Brexiteers refuse to back Brady amendment which would send May back to renegotiate Irish backstop

Welcome to The Independent's coverage of the day's political events. 

Cabinet minister Damian Hinds has said that alternatives to the Northern Irish backstop were already being considered.

Asked if the Government would support the Brexit amendment backed by senior Tory Sir Graham Brady, the Education Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today:

The Prime Minister has been clear already that alternative arrangements are an alternative to the backstop - as by the way, is extending the implementation period.

So it is not necessarily the case that if we did reach that point the backstop would have to come in anyway.

It is an uncomfortable thing for the European Union, as it is an uncomfortable thing for us - there are some things about it, like the fact that we would have free market access but without paying, free movement would be over, we would be out of the common agricultural policy and fisheries policy - that's not comfortable for the EU either."

Student backing for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour has fallen as the support for a Final Say referendum has jumped

Education minister Damian Hinds said he did not envisage a no-deal Brexit becoming the official government policy.

Asked if Ms May had told her cabinet of senior ministers she would not allow a no-deal Brexit, Mr Hinds told BBC Radio 4: "I don't envisage the pursuit of a no deal becoming government policy because we want a deal."

"The clear majority of colleagues across the House in parliament ... absolutely want there to be a good deal."

Tory former minister Nick Boles, who is backing Yvette Cooper's plan to prevent a no-deal scenario and delay the UK's departure from the EU, said the March 29 Brexit date was "entirely arbitrary".

He told Today there was a "great deal of support among ministers and, indeed, Cabinet ministers" and they had been pressing for a free vote on the amendment.

This is the last chance for Parliament, this is probably the only opportunity that Parliament is going to have to intervene in this process, to take control.

If we don't seize the moment tomorrow afternoon then we are at grave risk of just driving off the edge on March 29 without really wanting to, and when there might be a compromise we could achieve if we just had a few more months."

Ireland has dealt a blow to Theresa May’s hopes of obtaining the changes to her Brexit deal needed to secure the backing of her own Conservative MPs.

The country’s foreign minister Simon Coveney said on Sunday that the Irish backstop that Ms May wants to renegotiate “isn’t going to change” despite the prime minister’s deal being comprehensively rejected by the House of Commons.

On Tuesday Ms May hopes to secure backing for a move to go back to Brussels and ask for changes to the backstop, in order to put it to another full vote in the coming weeks.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady said his amendment (if passed on Tuesday) would give “enormous firepower” to the prime ministers when she returns to Brussels, by setting out what the UK parliament would back. 

Sir Graham said any alternative would have to be “legally binding”, as “I don’t think anybody is going to accept something which is just warm words”.

Asked if it had government backing he said: "I hope so... I don't know so. The amendment was born out of a number of conversations I had with colleagues including members of the government, including the prime minister.

"I had also spoken to people in the DUP too and I'm hoping that the way in which the amendment is crafted can attract that very broad support and if we can win the vote on my amendment then I think it gives the prime minister enormous firepower."

Barnsley and Liverpool have been named as the cities worst affected by cuts to local government funding over the past decade.

The Yorkshire city has seen a 40 per cent reduction in day-to-day council spending – a higher proportion than anywhere else in Britain, according to a new report by the Centre for Cities.

When calculated per resident, Liverpool was found to be hardest hit by austerity measures, with an £816 reduction to council services’ funding for every person living in the northwest city.

Ministers have been accused of putting the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) before domestic violence victims after it was claimed plans to reform abortion laws in Northern Ireland had been restricted for fear of angering them.

Labour MP Stella Creasy had intended to put down an amendment to the draft Domestic Abuse Bill, but she said the scope of it had been restricted – a technical move that prevents her from bringing her reforms forward.

Northern Ireland has a ban on abortions in almost all cases – even rape or incest. Theresa May has come under pressure to give MPs a free vote on the issue after abortion was legalised in the Republic of Ireland following a referendum last May.