Brexit deal: Theresa May defends EU agreement in press conference after flurry of cabinet resignations
MPs react to May's statement and ministerial resignations
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Theresa May has been forced to defend her Brexit plan to MPs just moments after cabinet ministers Dominic Raab and Esther McVey dealt her authority a major blow by resigning from the government.
The prime minister secured the uneasy support of her cabinet for the draft deal with Brussels after a stormy five-hour meeting on Wednesday night.
Ms May also faces the growing prospect of a vote of no confidence in her leadership of the Conservative Party, as MPs, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, began publishing their letters sent to the party's 1922 committee - calling for the PM to step down.
See below for updates as they happened
Justine Greening - the former education secretary - says she does not like the deal.
"Why not allow people in our nation to have their say?"
May responds, saying this House chose to ask the people to Remain/Leave the European Union, overwhelmingly.
"The result was that we should leave the EU," the PM adds - outlining her opposition to a second referendum.
Jacob Rees Mogg - the Conservative MP who heads up the influential European Research Group of backbench Tory MPs - says what the PM says and what she does no longer match.
He asks the PM: should he not put his letter (of no confidence) into Graham Brady.
Mark Francois, a Conservative MP, is outlining how every party will vote against the deal. "I plead with you to accept the political reality you now face," he says.
May says she respects his views, but adds: "We will go forward with the negotiations to the EU council." She also says MPs will have the ability to amend the deal.
My colleague Rob Merrick has pointed out the PM's tone - in response to Justine Green's question on a second referendum - was markedly less hostile than in previous weeks. She has previously "categorically" ruled it out.
Former Brexit minister Steve Baker told the PM to trigger all of the "no-deal contingencies now" as the deal would not pass the Commons.
He said: "This backstop is completely intolerable and I feel confident that even in the unlikely event that legislation for it reaches this House it will be ferociously opposed.
"Will she therefore accept that this deal could well be a choice by the Government to have no-deal imposed upon on it at the last minute and will she therefore trigger all of the implementation of no-deal contingencies now?"
May told MPs the government would be "continuing the no-deal preparations".
With all the talk about Theresa May's leadership in the past 24 hours, here's a guide to the internal mechanics of a future contest:
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