Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Andrew Sparrow, Matthew Weaver, Kate Lyons and Kevin Rawlinson

May claims it is impossible for government to rule out no-deal Brexit in reply to Corbyn - as it happened

Jeremy Corbyn giving his speech in Hastings.
Jeremy Corbyn giving his speech in Hastings. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Closing summary

We’re going to close down this live blog now, so thanks for reading and for all the comments. Here’s a summary of the latest events:

  • The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, asked his MPs not to engage with the prime minister, who is attempting to come up with an EU withdrawal deal Parliament can accept, until she rules out a no-deal Brexit. Corbyn also wrote an open letter to Theresa May saying he would take no part in discussions until such a time. Many Labour MPs complied with his request, though some senior party members did appear to enter discussions with the government.
  • In response to the open letter, May claimed it was impossible for the UK government to take no-deal off the table. In so doing, the prime minister undermined the chancellor, Philip Hammond, who had been quoted as telling business leaders a no-deal Brexit would be blocked by Parliament.
  • You can read a summary of the day’s earlier events here.

And, for those wishing to read more, here’s our main politics story this evening:

Updated

The public is “aghast” at the “Brexit pantomime” in Westminster, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, has told the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, in what the former termed a “frank discussion”.

With each passing day, our business community, our farmers, our community and voluntary sector are growing more concerned at where this shambles will ultimately end up. And it is they who will pay the price of a no-deal crash Brexit.

Unfortunately, that is where we are likely to end up if Karen Bradley’s government pursues a solution by attempting to placate and appease the DUP and the hard Brexiteers.

O’Neill added a plea that the backstop remained in any new withdrawal deal agreed between the UK and EU.

It is crucial, now more than ever, that the Dublin Government and the EU27 stand firm on the position that there can be no agreement without a backstop that prevents a hard border in Ireland and protects our peace and political process.

Updated

Earlier, Downing Street said a second referendum – were one to be held – would take a year (see 4.27pm). The Lib Dem leader, Sir Vince Cable, has rejected that claim, saying:

This is completely wrong. One of the useful outcomes from the first round of the discussions with the government was around the practicalities of a People’s Vote. These discussions brought to the surface the complete misunderstanding in government circles about the timeline to bring it about.

As Lord Tyler demonstrated today, it would be perfectly possible to organise a People’s Vote to take place as early as May without trampling on constitutional and practical requirements.

Moving away from this evening’s events, if perhaps not all that far, the latest edition of the Today In Focus podcast with Anushka Asthana sounds interesting:

Updated

A little insight into what appears to be happening inside Downing Street and elsewhere on Whitehall this evening. Firstly, this from my colleague Jessica Elgot:

And, secondly, this from the BBC’s Iain Watson:

It’s understood Jeremy Corbyn is unlikely to reply to the prime minister’s letter to him (see 5.12pm). However, a Labour spokeswoman says:

The prime minister is in denial about the consequences of the scale of the defeat of her deal on Monday. To win support in Parliament, any new deal must ditch her red lines.

As opposition MPs who have met with the government today have discovered, the prime minister is not yet prepared for serious talks to find a way forward. The starting point for any talks must be that she commits to rule out no deal.

Corbyn made a similar demand in an open letter to Theresa May earlier this afternoon (see 1.53pm). In her response, May claimed it was impossible for the UK government to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Updated

The former home secretary, David Blunkett, has backed calls for a new Brexit referendum, telling the BBC:

After a very, very agonising time I have come to the conclusion that we probably will have to have a second referendum.

I think there could be a referendum in May. I think that Article 50 would have to be delayed until the last possible moment, which is the end of June. And then, if the referendum was not carried in terms of staying in, then that would be that.

Asked how long such a referendum would take to organise, the former Labour frontbencher said: “You need three weeks to legislate, and two-and-a-half months to have a campaign.”

Updated

May undermines Hammond's claim to business that MPs would block no-deal Brexit

When politicians send public letters to each other, normally the content is not particularly interesting. They are effectively press releases, and it is common for the recipient to not even reply. But Theresa May has replied to the letter she received from Jeremy Corbyn today (see 1.53pm), and she does make some interesting points.

  • May claims that it is “impossible” for the government to rule out a no-deal Brexit. She says:

I note that you have said ‘ruling out’ no deal is a precondition before we can meet, but that is an impossible condition because it is not within the government’s power to rule out no deal. Let me explain why.

Under article 50 of the Treaty on European Union and the Withdrawal Act 2018, we will leave the EU without a deal on 29 March unless parliament either agrees a deal with the EU or the UK revokes article 50 and chooses to stay in the EU permanently.

So there are two way to avoid no deal: either vote for a deal, in particular a withdrawal agreement, that has been agreed with the EU, or to revoke Article 50 and overturn the referendum result.

I believe it would be wrong to overturn the referendum result.

As a technical explanation of the situation this is correct. Simon Usherwood, deputy director of UK in a Changing EU, an academic research programme, has explained why in a bit more detail in a Twitter thread starting here.

But there are some consequences from this ....

  • May has undermined reassurances given to business by the chancellor, Phillip Hammond, about MPs being likely to block a no-deal Brexit. Today’s Daily Telegraph publishes a long transcript (paywall) of what Hammond and other cabinet ministers told business leaders in a private conference call on Tuesday night, after May’s Brexit deal is striking down. It is striking that Hammond spent much of the call telling them that parliament was likely to block a no-deal Brexit, by backing the Nick Boles initiative. (See 10.17am and 1.05pm.) Here is an extract from what Hammond said:

Everyone on the call will be aware that a bill has been tabled today and amendments will be tabled on Monday by backbenchers from across the House which would have the effect of removing the threat of no deal.

I can simply as a parliamentarian say it is clear to me there is a large majority in the Commons that is opposed to no deal in any circumstances ...

I can only emphasise what I have already said. This is a backbench initiative but it’s backed by some very senior parliamentarians. It will as I understand it run its parliamentary course over the next 10 days or so. By the end of next week we will have a clearer view ...

My understanding is that because the bill being brought forward will simply and solely rescind the article 50 notice, the legal opinion that they have is that that will meet the test that the European court of justice has laid down for unilateral recision of an article 50 notice.

It is not within their power to mandate any future course of action, that would be for a government to do. Their process simply and their bill simply withdraws the article 50 notice.

