Brexit vote: MPs vote for Theresa May to renegotiate Irish backstop with EU
Follow updates from Westminster as they unfolded throughout the day
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Your support makes all the difference.MPs have authorised Theresa May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate a key part of her Brexit deal after a series of dramatic Commons votes.
Different Brexit factions tabled amendments to Ms May’s exit plan, which she was forced to bring back to the Commons on Tuesday after MPs overwhelmingly rejected her Brexit deal earlier this month.
Amid an apparent compromise between Tory Remainers, Brexiteers and her DUP allies, MPs backed a bid by Tory grandee Sir Graham Brady to scrap the Irish backstop and replace it with “alternative arrangements”, requiring the prime minister to go back to Brussels.
However the path ahead looks rocky, as the European Commission immediately sent out a statement saying the deal was “not open for renegotiation”.
Follow updates from Westminster as they unfolded throughout the day
Theresa May is now speaking. She says MPs have been clear about what "they do not want" but she must find a way forward. She says there is no majority for a` second referendum, as MPs failed to table an amendment on it.
The world knows what this House does not want but we must send an emphatic message on what we do want, she says.
Stephen Doughty, the pro-EU Labour MP intervenes. He asks why the EU would agree to reopening the deal?
May shoots him down, telling him to listen to what she has to say. This is the chance to show the EU what can get through parliament.
Theresa May is accused of voting against her own plan by backing Graham Brady's bid to remove the backstop by Labour’s Peter Kyle.
May says she listening to MPs. Time and time again opposition MPs have accused her of ignoring the House and now they are criticising her when she does listen, she says in an exasperated manner.
Tom Brake, Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, asks what the alternative arrangements are? May retorts that this is compatible with her original plan and alternative arrangements is not a new idea.
May returns to her speech. She says she is sympathetic to the amendment laid by Caroline Spelman, the Tory MP, which rules out no deal. However May says it does not put the onus on finding a deal.
May says she understands the concerns behind Dominic Grieve and Yvette Cooper's amendments - which change parliament's standing orders - but they have far-reaching consequences for parliamentary democracy.
She says it is deeply misguided and irresponsible to follow this path, but she does not doubt their sincerity.
Grieve intervenes, saying there has never been a chance for MPs to debate all of the options. He is not seeking to change the outcome, just the process to allow parliament to come to consensus.
Zinger from Lady Hermon, who says May's ideas to prevent a hard border are "nebulous". Those who've been following closely will remember that this is what EU Commission boss Jean-Claude Juncker called May's Brexit plans - sparking an almighty row.
Yvette Cooper has been forensically criticising the PM over whether article 50 can be amended. Remember these two are old enemies - as Cooper was May's shadow when she was home secretary.
Will she rule out asking for an extension of article 50 if she does not get the deal she wants, Cooper asks?
The PM says she will return to the Commons, and MPs will get a vote.
Cooper says that is not clear enough - and May has broken her promises before. May says extending article 50 does not rule out a no-deal Brexit.
MPs will have the chance to vote on plans aiming to renegotiate the backstop and block a no-deal Brexit, commons speaker John Bercow has announced.
Our political editor Joe Watts has written a quick piece on the amendments and what follows.
May addresses the Northern Ireland backstop, and admits there is a "limited appetite" in Brussels for the deal to be reopened. However she is confident she can get that if that is what parliament wants.
The EU has been very firm that the withdrawal agreement cannot be reopened. May clearly thinks that they will shift - or hopes they will.
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