Brexit news: MPs reject every single indicative vote option as Theresa May vows to quit to get her deal passed
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Your support makes all the difference.MPs have failed to unite around any Brexit strategy after a series of indicative votes revealed no majority in the Commons for any plan.
Attempts to break the Brexit impasse floundered when MPs rejected eight different options, including a fresh referendum, a customs union and a no-deal exit.
In a dramatic day in Westminster, Theresa May told Tory MPs she will resign before the next phase of Brexit talks, in an attempt to secure support for her deal.
Addressing the 1922 committee of backbench Conservatives, the prime minister said she “would not remain in post for the next phase of the negotiations”, making way for a successor once her Brexit deal has passed.
Senior Brexiteers including Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith signalled they would pivot to back the prime minister’s deal – but the DUP dealt Ms May a fresh blow by refusing to support her.
But it seems her offered sacrifice may have been in vain, as the Democratic Unionist Party announced it would not back a deal which “poses an unacceptable threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom”.
In a potentially fatal blow to Ms May’s chances, DUP leader Arlene Foster said the Northern Irish party “cannot sign up” to the deal because of its controversial “backstop” provisions.
Westminster leader Nigel Dodds made clear the party’s 10 MPs will vote against the deal if it is brought back for a third “meaningful vote”, declaring: “The DUP do not abstain on the Union.”
The decision leaves Ms May in need of the votes of large numbers of Labour MPs or rebel Tory Brexiteers, many of whom are expected to be strongly influenced by the DUP’s stance.
She has indicated she will only make a third attempt to pass the deal, following its overwhelming defeat by 230 votes in January and 149 in March, if she has a credible chance of success.
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Tory MP Steve Brine is up. He quit as health minister on Monday to back the plan for indicative votes.
He says his constituency wanted to Remain and what he (and they) want is to leave the EU in a safe way with a deal. He asks her to guarantee that she will pursue a deep and special partnership with the EU.
May thanks him for his service and says she is sorry he felt he had to resign. She wants to leave with a deal and believes the UK can find a brighter future outside.
Labour's Chi Onwurah says she doesn't want a second referendum but May is incapable of holding her cabinet together, let along the country. Is she not aware that she is making a mistake?
May says *surprise, surprise* that MPs should back the Brexit deal.
Labour MP Afzal Khan raises Islamophobia complaints within the Tory party and asks when it will adopt the internationally recognised definition of anti-Muslim hate.
May says the party has a code of conduct - and it takes discrimination very seriously.
Here's the clip:
Away from PMQs for a minute, Labour is set to order its MPs to vote in a favour of a "confirmatory" Brexit referendum on any deal.
This could trigger resignations from the Labour front bench, as there are Labour shadow ministers who oppose a second referendum.
Back to the Commons, DUP's Nigel Dodds raises the signing of the Belfast city deal, the first for Northern Ireland - not Brexit.
May agrees that it is important and says there must be no impediment to the city deal.
Labour's Chris Bryant says skin cancer is on the rise, and it can prove fatal. But the NHS can work miracles, he says.
Bryant, who recently had a successful operation to remove a cancerous mole, says there must be better public health campaigning around this.
May praises him for talking about his own experience, and says health secretary Matt Hancock will be listening to his words.
Theresa May has failed to deny she is about to “ride off into the sunset”, ahead of a showdown meeting with Tory MPs who want her to quit Downing Street.
During prime minister’s questions, she was asked if she felt any “sense of responsibility” for potentially handing over the reins to “an extreme right-wing Brexiteer”.
In a brief reply, Ms May did nothing to dampen suggestions that she will set out a timetable for her departure at a 5pm meeting with all Conservative MPs – and used the past tense about her Brexit struggles.
Read more here.
Turning our attention to the business of the day - indicative votes. But what actually are they?
Here's a helpful explainer:
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