  • May’s letter implies she has found a flaw in the Boles initiative. The Boles initiative is being presented as one that would block a no-deal Brexit, but his bill (pdf) would only require the government to seek an extension of article 50 until the end of 2019 if the Commons did not pass a Brexit deal. May’s letter does not mention the Boles bill, but it is reminder that his bill would not automatically stop a no-deal Brexit; it might just delay it for nine months. And May makes another argument that implies the Boles plan would fail ...
  • May claims that EU would not agree to extend article 50 just to give the UK more time to debate Brexit. This is in line with what EU leaders have been saying publicly. But it is thought that, in practice, the EU might be willing to agree to extend article 50 just to “stop the clock”, and allow a bit more time for a solution to emerge. At the every least, this would allow more time for no-deal planning. May’s letter implies that this is not an option she is willing to pursue. (But it is also noteworthy that she is now at least discussing the practicalities of an article 50 extension. Until recently, when the topic was raised, she just used to say the UK was going to leave the EU on 29 March come what may.)
  • May makes a subtle jibe about Corbyn’s willingness in the past to speak to groups like Hamas without pre-conditions. Rightwingers have been using this line to attack Corbyn all day on social media. May does not put it like that, but her letter does say allude to this argument, with the line: “You have always believed in the importance of dialogue in politics.”

That’s is all from me for this evening.

My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is now taking over

Updated

May claims it is impossible for government to rule out no-deal Brexit in reply to Corbyn

Downing Street has released Theresa May’s reply to the letter she received from Jeremy Corbyn (see 1.53pm) saying he would only join cross-party talks if she rules out a no-deal Brexit.

Here is the full text. May claims it impossible for the government to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

I will post more on this in a moment.

May’s reply to Corbyn - page 1
May’s reply to Corbyn - page 1 Photograph: No10
May’s letter to Corbyn - page 2
May’s letter to Corbyn - page 2 Photograph: No10

ITV’s Dominique Heckels has posted on Twitter a picture of the one-page government memo arguing that it would take a year to organise a second Brexit referendum. (See 4.27pm.)

John Sentamu, the archbishop of York, is urging people to join him in praying for MPs. “The weight of their calling is too much to bear in their own strength,” he says. Which is one way of explaining our current crisis ...

The Labour MPs Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper, who chair the Brexit and home affairs select committees respectively, said the government should rule out a no-deal Brexit as they left the Cabinet Office after cross-party talks with David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister.

Benn said:

The government has to rule out no deal. That’s the first step. Secondly, the prime minister needs to change her red lines.

And Cooper said:

The most important thing now is that the government actually listens and it doesn’t just think that a defeat that was that huge can simply be dismissed.

Although Jeremy Corbyn has asked Labour MPs not to take part in the cross-party talks process (see 3.53pm), the two MPs said they attended as chairs of cross-party committees.

Asked if Corbyn should meet May to discuss Brexit, Benn said:

That is a decision for Jeremy to take. He’s demonstrating that it’s not just the prime minister who can be stubborn - there is a step she can take and Jeremy Corbyn is quite right to say to her, as all of us have, you must take no deal off the table.

According to Sky News, the Labour MPs Stephen Kinnock and Lucy Powell were also going in for talks this afternoon. They have been two of the most prominent supporters of the “Norway plus” Brexit option, which would involve keeping the UK in the single market and the customs union.

Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper talking to the media as they leave the Cabinet Office.
Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper talking to the media as they leave the Cabinet Office. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters

Theresa May will not be attending the Davos summit in Switzerland next week, Downing Street has said. The prime minister was reportedly included on a list of expected participants in the annual World Economic Forum summit, the Press Association reports. Downing Street declined to say whether she had been scheduled to take part, but a spokeswoman said:

She will not be going to Davos. She will be focused on matters here.

Earlier I said the Labour MP John Mann had been in for talks with the government on Brexit. But, although he was in the Cabinet Office today, I’m told that he was not there for the cross-party Brexit talks. I’m sorry for the mistake.

Updated

Holding second referendum would take a year, No 10 claims

Downing Street produced a briefing on a possible second referendum to inform the Brexit talks with MPs, journalists were told at the afternoon lobby briefing. But it wasn’t very long - and it said holding a second referendum would take a year, from start to finish. This is from my colleague Dan Sabbagh.

That does seem rather long. A report from the Constitution Unit (pdf) published last year said that, at a minimum, it would take 22 weeks to hold a second referendum, taking into account the time needed to pass the legislation and organise the campaign

Army reservists may be called up to help deal with no-deal Brexit, MoD announces

The Ministry of Defence has said that reservists may be called up to help the nation cope with a no-deal Brexit. The defence minister Mark Lancaster has announced the move in a written ministerial statement. He says reservists could help out in a variety of roles, especially at regional command centres.

In a written ministerial statement to MPs he says:

A new order has been made under section 56(1B) of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 to enable reservists to be called into permanent service in support of the HMG contingency planning for a no deal EU exit scenario.

Defence is committed to assisting the Cabinet Office coordinated work programme to ensure that there are effective and proportionate contingency plans in place to mitigate the potential immediate impacts leaving the EU, under a ‘no deal’ scenario, might have on the welfare, health and security of UK citizens and economic stability of the UK.

Reserve forces will be on standby to deliver a range of defence outputs such as: reinforcement of regular sub-units, liaison officer roles and the provision of specialist skills. A particularly important role may be the planned reinforcement of regional points of command, to enable their 24/7 operation and resilience. We would also expect reserves to be drawn upon to support the implementation of contingency plans developed by other government departments.

The order shall take effect from the beginning of 10 February 2019 and shall cease to have effect at the end of 9 February 2020.

Corbyn asks all Labour MPs not to participate in May's Brexit talks until she has ruled out no deal

Sky’s Aubrey Allegretti has got the full text of Jeremy Corbyn’s message to Labour MPs asking them not to talk to the government about Brexit until no deal has been ruled out.

This letter went out to Labour MPs this morning. The vast majority of them seem to be complying, but Hilary Benn and Yvette Cooper, who both chair select committees, have been in to speak to the government. (See 2.59am.) Benn defended his decision to attend the talks this morning. (See 10.34am.) Asked about their actions, a Labour source said that Corbyn’s letter was “just a request” and that Labour MPs had been very vocal in rejecting no deal.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon is keeping her options open on how and when she will ratchet up pressure for a second Scottish independence referendum because the chaos over Brexit makes it impossible for forecast what may happen, her spokesman has said.

