Brexit: Theresa May says high time MPs vote for her deal – as it happened

The summary of Beth Rigby, deputy political editor of Sky News, is blistering:

TalkRadio presenter John Nicolson:

Nigel Farage embraces the apparent theme of the evening and resorts to pretty graphic threats against Theresa May and her party in tomorrow’s Telegraph:

That does sound like a reasonable question.

The former foreign secretary William Hague has just warned on Peston that a general election is now more likely:

Let’s take a look at how tomorrow’s frontpages have digested the evening.

The Daily Express comes out with a rather gentle “PM tells ‘tired’ Britain: I’m on your side”.

The i-paper is comparatively quite a bit less polite:

The Daily Mail has settled for a surprisingly neutral ”We’re on a no deal knife edge”:

The Guardian goes with “May: Don’t blame me for Brexit crisis, blame MPs”:

The Daily Telegraph’s “May ‘on bended knee’ to the EU” is also pretty accusatory:

The Financial Times’ “May pleads with rival parties to save deal as EU issues ultimatum” is a slightly different takeaway

The Independent clearly has had enough of all this:

In all the excitement, let’s not forget that Speaker John Bercow has not actually approved a third vote on May’s Brexit deal yet. As BBC Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis points out, it is not quite clear yet what kind of change to the deal Bercow would consider “substantial” enough.

Tomorrow’s The Times frontpage appears to side with Wes Streeting et al. Extraordinary.

Labour MP Wes Streeting has accused the Prime Minister of having incited hatred against MPs, and possibly even violence.

Labour MPs Luke Pollard, Diana Johnson and Roberta Blackman-Woods seem to agree:

“Buckle up,” the Times political editor, Henry Zeffman, says. Judging from the reactions of various MPs, a win for the prime minister and her deal next week seems increasingly unlikely.

Paul Waugh from HuffPost and my colleague Jessica Elgot report the PM had an incredibly negative meeting with switcher Brexiter MPs just before her speech, who called for her resignation:

My colleagues Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart have summed up the current state of despair in the Conservative party, which seems to only have been exacerbated by May’s address tonight.

The fact that Theresa May has used her speech to point the finger at MPs could massively backfire, pundits seem to suggest, one of them being the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg:

And Jessica Elgot seems to agree:

A petition to revoke article 50 and remain in the EU is taking off and has reached nearly 200,000 signatures, most in the last few hours. Revoke article 50 is trending on Twitter.

According to the BBC’s Chris Mason the DUP remains unimpressed and is set to block May’s deal again:

Here the the PM’s full statement:
“Nearly three years have passed since the public voted to leave the European Union.
“It was the biggest democratic exercise in our country’s history.
“I came to office on a promise to deliver on that verdict.
“In March 2017 I triggered the Article 50 process for the UK to exit the EU and parliament supported it overwhelmingly.
“Two years on, MPs have been unable to agree on a way to implement the UK’s withdrawal.
“As a result, we will now not leave on time with a deal on 29 March.
“This delay is a matter of great personal regret for me.
“And of this I am absolutely sure: You, the public, have had enough.
“You’re tired of the infighting, you’re tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children’s schools, our National Health Service, knife crime.
“You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree. I am on your side.
“It is now time for MPs to decide.
“So, today, I have written to Donald Tusk the President of the European Council to request a short extension of article 50 up to 30 June to give MPs the time to make a final choice.
“Do they want to leave the EU with a deal which delivers on the result of the referendum, that takes control of our money borders and laws while protecting jobs and our national security?
“Do they want to leave without a deal, or do they not want to leave at all causing potentially irreparable damage to public trust not just in this generation of politicians but to our entire democratic process?
“It is high time we made a decision.
“So far, Parliament has done everything possible to avoid making a choice.
“Motion after motion and amendment after amendment has been tabled without Parliament ever deciding what it wants.
“All MPs have been willing to say is what they do not want.
“I passionately hope MPs will find a way to back the deal I’ve negotiated with the EU, a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum and is the very best deal negotiable.
“And I will continue to work night and day to secure the support of my colleagues, the DUP and others for this deal.
“But I am not prepared to delay Brexit any further than the 30th of June.
“Some argue that I’m making the wrong choice and I should ask for a longer extension to the end of the year or beyond to give more time for politicians to argue over the way forward.
“That would mean asking you to vote in European elections nearly three years after our country decided to leave.
“What kind of message would that send? And just how bitter and divisive would that election campaign be at a time when the country desperately needs bringing back together.
“Some have suggested holding a second referendum.
“I don’t believe that’s what you want and it is not what I want.
“We asked you the question already and you’ve given us your answer.
“Now you want us to get on with it.
“And that is what I am determined to do.”

The Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman also seems to be among those the Prime Minister’s speech has failed to capture, and fears MPs will not be overly enthusiastic either:

Chuka Umunna MP makes the case for indicative votes:

Faisal Islam, political editor at Sky News, does not believe the PM chose her words very wisely, given that she has never relied more on the support of MPs:

Nothing really novel in May’s statement. MP’s face a “final choice”, the PM emphasises.

Buzzfeed’s Europe editor Alberto Nardelli seems particularly underwhelmed by the PM’s speech:

Dominic Grieve MP tells the BBC that he will not be bullied by anybody in Government to support something he does not believe in.

Adds his “preferred option” remains to hold a second referendum.

May statement over. She said her deal was “the best deal negotiable”, and attacked MPs for failing to make a decision, urging that it was “high time” they made up their minds. “I am on your side”, she said, addressing the British people.

PM’s statement has started. It is “of great personal regret” that Britain is not leaving on March 29, she says.

So this just seems to have happened, according to a tweet of the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent:

At least Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, still has the nerve for a bit of humour.

Corbyn keeps getting flak from all sides, here from Peter Grant from the SNP:

The PM is running late and is rumoured to be keeping things short and snappy.

Theresa May is expected to make her statement shortly in Downing Street.

It hails criticism for Corbyn’s stunt, here from Jo Swinson, deputy leader of the Lib Dems:

This fresh from my colleague Dan Sabbagh:

The Guardian’s Brexit correspondent, Lisa O’Carroll, has written an update on the UK’s emergency plan for a no-deal Brexit, carrying the prosaic name “Operation Yellowhammer”.

Nick Eardley, political correspondent at the BBC, shares a few glimpses into what went down at that failed meeting between party leaders:

The gloves have clearly come off. Sky’s Lewis Goodall just slapped the PM with another damning verdict:

This just in from my colleague Jessica Elgot:

Press Association reports that Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said about Jeremy Corbyn’s walkout from the cross-party meeting: “That is rather a strange way to behave in a national crisis.”
Chuka Umunna, spokesman for the Independent Group, said: “I find it extraordinary behaviour in a national crisis.”

Reactions of shock to Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to participate in a meeting with other party leaders that the PM invited earlier are starting to populate Twitter.

This from the Daily Mail’s Claire Ellicott:

A Labour spokesperson just said about the incident:

It was not the meeting that had been agreed and the terms were broken. Downing Street is in such chaos that they were unable to manage their own proposed meeting. We are in discussions with No 10 about holding the bilateral meeting with the PM that Jeremy proposed at PMQs.

This just in from the Sunday Times’ political editor, Tim Shipman:

Nicholas Cecil, the Evening Standard’s deputy political editor, is predicting a bleak future for the PM and her third attempt to drag her deal over the line – this time with the help of Labour MPs.

Downing Street has confirmed that Theresa May will make a statement at 20:15 GMT.

My colleague Libby Brooks, the Guardian Scotland correspondent, is tweeting that Ian Blackford and Liz Saville-Roberts, the Westminster leaders of the SNP and Plaid, along with Lib Dem leader Vince Cable and the Green’s Caroline Lucas have just released another joint statement, calling for parliament to sit in continuous session “until it can reach a decision and set out a clear plan”, with the revocation of article 50 as a last resort.

