we put a deal in place

Leadsom also insisted that whatever compromise was reached would not “not necessarily” involve a softer Brexit.

  • Leadsom rejects claims government defeat inevitably makes softer Brexit more likely.

Updated

Barnier says EU stepping up preparations for no-deal Brexit

Barnier added:

It is up to the British authorities to indicate how we can take things forward towards an orderly withdrawal.

The agreement that we reached with the British government is a good agreement. It is the best possible compromise. Protecting the rights of citizens will continue to be the priority whatever the outcome.

The backstop must remain a credible backstop.

An orderly withdrawal must remain our absolute priority. The scenario we have always wanted to avoid is a no deal. We are stepping up our preparations for that contingency.

Updated

Barnier says EU won't abandon backstop

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier has insisted that the Irish backstop must remain credible in any Brexit deal.

Speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg, he said “we regret profoundly” the Commons vote on Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement after two years of negotiation “based on the red lines of the British government”.

Michel Barnier, speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg
Michel Barnier, speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA

Updated

Nathalie Loiseau, the Europe minister, told France Inter this morning:

It’s bad news, because this withdrawal agreement negotiated for nearly two years is a good agreement and the only agreement possible. It’s for the British to decide what they want. We see there is no majority for this agreement, but we don’t know what there IS a majority for… they want to leave the European Union to do what?

Asked why leaving the EU was proving so difficult, Loiseau said: “A certain number of British, including British politicians, didn’t realise what being a member of the EU meant.” She added that there had been “massive disinformation” during the referendum campaign.

Can the agreement be renegotiated?

The text cannot be reopened especially after we’ve gone 17 months with all the coming and going. It’s been one third of my work since I became minister, which is a bit excessive, and we have other things to do in Europe than busy ourselves with a divorce.

She added: “Nobody thinks a no deal is a good situation, but we are preparing for that”, but warned: “We aren’t going to unknit the European Union because the UK wants to leave.”

Updated

Sophie in ‘t Veld, a deputy leader of the liberal group in the European parliament, is sticking to the Brussels line that this crisis is for the UK to sort out. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said:

We got a lot of questions last night saying ‘what is the EU going to do now?’. Well, all the options have been on the table, it is for the UK now to decide what to do. I would strongly recommend all the parties to come together and unite in the interest of the UK.

Asked if she would prefer if the UK remained in the EU, she said:

We never wanted the UK to leave, so if they come to that conclusion then we will be very happy, but it is not for us to say, it is for the British people to say.

But it will have to be a realistic, a workable solution, one that is taking into account the current arrangements within the EU, the Good Friday agreement, and the rights of citizens – the 3.5m Europeans living in the UK and the 1.5 million British people living in the EU 27.

Updated

German foreign minister says extending article 50 only makes sense if UK has plan

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, says the ball is in Britain’s court to bring clarity to the chaos.

“The MPs of the lower house have not made it known what they want, only what they don’t want,” he told the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk this morning.

“That is not enough,” he said. He added he did not support the idea of renegotiating the deal, saying that many compromises had already been made by both sides. “If one had been able to offer more, we would have had to do that weeks ago.”

He said the German government would follow closely the vote of confidence in Theresa May, but her fall would make the situation only more complicated.

“For the negotiations we need a stable government,” he said. Extending article 50 would be complicated in the light of upcoming European elections, he said, and anyway, an extension would require a clear idea as to what London wanted.

“It will only make sense if there’s a way which has as its goal to reach a deal between the EU and Britain and at the moment there’s not a majority viewpoint in the British parliament”.

Updated

John McDonnell
John McDonnell Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has again ducked the question of whether the Labour frontbench will back a second referendum. He insisted it was for Labour’s membership to decide.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said: “If we secured a general election, our party then would have to decision about what goes into the manifesto. There is strong support that if there is an impasse we go back to the people. Our preference is a general election, if we get, there is also that view that there should be another referendum.

“”My view is that it will be decided by the democratic wishes of our party members. The options will be: we put forward our own proposals on a deal, or you put forward those plus the possibility of a referendum.

“What went through our Labour party conference last year was: seek to get a deal that protects jobs and the economy, if you can’t do that, then it’s a referendum to ask people to think again. I think if we do move to a general election that that the sort of debate that we will have.”

McDonnell insisted a compromise deal could be reached with the government.