The Scottish first minister pledged on Wednesday, during a day trip to London in the wake of the crushing defeat on Brexit for Theresa May in the Commons, she would make a long-awaited statement on her project “in the coming weeks”.

With hardline independence campaigners outside Holyrood urging her to press on today, her spokesman told reporters in Edinburgh after first minister’s questions she was still waiting for the Brexit crisis to resolve itself.

We’re in the biggest political crisis in the UK probably in living memory, certainly post second world war. We don’t know at this stage whether there’s going to be an election, a second EU referendum, an extension of article 50, a Norway-plus, a Norway-minus, a Canada-plus-plus – any one or all of these things could happen. The situation is by definition, very, very unpredictable.

But the FM is clear she will give an update on her thinking on independence and a referendum in the coming weeks, notwithstanding that still considerable uncertainty.

Sturgeon has been promising for more than 18 months to deliver a definitive statement, including a timetable for a second referendum, ever since the Scottish National party lost 21 Westminster seats in 2017 when voters rebelled against her efforts to tie independence to the leave vote in June 2016.

She fuelled expectations the could come last autumn but has since blamed “the fog of Brexit” for the delay in setting out her independence strategy; that in turn has been overtaken by her decision to swing the SNP behind calls for a second EU referendum.

In Holyrood, Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Green party’s parliamentary leader, pressed Sturgeon on whether she had raised with independence when she spoke to Theresa May earlier this week. Sturgeon did not answer yes to that specific question, instead saying May knew very well what her views were. She said:

There is obviously some water to go under the Brexit bridge over the next few weeks, but let me be very clear: as Patrick Harvie said, the case and support for independence grow with every day that passes.

Nicola Sturgeon at first minister’s questions.
Nicola Sturgeon at first minister’s questions. Photograph: Andrew MacColl/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn has now contacted all Labour MPs asking them not to talk to the government about Brexit until no deal has been ruled out, ITV’s Paul Brand reports.

The Labour MPs Yvette Cooper and Hilary Benn have been to the Cabinet Office today for talks with the government about Brexit. As Benn said this morning, they both chair cross-party select committees. (See 10.34am.) On his way in, Benn said:

The really important question is, there’s an open door, is there an open mind to a change?

And Cooper said:

We want to see if the government is actually prepared to make some changes.

Updated

This is from the BBC’s Adam Fleming, quoting what Mararitis Schinas, the European commission’s spokesman, told journalists at a briefing earlier.

Jeremy Corbyn has written an open letter to Theresa May confirming that he will only enter Brexit talks with her if she rules out leaving the EU with no deal. Here is an extract.

After the unprecedented and unnecessary delay to the meaningful vote last month, entering into talks while the clock continues to run down, and the threat of a chaotic ‘no deal’ increases, would be a reckless leap in the dark.

The chancellor and the business secretary were both open to ruling out ‘no deal’ in the recent conference call with business leaders.

Therefore, on behalf of the Labour party, I ask you to rule out ‘no deal’ and to immediately end the waste of hundreds of millions of pounds of public money preparing for a ‘no deal’ outcome. The £4.2bn currently allocated to ‘no deal’ planning could significantly improve many of cash-starved public services on which people rely and could transform the lives of those struggling on universal credit.

Labour is open to meaningful discussions. But following the decisive rejection of the government’s deal by MPs on Tuesday, those cannot be on the basis of your existing red lines. It is clear that no tweaks or further assurances are going to win support for the government’s Brexit deal in parliament.

Luciana Berger, the Labour MP, has claimed that Jeremy Corbyn was ignoring party policy in what he said about a second referendum this morning. (See 12.44pm.) In a statement released by the People’s Vote campaign, she said:

After the vote of confidence was defeated, we now know a general election is off the table and any chance of Labour negotiating its own Brexit deal has gone.

Labour needs to decide to follow its democratically-agreed conference policy of campaigning for a new public vote. If it instead backs some version of a Brexit deal which is worse than the deal we already have inside the EU and would leave the country worse off, it risks losing millions of supporters and alienating a whole generation of young voters.

Updated

Germany is not going to come to the rescue of the UK in the Brexit crisis, the German blogger Alan Posener writes in a new article for the Guardian. Here’s an extract.

Germany has land borders with nine countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Denmark – and they are all open. (Switzerland is not an EU member, but belongs to the Schengen passport-free area.) With populist parties in power or on the rise in many of these countries, Merkel’s government has zero incentive to offer Britain the kind of deal-sweetener that populists could point to as proof that leaving the EU needn’t be so bad after all.

Germany doesn’t want to punish Britain, although there is a certain amount of schadenfreude floating about in Berlin. But the prospect of nine different border regimes subject to the whims of nationalist parties is much more frightening than anything coming out of London. It wasn’t pure bleeding-heart whimsy that led Merkel to keep the borders open at the height of the refugee crisis. Trucks piling up at border crossings while factories send workers home is something no German leader wants to see on TV.

These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

And here is a group of Tory Brexiters heading up Whitehall earlier today to give their views on Brexit.

Left to right: Owen Paterson, Iain Duncan Smith, David Davis, Mark Francois and Steve Baker
Left to right: Owen Paterson, Iain Duncan Smith, David Davis, Mark Francois and Steve Baker. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Labour supporters queuing in Hastings earlier, to attend the Jeremy Corbyn rally at St Mary’s in the Castle.
Labour supporters queuing in Hastings earlier, to attend the Jeremy Corbyn rally at St Mary’s in the Castle. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

A snap poll conducted in the wake of the crushing defeat of Theresa May’s Brexit plan found a 12-point lead for remaining in the EU - the largest margin since the 2016 referendum, the Press Association reports. The YouGov survey of more than 1,000 voters found 56% would now vote to stay in the EU, against 44% who want to leave. Exactly the same proportion of voters said they wanted a second EU referendum - three points higher than recorded in a similar poll before Christmas. Backing for a so-called People’s Vote among Labour supporters stood at 78%.

In a statement on the poll released by the People’s Vote campaign, the Labour MP Chuka Umunna said:

This snap poll shows more than ever why the government needs to change course and hand this decision on Brexit back to the people.

There is now a clear and expanding majority for staying in the EU and an even bigger one when voters have the chance to look at the real options for leaving.

