Brexit news: Government finally publishes full legal advice as Theresa May accused of 'inadvertently misleading' parliament

MPs have now moved onto the second day of debate on the Brexit deal, ahead of Tuesday's crunch vote.

Opening for the government, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, jokes that this is best way he can imagine to celebrate his 49th birthday.

He says Ms May's deal is the best way to ensure a smooth exit from the EU and take back control of money, laws and borders. Today's debate will focus on security, hence Mr Javid kicking off proceedings.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds intervenes to press Javid on the full legal advice. He says it makes it clear that the NI backstop is "indefinite" and Northern Ireland will remain under EU rules.

"How can he possibly stand here and recommend this deal and say that it brings to an end the jurisdiction of the ECJ and say it takes back control?" Dodds says.

He then tweeted this clip - clearly not amused.

Javid says "no one pretends this deal is perfect" in every way - the PM herself admits that. But this is the best way to protect the Good Friday Agreement.

Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke also offers him a boost, saying this is clearly the best way forward and it is pointless to protest until a better idea comes along.

ConservativeHome has compiled a fascinating chart of monthly cabinet approval ratings over the whole of 2018.

Executive Editor Mark Wallace says: "And...ouch. Spot Chequers, and then May's EU deal."

Chancellor Philip Hammond has told MPs he will deliver his spring statement on a date between February 26 and the end of March.

The spring statement is the Chancellor's second most important annual parliamentary event, after the Budget. Its significance has been downgraded by Mr Hammond since he moved the Budget date to the autumn.

Mr Hammond told the Commons Treasury Select Committee he had given the Office for Budget Responsibility the required 10 weeks' notice to prepare, adding: "The spring statement will be some time between the end of the February recess and the end of March."

As the statement is normally delivered on a Wednesday, it is likely to come on February 27 or March 6, 13, 20 or 27, in the run-up to the March 29 date of Brexit.

Labour MP Chris Bryant asks Javid how "any serious member of parliament could vote for a deal that is nothing more than a wishlist?"

Sajid Javid says Labour's six tests over whether they would back a Brexit deal are the wishlist - not the PM's deal.

This from my colleague Benjamin Kentish, who has been poring through the Brexit legal advice the government has just been forced to publish:

The legal advice published by the government today does not tell us much we didn't already know, but it spells out in black and white exactly why so many Brexiteers will vote against Theresa May's deal next week.

The advice, provided by attorney general Geoffrey Cox to the Cabinet and published after Parliament demanded its release, focuses on the Northern Ireland backstop - by far the most contentious part of the agreement.

In a passage that will be seized upon by Brexiteers, Cox said that, despite both the UK government and the EU insisting the backstop is designed to be temporary, it could "endure indefinitely" until an alternative is agreed.

This is because the UK does not have the right to withdraw from the mechanism unilaterally.

The withdrawal agreement, Cox said, "does not provide for a mechanism that is likely to enable the UK lawfully to exit the UK wide customs union without a subsequent agreement".

What's more, the attorney general suggested the EU could try to ditch the UK-wide customs union element of the backstop and keep only Northern Ireland under EU tariffs and regulations.

That is anathema to the DUP, which is opposing the proposed deal on the grounds that it could see Northern Ireland treated differently to the rest of the UK. If talks over a future agreement break down, Cox said, the EU could submit a request "that the GB elements of the customs union should fall away, leaving only NI in the EU customs territory". However, this would almost certainly be vetoed by the UK and would have to go to arbitration.

It's not hard to see why ministers tried so hard to stop the legal advice being published. It confirms many MPs worst fears about Ms May's deal and makes it even more likely the draft agreement will be voted down by the Commons next Tuesday.

Responding to Sajid Javid in the chamber just now, shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, says there is "nothing" in the Brexit legal advice that compromises the "national interest" - as claimed by the government on Tuesday. 

Ms Abbott said: "On the question of security, assertions, aspirations, a wish list is not enough, we need a treaty."

She added: "The Prime Minister's red lines, one of which was the ECJ (European Court of Justice), may well prove to have been reckless."

She went on: "At the worst, the gaps and loopholes created under this exit agreement could create a situation in which organised criminals and terrorists in the EU might come to regard the UK as a relative safe haven from justice."

Ongoing cooperation in cases and investigations "may ultimately be compromised", she said, adding: "On the basis of security concerns alone no member of this House should be signing off this deal."

Sam Gyimah - the former universities minister who resigned on Friday - is now speaking in the Brexit debates. 

"It became quite clear to me that this deal is not politically or practically deliverable -- it is a deal in a name only, what we have is a framework for negotiations, and aspirations. 

"This deal is fatally flawed," he says. "I believe that in voting for this deal we will be losing control of our destiny.

"We are setting ourselves for failure by going down this route. 

"We are at the foothills of a long and arduous process. Brexit will not be over a result of the vote next week.

He says that we shouldn't rule out a fresh public vote on Brexit.

Gyimah says he resigned because he knew it would be the biggest vote of his political career & the "national interest is not served" by the deal.