Theresa May threatens 'no Brexit at all' as senior Tories put new referendum on table
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has urged MPs to back her plans or face the prospect of "no Brexit at all" before heading to Brussels for talks with Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission.
Tory MPs lined up to demand the prime minister renegotiate parts of her Brexit deal during a fiery prime minister's questions session, where Ms May sought to sell the plan to her divided party.
Earlier, senior Tories including Amber Rudd and Damian Collins opened the door to a new referendum, as the prime ministers hopes of securing a parliamentary majority appeared to fade.
It also comes amid suggestions from Brussels that a summit to sign off on the draft withdrawal agreement on Sunday could be called off unless progress is made on finalising a political declaration on future relations.
If you want to follow events as they happened, see our live coverage below
The Queen should ask Jeremy Corbyn to form a government if MPs vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal, John McDonnell has said.
My colleague Ben Kentish has filed this story from the shadow chancellor's speech:
Interesting - as Jean-Claude Juncker is due to meet Theresa May this afternoon.
Former Conservative chancellor Ken Clarke has said he will back Theresa May’s Brexit plans when they comes to a vote in the House of Commons.
Mr Clarke said the deal to be signed off at a Brussels summit this weekend was not ideal, but that it delivered continuity for business and lay ground for critical future trade negotiations with Europe
More here:
Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, has echoed Amber Rudd's comments from this morning.
Ms Truss told BBC Radio 5 Live's Emma Barnett Show: "If my colleagues in parliament don't vote for this then we're in grave danger of not leaving at all.
"I am very very worried about what the alternative looks like, because I'm a democrat. I believe that people voted in good faith to leave the EU and we need to deliver that."
Ms Truss said she was "confident we've got a good deal to send before parliament".
"The fundamentals are there, and the fundamentals deliver on what the people of Britain voted for which is the ending of free movement, being able to strike independent trade deals," she said.
Ms Truss said it was "a very, very serious moment for British politics", but denied the government was in crisis, saying: "No - the prime minister is very much in control of what's happening."
It's nearly time for PMQs. Here are the MPs with questions this week:
And we're off!
Theresa May starts by commemorating the 100th anniversary of women being able to stand for public office. She gets big cheers from both sides.
Hundreds of women have been brought into parliament as part of AskHerToStand, where all MPs have brought women into parliament to encourage them to stand.
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell asks the PM to think again on her Brexit deal and to 'cut away the tentacles of the EU from our cherished Isle'.
May says the deal delivers on what people voted for - control over money, laws and borders. She says the UK will be able to have an independent trading relationship with the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn is on his feet. He welcomes AskHerToStand as well and says parliament must be more diverse.
He asks under what circumstances the UK could leave without a deal.
May says the alternative to her deal is uncertainty and no deal could risk no Brexit at all.
Corbyn says she did not answer the question whether it is a deal or not. He says its 'half baked'. He asks if it could be amended?
May says the withdrawal agreement is agreed but the future relationship is up for grabs.
Corbyn says the Brexit secretary post is 'entirely ceremonial' as May is going to Brussels rather than the new appointee Steve Barclay.
He says the withdrawal agreement does not cover the cost of extending the transition under the Northern Ireland backstop.
May says backstop is only insurance and will be superseded with a future trade deal.
Corbyn says a free trade deal will take a long time to agree with the EU and asks whether it will be ready by the end of December 2020?
May says his his problem with the deal is that he has not read it - referring to his comments on Sunday that he had not read all of it.
Huge cheers from the Tories when she attacks apparent inconsistencies in Labour's position and says Corbyn is 'playing party politics' with Brexit.
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