Updated

Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, has confirmed that his party will not back Labour in future no-confidence motions until Labour backs a second referendum. (See 9.34am.) He said:

Since he appears to be determined to play party political games rather than acting on the wishes of his own members and MPs, he will no longer be able to rely on our support for further no-confidence motions.

I believe other parties are taking the same view. It’s time Mr Corbyn got off the fence and made his position plain.

Updated

Speaking after his own Brexit talks with Theresa May, the Plaid Cymru leader, Adam Price, said:

We focused on what we believe is the surest way of breaking the parliamentary gridlock, which is to go for a people’s vote.

We had a fairly lengthy discussion about that and we set out some of the criteria which could be adopted. We are available to continue those discussions.”

Taking no deal off the table is essential in the short term, we believe, but also we have to end no progress, so it’s good to talk.

Updated

Up to 20 ministers may resign if ordered to vote against the Nick Boles plan intended to stop the government taking the UK out of the EU without a deal in 2019 (see 10.17am), Boles has told the Evening Standard.

Boris Johnson, the Brexiter former foreign secretary, has said the government should legislate now to protect the rights of EU nationals living in the UK after Brexit, regardless of what happens.

Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit speech and Q&A - Summary and analysis

Here are the main points from Jeremy Corbyn’s speech and Q&A.

  • Corbyn confirmed that, even though Labour lost the no-confidence motion in the Commons last night, the party is not moving quickly to committing itself to backing a second referendum. Many people have interpreted the Brexit policy agreed at party conference as meaning, if Labour could not trigger a second referendum, it would instead back a “people’s vote” (although the actual text of the motion is much more non-committal). But, referring to what would happen next, Corbyn said in his speech that the “first option” would be try to get MPs to vote for Labour’s alternative Brexit plan. Only if that failed would the party consider the case for a second referendum, he said. In his speech he added:

But if the government remains intransigent, if support for Labour’s alternative is blocked for party advantage, and the country is facing the potential disaster of no deal, our duty will then be to look at other options which we’ve set out in our conference motion, including the option of a public vote.

  • He said there were three key elements to Labour’s Brexit policy. Describing the Labour plan that the party will be tabling in the form of amendments, he said:

Labour will put down our own amendment next week, setting out our alternative plan based around a permanent customs union with a British say in future trade deals; a strong single market relationship; and a guarantee at least to keep pace with EU rights at work, environmental protections, and consumer standards.

Those three elements provide the essential building blocks of a sensible deal with the clear potential to win majority support in parliament.

There is nothing new about these proposals, but I don’t think Labour has simplified its policy as a three-point package in this way before. Downing Street has hinted that it has some sympathy with the third one (dynamic alignment with EU rules on workers’ rights). Some in cabinet are sympathetic to the first one (staying in the customs union), but not May. But the second one is problematic, because it is the most nebulous. Labour wants the advantages of being in the single market, without being a full member - something the EU says is not on offer.

  • Corbyn hinted that he may table further motions of no confidence in the government. He said in his speech:

We believe that the best outcome for the country remains a general election to break the deadlock and find a solution that works for the whole country.

And that is why I tabled a motion of confidence, and we will come back with it again if necessary.

  • He refused to say what Labour’s policy on Brexit would be in the event of an early election, claiming that he personally would not have the final say on the manifesto. Asked about this in the Q&A, he said the party would decide. He went on:

I have to say, Labour is a very large, very open and very democratic party. Our policy going into the general election, our manifesto, will not be decided by me alone. I will be one person in the room that will be deciding what goes in that manifesto. There will be many, many others there.

This is not untrue, but not exactly wholly honest either. Under Labour rules, the party manifesto is agreed at a “clause V” meeting, which includes the whole of the shadow cabinet and the national executive committee, plus some others. But it would discuss a draft manifesto actually written in Corbyn’s office, members of the shadow cabinet are appointed by Corbyn, and the NEC is largely loyal to him too. The idea that the party leader is just “one person in the room” isn’t an accurate description of the influence he would wield.

  • Corbyn also refused to say what Labour’s position would be if there were a second referendum, saying that would be a matter for the party to decide at the time.
  • He restated his opposition to entering talks with Theresa May until she has ruled out a no-deal Brexit. He said May’s offer of talks was “simply a stunt, not the serious attempt to engage with the new reality that’s needed”.
  • He implied that May could not be trusted to honour commitments that she had made, suggesting that this might be a factor in his decision not to enter talks with her. During the Q&A, when it was put to him that he should be meeting May, he restated his desire for her to rule out a no-deal Brexit. But then he went on to say he did meet May in December to discuss the procedure for the Brexit vote, and they agreed a five-day debate, followed by a vote on 11 December. He went on:

Two days before that, she changed her mind, cancelled the vote and delayed things for over a month.

Jeremy Corbyn giving a speech at Hastings.
Jeremy Corbyn giving a speech in Hastings. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, and her deputy, Nigel Dodds, are speaking to reporters outside Number 10 after a meeting with Theresa May. Dodds says May is in “listening mode”. That is vital, what happened in recent days.

Foster says the DUP want a deal that works for the whole of the UK. The way to do that is to deal with the backstop, he says.

In response to a question about crime, Corbyn says the last Labour government introduced police community support officers. That was a good initiative, he says.

But, to reduce crime, you also need to improve services. He says the next Labour government will introduce a national education service, so that education is a human right for everyone.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over. I will post a summary soon.

Corbyn says the problem of divisions in society are very serious. We saw some of that in the ways Anna Soubry and Owen Jones were treated outside parliament. And no one has had to put up with this more than Diane Abbott. She has been able to deal with it because she is strong.

Corbyn says language is important. He says he does not want any racism or antisemitism. He says we have to come together as a country.

Updated

Q: You got a big round of applause here when you mentioned a second referendum. If there were a second referendum, how would you vote?

Corbyn says he has been quite clear about party policy is.

He says, if there were a referendum, the party would have to decide what its position was.

Q: Are you also banning shadow ministers from meeting May to discuss Brexit? And what will happen to Labour MPs who do meet May?

This question, from a journalist, also provokes some jeering from the audience.

Corbyn says he can understand why some Labour MPs might take a different view.

But he says the Labour party has been united. It was united in the votes on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night.

He again appeals to May to take the no-deal option off the table.

Updated

Corbyn's Q&A

Corbyn is taking questions now. He will deal with media ones first, then some from members of the audience.

Q: If there were an election, would it still be Labour policy to leave the EU?

