Brexit today - as it happened: Theresa May says EU withdrawal is 'on course' but admits she is 'disappointed after parliamentary defeat
Tory rebels vote to give meaningful parliamentary vote on any final Brexit deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has arrived in Brussels and is set to urge European leaders to officially approve an agreement to move Brexit talks onto the second phase.
But it comes after the Prime Minister faced an embarrassing defeat in the Commons on Wednesday on the Government’s Brexit legislation.
Asked about the defeat, inflicted after 11 of her own MPs defied her instructions to oppose the amendment, Ms May said the result was “disappointing” but insisted the legislation was still making good progress in the Commons.
“I'm disappointed with the amendment but actually the EU Withdrawal Bill is making good progress through the House of Commons and we're on course to deliver on Brexit,” she told reporters in Brussels.
At a dinner later this evening with the leaders of the EU 27, the Prime Minister will repeat her case for moving the talks on to trade negotiations, which she sees as crucial to offering certainty for businesses.
They are all but certain to approve the deal to move to “phase two” on Friday, after Ms May has Brussels, launching a new stage of talks that could be hampered by divisions at home and differences with the EU.
This liveblog is now closed, but you can see all of today’s developments in Westminster and Brussels below.
Speaking on Sky News just now, Conservative MP Ken Clarke describes his colleague Nadine Dorries' tweet as "Donald Trump-like" and "nonsense".
Here is the full transcript from the Prime Minister’s short conversation with the BBC in Brussels:
PM: Well first of all of course I'm here in Brussels today to talk with friends and allies about the threats and challenges we face not least issues around security. And we do face a number of threats across Europe. Those range from Daesh where although we've had military success against Daesh in Iraq it is still a threat to the ongoing and frankly unacceptable efforts by Russia to sow discord through misinformation. I'll also be talking about Brexit and talking about the ambitious and deep and special partnership that I want to build with the European Union in the future. And on the security issue, I'm very clear that although the British people took a sovereign decision to leave the EU that does not mean that we were going to be leaving our responsibilities in terms of European security. Now you asked about the vote that took place in the House of Commons last night. I'm disappointed with the amendment but actually the EU Withdrawal Bill is making good progress through the House of Commons and we're on course to deliver on Brexit. You remember last week, President Juncker said that's sufficient progress had been made to move on to phase two of our negotiations. Yesterday the European Parliament overwhelmingly voted to accept that recommendation too, and I'm looking forward to discussing our deep and special partnership for the future.
BBC: You are going to have problems in Parliament. Do you accept that as Prime Minister you are going to have to make more compromises not just with opposition parties but with your own side?
PM: WelI just look at the passage of the EU Withdrawal Bill so far as I say it has been making good progress through the House of Commons. We've actually had 36 votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill and we've won 35 of those votes with an average majority of 22. So the bill is making good progress, we're on course to deliver Brexit and we're on course to deliver on the vote of the British people.
BBC: Will you compromise now?
PM: We have won 35 of the last 36 votes on the EU Withdrawal Bill. It is making good progress in House of Commons and that means we are on course to deliver on the sovereign vote of the British people to leave the European Union and that's what we will be doing.
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