My own view is that Theresa May could sort this now. If she had a real discussion, a real approach to compromise bring all the parties together I think there could be a compromise most probably on the basis of what Labour is advocating. But the problem that she’s got is that I don’t think people have any faith in her anymore to deliver that.

Clearly extending article 50 is now on the agenda but that is for the government to decide.

He appeared to concede that it was unlikely that the government would lose today’s confidence vote. “People don’t expect us to win that, but who can tell?”

He added:

If that goes down, parliament really has to take a strong role ... proper negotiations and discussions to see if there is a compromise that can be reached. Theresa May has said she is willing to enter into those discussions, but she hasn’t said she is willing to enter into them with Jeremy Corbyn. She has not contacted us.

We haven’t been invited into those discussions yet. Then she’s set conditions, she’s ruling out by the looks of it a customs union which most of the opposition parties support.

We believe we should have a permanent customs union. The relationship with the single market should be a close and collaborative relationship.

Updated

That’s it from me, I’m handing over to my colleague Matthew Weaver now. Thanks for reading and tweeting, keeping following for updates.

A few more front pages coming in from readers and I think Frankfurter Rundschau may be my favourite so far...

The Labour MP Chuka Umunna has been on Good Morning Britain, arguing that Britain needs to get more time to “prevent ourselves falling off a cliff”.

He says if the no-confidence motion fails today, Labour should immediately back calls for a second referendum, though as Piers Morgan points out, this is going to be difficult given “Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t want to do that”.

Updated

Thanks for those tweeting in with Brexit headlines from newspapers around the world. We’ve got headlines in from media outlets in Israel, Bulgaria and China, so far. Keep them coming!

The issue of low-level letter boxes will also be discussed in parliament today.
The issue of low-level letter boxes will also be discussed in parliament today. Photograph: Andy Hall for the Observer

Quite a few questions and witticisms coming in about the fact that also on the parliamentary agenda today is a 10-minute motion on the prohibition of low-level letter boxes.

There is some irony in this issue being debated today, as this is about trying to get European standards to be added to UK Building Regulations. European standards require letterboxes to be between 70cm and 1.7m from the ground, thus reducing the risk of back injuries and risk of dog bite for postmen and women.

The Communications Union have this summary of the issue, which they say they have been trying to get change on for years.

The Communications Workers Union has been campaigning to outlaw low level letterboxes for many years. The CWU has been striving for the European Standard (EN13724) to be added to UK Building Regulations – this requires that letterboxes should be positioned at a suitably accessible height, accessible to postal delivery workers, significantly reducing possible injuries such as, dog bites, fingers being trapped or back strain caused when bending excessively to reach ground level boxes...

The problem with low level letter boxes is that back injuries to postmen and women occur each year in Royal Mail and delivering to low level letter boxes at the base of a house front door forces postal staff to stoop to ground level repetitively to deliver mail items which can cause or exacerbate back strain and back conditions. Low level letter boxes also present an increased risk of dog bites when the mail is pushed through the aperture at ground level and fingers get trapped.

In 2002 the European Standard EN 13724 was introduced and states that for “ergonomic and safety reasons” the centre line of the letter box aperture should be at a height between 700 mm (2ft 3.5 inches) and 1700mm (5ft 7inches).

For some reason, the debate about car production in Solihull, currently slated for after the no-confidence vote, hasn’t generated quite the same interest as the letter boxes, though there are some who are keen.

I am very interested to see how the news of the Brexit deal defeat was covered in newspapers around the world, so tweet me (@mskatelyons) with photos or screenshots of the front pages from wherever you’re reading from (and with English translations if you can!).

Here are a few from around Europe. I’d like to particularly draw your attention to the headline on the dispatch from London by the reporter for Le Monde, whose story is headlined: “At St Stephen’s Tavern, shouts of victory, lukewarm beer and uncertainty for pro-Europeans”. Some stereotypes never die.

Writing in the Spanish daily El País, Lluís Bassets warned that Tuesday’s vote had been far from decisive, despite the scale of May’s defeat.

“To the misfortune of the British, and perhaps also the Europeans, this Tuesday was a historic day that does not preclude more historic days, all accompanied by the tragic storm clouds that tend to shadow history,” he wrote.

Bassets said “the great shredding machine that is Brexit” was still hard at work, “fed by uncertainty, bitterness and rancour – the three dismal feelings that May evoked in her defeat speech, and the three evil spirits that only grow with each day that Brexit remains unresolved”.

El Mundo’s main headline on Wednesday morning was equally gloomy: “A humiliating defeat for May leaves Brexit in limbo”.