He says at an election Labour will put forward what it wants.

But Labour is a large organisation. The Labour manifesto will be decided by many people. He says he will just be one person in the room.

He refers to Labour’s Brexit policy agreed at the conference in Liverpool.

  • Corbyn claims that he personally would not have final say on party’s Brexit policy at an election, because it would be decided collectively.

Q: As leader of the opposition, at a time of crisis, if the PM asks you to talk, shouldn’t you go? Otherwise don’t you end up making her look reasonable, and yourself like a wrecker?

This question provokes jeering from Labour supporters in the audience.

Corbyn says Labour has clearly said what it wants from Brexit. Over the last month the government has been threatening people with a no-deal Brexit. That is why he said May had to take a no-deal Brexit off the table first. That is entirely reasonable, he says.

He says he did meet the PM in December. They agreed five days of debate, and a vote on 11 December. But then May cancelled the vote.

He says he is happy to put forward Labour’s point of view. It will do that in parliament, in amendments.

  • Corbyn suggests a meeting with May of limited value because she went back on what she agreed on a December vote.

Q: Will Labour support a move in the Commons to extend article 50?

Corbyn suggest is may be necessary to extend article 50.

Updated

Corbyn says the government has survived a confidence vote “for now” - implying he may table further confidence motions.

He says, if the government presses ahead with a no-deal Brexit, Labour will look at other options, including a people’s vote.

Labour is the party that wants to bring people together, he says.

He says the real divide in the country is not between leave and remain, but between the many and the few. (This was the theme of a major speech Corbyn delivered a week ago.)

Corbyn says Tuesday in the Commons, when MPs voted on Brexit, was chaotic.

But he says on that day the Department for Work and Pensions (which is headed by the Hastings MP Amber Rudd) announced changes to pension rules that could cost some pensioners thousands of pounds.

And he ends by challenging the government to deliver a society that will work for all.

Updated

Corbyn says we have “a government in name only”.

The government’s authority has been shredded, he says.

He says the best solution for the country is a general election.

Corbyn urges May to 'ditch her red lines' and 'get serious' about alternative Brexit options

Corbyn says May has suffered the most devastating defeat in parliament, on her main policy. It is the biggest defeat any government has suffered in history. Her deal is now dead, he says.

He says May is “completely unable to grasp what actually happened”.

  • Corbyn urges May to “ditch her red lines” and “get serious” about considering alternative options.

He says May offered talks, but then the government confirmed she would not take no deal off the table.

  • Corbyn renews his call for May to rule out a no-deal Brexit before engaging in talks.

He says, with no deal still on the table, the talks will be phoney. She would just be running down the clock, with the intention of forcing MPs into backing her option when a no-deal Brexit becomes imminent.

He says the government is spending £4.8bn preparing for no-deal, even though that cannot take place.

(The government disputes this; it says some of that spending is necessary whatever type of Brexit occurs.)

Corbyn says Hastings it the town the inspired the writing of the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. It is a book that inspired him, he says, and a generation of people to look at the world differently.

Jeremy Corbyn's speech

Jeremy Corbyn is just about to start giving a speech in Hastings.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has said the Scottish National party will demand that a second EU referendum can only take place with a “four nation lock”, where the referendum result will be valid only if all four parts of the UK vote the same way.

In an opinion piece for the Scotsman, the first minister called for legislation to be tabled enabling a second EU referendum but added protections were needed to prevent Scotland, and Northern Ireland, if they yet again voted for EU membership, being taken out of the EU because England voted leave.

In 2016, Scotland voted 62% in favour of remain, and Northern Ireland by 56%, but their votes were outweighed by the significant pro-leave result in England and Wales.

May, however, seemed not to recognise that split, Sturgeon said.

The sheer scale of the prime minister’s historic defeat does not seem to have registered with her, but the nature of that loss means the whole approach of the UK government has to change.

Sturgeon carefully avoided saying that SNP support for a putative second EU referendum would be conditional on that being accepted, since the party accepts it would not win majority support at Westminster, but she wrote:

A second referendum would not guarantee that Scotland’s wishes will prevail, although SNP members would seek to amend any legislation with a “four-nation lock” so that the UK could only leave with the agreement of all the UK’s nations.

The only way to ensure that democratic guarantee, of course, is for Scotland to be an independent country.

Sturgeon floated that measure before the 2016 referendum, but it was rejected by David Cameron, then UK prime minister. The convention in the UK is that referendums treat the UK as a single constituency.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, told the Observer in October last year the party was mooting it again as one potential price for backing the “people’s vote” campaign.

Sturgeon set out the SNP’s three key demands for Theresa May in the cross-party talks on resurrecting the prime minister’s fatally-wounded Brexit deal. She said those were: ruling a no-deal exit from the EU; an immediate application to the EU to “stop the clock” by extending the article 50 deadline well beyond 29 March; and May must also bring forward legislation preparing for a second EU referendum.

Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Updated

May still thinks she can 'tweak' deal to get it through Commons, Lucas claims

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, has been saying more about her talks with Theresa May this morning about Brexit. (See 8.06am and 10.28am.) She said that they had a “robust discussion” but that May did listen to what she had to say.

I think the prime minister was in listening mode - the meeting overran by about 15 minutes which is a good sign.

I still remain really concerned that this reaching out across parliament is happening far too late and I’m not convinced she’s willing to loosen any of the red lines she’s set herself.

She still thinks it’s going to be possible to tweak this deal sufficiently to get the 230 MPs that voted against it to swing behind it - I remain pretty sceptical about that.

That’s why she’s going to have to come back and take a look at the possibility of a people’s vote again.

Lucas said she had repeatedly urged May to rule out a no-deal Brexit. And she said she concluded that May was “not hugely receptive” to the idea of extending article 50.

In business questions in the Commons Sir Christopher Chope, the Tory Brexiter, has just accused unnamed cabinet ministers of “treacherous comments”. He said they should abide by the 2017 Conservative party manifesto, which said the UK would be leaving the single market and the customs union, and he seemed to be referring to ministers like the justice secretary David Gauke, who yesterday indicated that he would be willing to see the UK stay in the customs union.

Here is the Labour MP Mike Gapes criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to set conditions before he agrees to meet Theresa May to discuss Brexit. (Corbyn says May should rule out a no-deal Brexit first.)

Nigel Evans is another Tory Brexiter who has had a meeting with the PM this morning to discuss Brexit. According to the Press Association, on his way in Evans said:

We are leaving the EU. That’s number one.

The prime minister is listening to the 17.4m people and the red line that’s most important is that we are leaving the EU. Some MPs need to accept that.

We need to do trade deals throughout the world. We want to do them with the EU, but we should do them with the rest of the world as well.

Leadsom tells MPs that the arrangements for the Brexit ‘plan B’ debate (my characterisation of it, not hers) will be subject to a business of the House motion, and that that motion will be amendable.

MPs to debate and vote on Brexit 'plan B' options on Tuesday 29 January

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, has told MPs that on Monday Theresa May will make a statement to MPs about what happens next in the Brexit process, and that she will table a motion. The debate will be held on Tuesday 29 January, she said. She said it would last a full day.

  • MPs will debate what happens next with Brexit on Tuesday 29 January. This is the debate where MPs will push for votes on ‘plan B’ amendments.

And Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Commons Brexit committee, told Sky’s All Out Politics a few minutes ago that he would be meeting David Lidington, the Cabinet Office meeting, Michael Gove, the environment secretary, and Gavin Barwell, the PM’s chief of staff, to discuss Brexit. Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee, has been invited too.

The Labour frontbench is boycotting these meetings until Theresa May rules out a no-deal Brexit, but Benn said he was going because he chaired a cross-party committee.

Asked if he was demanding that the government rules out a no-deal Brexit, Benn said he had been calling for this for some time.

The Tory Brexiters David Davis, Iain Duncan Smith, Mark Francois, Owen Paterson and Steve Baker, went into the Cabinet Office this morning for talks with the government about Brexit, the Press Association reports.

May is refusing to rule out no-deal Brexit, says Caroline Lucas after meeting PM

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, said that when she met Theresa May to discuss Brexit this morning, May refused to rule out no deal. Lucas said:

I repeatedly urged her again and again to take no deal off the table because I think it completely skews the talks because you know that cliff edge is there.

She also said that May was resisting the option of extending article 50.

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, in Westminster today.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, in Westminster today. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Last night Nick Boles, the Conservative MP who has tabled a bill intended to ensure MPs can vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit happening in 2019, has admitted that he will have to change it. Under the original plan, if the Commons fails to pass a Brexit deal by 11 February, the Commons liaison committee would be asked to come up with an alternative plan. But the liaison committee met last night and decided it does not want to take on the task of resolving Brexit. So Boles has said he will amend his bill.

But the rest of the bill still stands. The key provision in it is that, if MPs don’t agree a Brexit plan, the government would then be obliged to ask the EU to extend article 50 until the end of the year. The text of it is here (pdf).

Tory campaign for second referendum launched

Conservative supporters of a second EU referendum have launched a “Right to Vote” campaign, as new figures suggested that a majority of voters in Tory seats want the public to have the final say on Brexit, the Press Association reports. Analysis of polls involving more than 6,700 voters suggested that majorities in nine out of 10 Conservative-held constituencies back a so-called “people’s vote”. Conservative MP Phillip Lee, who resigned as a minister in Theresa May’s government last year over Brexit, said that Tory support for a fresh poll was “underestimated” and was “growing fast” among the party’s MPs. He said:

The data provided by Best For Britain’s research shows that people have been underestimating Conservative support for a referendum giving people the final say on Brexit.

I know from private conversations at Parliament that backing among my colleagues for a referendum is there and is growing fast. We aim to accelerate that with today’s launch of the Conservative-led Right to Vote campaign.

Conservative politicians need to pay attention to today’s findings. Across all Conservative-held parliamentary seats, 55.8% of voters in Conservative seats want a referendum if parliament is deadlocked over Brexit, as it continues to be.

As the Press Association reports, the analysis was conducted by market research company FocalData for the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum and the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, using a method called “multilevel regression and post-stratification”. Its findings suggested that a majority in 290 of 317 Tory-held seats (91.5%) back a public vote if parliament is unable to break the deadlock on Brexit.

Sturgeon says SNP won't discuss Brexit options with May unless she will consider second referendum

On Good Morning Scotland David Mundell, the Scottish secretary, confirmed that, in her talks with opposition MPs about an alternative approach to Brexit, Theresa May would not countenance a second referendum. This is from the BBC’s Gary Robertson.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, says unless May drops this red line, the SNP won’t take part in these talks.

UPDATE: Here is the full quote from Mundell. He said:

She’s not going down a route to stop Brexit, she is willing to discuss anything people want to put on the table to get us to a point where we can get a majority in parliament to support a deal to allow an orderly Brexit.

Everything is up for discussion but what isn’t going to be an outcome is arrangements that seek to stop Brexit, which I believe the People’s Vote is designed to do.

Not only that it would be extremely divisive in our country. We’ve had a people’s vote, people voted across the United Kingdom and a United Kingdom-wide vote to leave the EU, and we are respecting the result of that and seeking to deliver Brexit, but an orderly Brexit.

Updated

Over in Strasbourg, MEPs are predicting that in the immediate future a lot will depend on the stance of the Labour party.

“We all know that the Tory party is traditionally divided, which is why those of us who feel it is of great strategic importance to the EU that the UK remains are now looking to the Labour party,” said the Greek MEP Giorgos Kyrtsos, a conservative who sits on the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee.

If the Labour party changes policy, comes out against Brexit and moves in favour of a second referendum it will find solidarity on the European side. There is a growing tendency among MEPS that we should give remainers a second chance. There are European forces, though not organised at this stage, who want to help them. A lot of things depend on Labour’s stance.

Kyrtsos, a member of the European People’s party working group dealing with Brexit, said it was now clear the EU’s more powerful members wanted to be done with Brexit once and for all. He said:

Germany, France and other more powerful members of the Union are keen now to move forward with Brexit, albeit for obvious reasons in an organised way. They want to be rid of this issue.

Lib Dems may refuse to back Labour in further confidence votes unless Corbyn supports second referendum

The Lib Dems have suggested they may not back Labour in future confidence votes if Jeremy Corbyn does not back a second referendum, suggesting any further attempts would only be in order to evade the issue.

The leaders of the Lib Dems, SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru wrote to the Labour leader last night saying the failure to force a general election meant the party must endorse a public vote on Brexit.

A Lib Dem source said later that the party would not back any attempts at no confidence votes unless they appeared to be a genuine change of circumstance.