In an editorial, the rightwing ABC said that as neither May nor parliament had shown themselves capable of dealing with the crisis, the matter should be put to the people once more.

It seems clear that the moment has arrived to put the decision in the hands of the people, and the most sensible thing to do would be hold another referendum just as voters get to grips with the true arguments rather than just the nationalist-populist propaganda of the pro-Brexit lobby.

The online paper eldiario.es noticed that Michael Gove had invoked the famous Game of Thrones line, “Winter is coming”.

“He was one of the heavyweights in the party that had the most influence in the Brexit referendum,” wrote Iñigo Sáenz de Ugarte.

Gove and others like him brought winter to British politics and are now horrified at how cold things have got. Too cold for their fellow countrymen.

Updated

Dominic Grieve, former attorney-general and advocate of a second referendum, will present two bills to parliament tomorrow regarding another referendum on the subject of “the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union”. This will happen after urgent questions and before business of the House and before business of the House and the vote on the no-confidence motion.

Updated

How the papers are covering May's historic Brexit defeat

Today’s papers are grim reading for the prime minister, variously describing her defeat as “historic”, “crushing” and “humiliating”.

The Sun has gone all-out, delivering a classic. “Brextinct”, is its headline and they have pasted May’s face on to a dodo.

The Guardian features a rare picture of the no lobby, which is packed with MPs walking through it to vote against May’s Brexit deal. The headline is “May suffers historic defeat as Tories turn against her”

The Daily Mirror focuses on the no-confidence motion launched by Jeremy Corbyn, with the splash headline: “No deal, no hope, no clue, no confidence.”

“A complete humiliation,” says the Telegraph. “May suffers historic defeat,” says the Times. “Dismay,” says the Express. “May’s Brexit deal crushed by Commons,” says the FT. “Historic humiliation,” says the i and “Crushed,” says the Scotsman.

Even the paper most often in May’s corner, the Daily Mail, can only manage “Fighting for her life,” which does not bode well for the PM.

Updated

In case you’re wondering what the former prime minister of Australia Tony Abbott thinks of the day’s Brexit events, he has tweeted to let you know, asking “What’s wrong with no deal?”

The self-described Anglophile, who studied at Oxford and began his own downfall in Australian public opinion by reinstating the knighthood system in Australia, also posted a link to his Spectator piece on the subject. The article was published just after Christmas and was the magazine’s fourth most-read story of the year, and in it he argues that a no-deal Brexit is the way to go, saying that “if Europe knows what’s in its own best interests”, it would maintain entirely free trade and full mutual recognition of standards right across Europe and offer protection to British citizens living in Europe, if the UK makes similar overtures to the EU.

The current prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, said the vote against May’s Brexit deal highlighted global uncertainty.

“It does highlight the impacts of global uncertainty in the economy,” he told Sky News Australia. “We are already seeing some real tensions when it comes to trade. In 2019, the global economy is facing more uncertainty than it was this time last year.”

There you go, the view from Down Under.

Updated

How did the markets react?

The comprehensive defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit vision subdued markets in Asia, with sterling expected to remain volatile until the result of Wednesday’s no-confidence vote in the prime minister is known.

Sterling sunk to trading at $1.2855 on the dollar early on Wednesday, having steadied after a tumultuous overnight session. May’s crushing loss on Tuesday night and looming no-confidence vote triggered political upheaval that meant investors paused to assess their next options, putting pressure on UK-focused exchange-traded funds. A Tokyo-traded FTSE 100 ETF was down about one percent on Wednesday.

“While the margin of May’s loss was a surprise, the defeat itself was something the market had been pricing in for a long time and it appears that participants covered shorts in the pound after the vote,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Good morning and welcome to the politics live blog.

Well, the news just keeps on coming. After a crushing, humiliating, historic (pick your adjective, all of them were used on the papers’ front pages today) defeat for May in the “meaningful” vote on her Brexit deal yesterday, she is gearing up for the next challenge: a vote of no confidence, which will be held this afternoon.

The vote will take place sometime this afternoon, after a ten minute rule motion on the subject of low-level letter boxes and before an adjournment debate on car production in Solihull. By that time, Andrew Sparrow will be back with you, carefully guiding you through the day’s political news.

But for the next few hours, I’ll be bringing you news and updates as they come in. Feel free to get in touch via email (kate.lyons@theguardian.com) or on Twitter.

Thanks for following along. Let’s get this show on the road.

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