“We will support any real opportunity to take down the Tories with relish,” the source said. “We will not be party to Corbyn using spurious means to avoid Labour policy, by pursuing unwinnable no confidence votes.”

Labour frontbench will back Corbyn in boycotting Brexit talks until May rules out no deal, Gardiner says

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver.

Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, has just been on the Today programme. He took issue with something John Humphrys, the Today presenter, said earlier, about Jeremy Corbyn not having a position on Brexit. Labour does, Gardiner said. It was in the Labour manifesto (pdf), on page 24, Gardiner said.

Gardiner also complained about the radio news headlines at 8.30am featuring Tony Blair saying Corbyn should be meeting Theresa May to discuss Brexit (ie, a line critical of Corbyn), but not feature Blair saying a no-deal Brexit should be taken off the table (a line supportive of Corbyn).

And Gardiner said Labour frontbenchers would not be meeting members of the government for talks on Brexit. Asked if those talks would be happening, he said:

No. I have not had any approach myself from my counterpart in government. And, to the best of my knowledge, none of my colleagues have. Let me be clear; in the Labour party, as a shadow cabinet, we operate as a team. We are quite clear that it is important that the prime minister shows good faith; she takes away the gun that she has been trying to hold to parliament’s head by saying it is either my deal or no deal. Even the chancellor is saying that that no deal should [be ruled out].

When asked why Corbyn was setting conditions for talks with May, when he had been prepared to meet others, sometimes “unsavoury people” (a reference to Hamas), without setting conditions, Gardiner said in this case Labour needed to know that the prime minister was serious about talks. And, to get a deal through parliament, May would have to abandon some red lines.

Barry Gardiner
Barry Gardiner Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

Blair criticises May for sticking to her Brexit red lines, but says Corbyn should talk to her anyway

Tony Blair has called for a series of indicative votes on various options for Brexit to help break the parliamentary deadlock.

Speaking to the Today programme he urged Theresa May to become a “facilitator and arbiter” for the options put forward by MPs. He said:

She can take a step back and say look we haven’t got an agreement in parliament here are the options, here’s the pros and cons of each option, and yes you run a series of indicative votes. It is obvious thing to do. That’s when people are justified in saying to parliament you’ve got make up your minds.

Blair again said the best option would be a second referendum because a hard Brexit would be too “painful” to the economy and a soft Brexit would be “pointless” because it would hand over power, without influence, to the EU.

Blair said extending Article 50 was “almost inevitable”. He added:

If I was in government now I would already be having discussions nows about the terms of an extension. I would be saying we need further time to clarify what parliament wants.

  • Blair says extending article 50 “almost inevitable”.

But he also urged the EU to make changes.

Blair said:

In a rational world, Britain would think again and Europe would think again.

Over the last 30 months European politics has been in turmoil all over Europe on the very issues that gave rise to Brexit: anxiety around immigration, anxiety around communities left behind, that is what has been producing political convulsion all over Europe.

In a rational world Europe would think again on the fundamental questions that gave rise to Brexit and are giving rise to these political convulsions in Europe.

I would say is there a way you can meet our anxieties over the questions of immigration and over the questions of integration and you can do that on European wide basis that deals with the problems underlying Brexit.

Asked if Corbyn should enter talks with May, Blair said:

Of course. If in a moment of national crisis the prime minister asks the leader of the opposition to come and talk, of course he should.

  • Blair says Corbyn should be willing to discuss Brexit with May without preconditions.

But he also criticised May’s approach to the consultation.

When I hear her sometimes talk about the consultation the next moment she lays down a whole lot of red lines, which make that consultation pretty nugatory.

  • Blair criticises May for imposing her own conditions on Brexit talks.

Updated

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has said Theresa May expressed a willingness to carry on talking when he met her on Wednesday night to discuss the way forward on Brexit.

“I think in the current state of crisis that is a positive,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He said he told the prime minister that his party wanted the prospect of no-deal taken “off the table” and a second referendum. He went on:

The fact that my team are willing to continue talking to her team of senior ministers this morning suggests that at least there is a willingness to explore these things.

Updated

Green MP Caroline Lucas urges May to consider citizens' assembly as solution to Brexit deadlock

The Green MP, Caroline Lucas, is to use her meeting with Theresa May to call for the convening of a citizens assembly to help break the Brexit deadlock. Lucas said:

I want to use this opportunity to try to break open this gridlocked process and let different voices be heard.

I’ll tell the prime minister loud and clear that she must urgently rule out the threat of a no-deal Brexit and I’ll make the case for the public to have a say on what happens next.

I want to use this meeting to open up the debate about our shared future to the whole country - not restrict it to the corridors of Westminster - so I’ll also urge her to consider the role a citizens’ assembly might play as a complement to a people’s vote.

Updated

Here’s what Ukip makes of Hammond’s reassurance about a no-deal.

Updated

The shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, has defended Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to refuse talks with the prime minister unless she rules out a no-deal Brexit.

Speaking to Sky News Gardiner used Hammond’s leaked remarks about MPs blocking a no-deal to back Corbyn’s stance.

Gardiner said:

The chancellor himself is saying that actually no-deal could be taken off the table within a matter of days.

If the chancellor of the exchequer is saying it then it seems to me that is not an impossibility at all. We have senior members of the cabinet threatening to resign unless no-deal is taken off the table, so you need to give some credence to the possibility that it might happen.

Updated

European Union and World Trade Organization checks would be mandatory on both sides of the Irish border in the event of no-deal Brexit, one of the world’s leading experts on customs has said.

Michael Lux, a former head of customs legislation and procedures at the European commission, said the UK would have to impose customs checks and tariffs on the northern side of the border, despite claims to the contrary by Brexiters.

Under WTO rules, the UK could opt for zero tariffs, but it would be obliged to offer this free-trade deal to every other country. This would mean cheap food and dairy products, which currently attract high tariffs, from countries such as Brazil or New Zealand, and might also lead to chlorinated chicken from the US ending up on British supermarket shelves.

“It would kill UK farming,” said Lux. He also said Brexiters who claim the UK won’t impose checks in Northern Ireland are naive.

Updated

Anna Soubry, the pro-EU Tory MP, is frustrated by the government’s continued refusal to compromise.

Updated

Tory chair Brandon Lewis restates government’s objection to staying in customs union

Conservative party chairman Brandon Lewis has played down that leaked recording of Chancellor Philip Hammond suggesting to business leaders that MPs could block a no-deal. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: “Parliament can rule out a no deal and the way it does that is to agree a deal.”

Asked if he agreed with Hammond that MPs could stop a no-deal Brexit, Lewis said:

I don’t quite take that view. What I’m saying is that I accept parliament has an ability to do a whole range of things, what I’m saying is the best way to avoid no deal is to agree a deal.

Lewis refused to say what the government would compromise on to get a deal. He appeared to rule out both joining a customs union and a second referendum.

On a customs union he said: “We are determined to deliver on the referendum and that means having an international trade policy that is independent.”

That restates what Downing Street and Theresa May were saying yesterday - but it does amount to ruling out the UK staying in the customs union for good, which is one of Labour’s main Brext demands. (If the UK were in the customs union, it would not be able to strike its own trade deals.)

  • Tory chair Brandon Lewis restates government’s objection to staying in customs union.

And Lewis dismissed a second referendum as a “betrayal of democracy”.

Updated

Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner said Theresa May faced having to take the risk of potentially splitting the Conservative Party in order to break the parliamentary deadlock. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

If she wants to negotiate with all parties in parliament, and if she wants to do that in good faith, she has to say ‘Okay, I’m not sticking to every single one of the red lines that I’ve established’.

We are saying let’s do this in the best interests of the British people, in the way that every industry, every trade union, every manufacturing association - and even some people in her own cabinet - are saying is the sensible way forward.

Take no deal out of the equation and let’s get down to doing a solid deal.

Updated

Business leaders call on Theresa May to back a second referendum

More than 170 leading business figures have called for Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to back a second referendum on withdrawal from the European Union.

The group, including the world-renowned architect Lord Foster, Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse and lastminute.com co-founder Baroness Lane-Fox, warned MPs “must not waste any more time on fantasies”.

The business figures’ letter, which is published in the Times, calls for the leaders of the main parties to back a so-called People’s Vote and ask the public if they still wish to leave the EU.

“Many businesses backed the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal despite knowing that it was far from perfect,” said the letter.

“But it is no longer an option. The priority now is to stop us crashing out of the EU with no deal at all. The only feasible way to do this is by asking the people whether they still want to leave the EU.

“With the clock now ticking rapidly before we are due to quit, politicians must not waste any more time on fantasies. We urge the political leadership of both the main parties to support a People’s Vote.”

How the papers are covering last night's vote and May's offer of Brexit talks

The front pages of the papers today all lead with Brexit news, and while all agree there is political chaos, they disagree about who is to blame: is it Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn or MPs in general?

Our full papers wrap is here.

Updated

And because we all need a little something to cheer us up...

The Guardian’s economics editor Larry Elliott writes that it is not likely that Brexit in name only or no exit at all will lead to radical reform of our broken system.

Brexit, the gilets jaunes protesters in France, the terrible pain inflicted on Greece and the support for the League/Five Star government in Italy all tell their own story. Europe is alive with political discontent that reflects the demand for deep and urgent reform, but the chances of getting it are less likely if the status quo prevails.

Why? Because the forces of conservatism are strong. Change comes about only when the pressure for it becomes too great to resist. The financial crisis provided one such opportunity to reform an economic system that for many people clearly wasn’t working; Brexit was a second. The left’s case for Brexit has always been based on the following notions: the current economic model is failing; socialism is needed to fix it; and the free-market ideology hardwired into the EU via the European Central Bank, judgments of the European court of justice and treaty changes will make that process all but impossible without a break with the status quo.

It is theoretically possible that in the event of a “Brexit in name only” or no Brexit at all, policymakers will push ahead with what’s needed in order to make a reality of the slogan “a reformed Britain in a reformed Europe”. Possible but not all that plausible, given that it would require breaking up the euro, more autonomy for individual countries to intervene in the running of their economies, and a simultaneous philosophical U-turn in the big member states.

Much more likely is that the pressure for change will dissipate and the real grievances of those who voted for Brexit will be quietly forgotten. The softer the Brexit, the more convinced the EU will be that it has been doing the right thing all along. Britain will not go up in flames, but there will still be consequences. Leave voters will feel they have been victims of an establishment stitch-up. The anger will not go away and will eventually resurface.

Good morning and welcome to the politics live blog as well follow the twists and turns of UK politics.

Well, she may have survived the no-confidence vote yesterday, but Theresa May is by no means out of the woods. The PM has to present a new (“Plan B”) Brexit deal by Monday.

Yesterday, the beleaguered prime minister suggested she was keen to pursue a more collaborative approach to Brexit, saying “I’m inviting MPs from all parties to come together to find a way forward, one that both delivers on the referendum and can command the support of parliament. This is now the time to put self-interest aside.”

This invitation has had a somewhat mixed reaction. Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not meet with her to discuss a new Brexit deal until she agrees to remove the threat of a no-deal Brexit, a request May has refused.

The Scottish National party’s leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, met May last night, as did Plaid Cymru leader Liz Saville Roberts. The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, also accepted her invitation and Greens MP Caroline Lucas is due to meet with May at 9am this morning.

We will be bringing you all the news and analysis as the day’s events unfold. If you’ve got a question, comment, or the answer to this Brexit stalemate, please get in touch via email (kate.lyons@theguardian.com) or on Twitter (@mskatelyons).

Thanks for reading. Off we go!

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Star Wars fans are debating Disney's "abandoned" saga decisions
From Grogu to Finn, fans are weighing in
Total Film
Total Film
Unusual 'ingredients' helped stars form in a galaxy near the Milky Way
Some newly found stars in a small galaxy called Sextans A are forming without some of the usual "ingredients," raising questions about how the early universe evolved.
Space
Space
Fans Are Confused After Media Treats Elle And Dakota Fanning’s Real Names As Breaking News
“A lot of famous people go by their middle names. This isn’t news," said one fan.
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
'Sorry To Your Wife!' See Elle Fanning Respond To Jack Black (Hilariously) Learning She Wants Him As Her 'Hall Pass'
This whole situation is adorable!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Sarah Jessica Parker ‘Feud’ With Chris Noth Explained Following His Brutal Comment On Her Award
"He probably feels like she threw him under the bus."
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
12 Amazon Products That’ll Make You Feel Like You Have Your Life Together
Most of us have a similar routine when the sun goes down: we scroll, we click, and we wait for that familiar brown box to...
Saving Advice
Saving Advice
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play