Libby says it’s worth remembering that it was the dogged work of a cross-party group of Scottish parliamentarians who took a court action to establish it was possible for the UK to unilaterally revoke article 50 all the way to the ECJ last December.

The full statement says:

We agree that the House of Commons must formulate a plan that will give the EU Council the confidence to agree a longer extension beyond 30 June, so that by the end of next week legislation can be in place to prevent a no-deal exit.

Parliament should now sit in continuous session until it can reach a decision and set out a clear plan.

We will be pushing for the House of Commons to support a referendum on remaining in the EU, others will put forward their own positions.

If the Commons cannot agree, as a last resort we would be prepared to take steps to secure a parliamentary vote on the revocation of article 50.

The prime minister must not be allowed to bully MPs into a choice between her bad deal and no deal. That would make Brexit a choice between disaster and catastrophe, and that would be a failure of truly historic proportions.”

Conservative MP Dominic Grieve has caused a Twitterstorm with a scathing speech he gave in the Commons earlier.

Angela Smith MP seems to be a particularly big fan:

My colleague Timothy Garton Ash has written a piece on why the EU might indeed grant a long extension in the end - if May’s deal fails again.

Hello everyone, I’m taking over from my colleague Andrew Sparrow, who has provided some excellent summaries of the latest Brexit developments. Things seem to be changing by the minute, and the evening promises to not get boring any time soon – commiserations to those trapped on a wifi-free Eurostar.

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to make a TV appearance in a about an hour, and Theresa May is due to make a statement – possibly in the Commons – at 8pm.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has now released the text of the letter he has sent to EU leaders ahead of the summit starting tomorrow. Mostly it repeats what he said earlier, but there is some slightly different language on how long an extension might last. He says:

In the light of the consultations that I have been conducting over the past days, I believe that we could consider a short extension conditional on a positive vote on the withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons. The question remains open as to the duration of such an extension. Prime Minister May’s proposal, of the 30th of June, which has its merits, creates a series of questions of a legal and political nature. We will discuss it in detail tomorrow. When it comes to the approval of the Strasbourg agreement, I believe that this is possible, and in my view it does not create risks. Especially if it were to help the ratification process in the UK.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, has a good Twitter thread on the significance of Tusk’s statement. It starts here.

That’s all from me for tonight.

My colleague Jedidajah Otte is taking over now.

The Labour MPs Lisa Nandy and Gareth Snell have tabled an amendment for next week’s Brexit vote that would ensure that the Commons gets to vote on the negotiating mandate for the next stage of the Brexit talks covering the future trade relationship, that the PM has to make statements to the Commons about the talks every three months and that the PM cannot sign off an agreement without Commons approval.

As my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports, if the government were to accept it, some Labour MPs could be persuaded to back the deal.

And Sky’s Kate McCann has a (sideways) version of the text.

This is from Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s lead Brexit spokesman.

France, Spain and Belgium are ready to veto a Brexit extension, the Press Association understands. The PA report goes on:

Sources have said France, Spain, Belgium and maybe Italy stand prepared to reject an extension without evidence Parliament is now ready to accept a deal and “the deadlock can be broken”.

Some member states worry there is no point to an extension as, even after 1,000 days of negotiation, Theresa May’s deal keeps being rejected and the EU cannot move any further towards the UK.

One source said: “We’re not against an extension per se but we need to have two things - first a demonstration that the situation has changed and there is a guarantee the extension is for something and second that an extension won’t be detrimental to the EU.

“Yes, a no-deal Brexit would be damaging and it’s absolutely not what we want but I think we’re ready to go to this situation because there are only two solutions - either a deal is accepted or there is no deal.

“The deal has been rejected and it keeps being rejected so if we come to no-deal then so be it.”

It is understood French president Emmanuel Macron believes Brexit is holding up his plans for radical reform of the EU and needs to be brought to a conclusion.

My colleague Jon Henley has more on what the EU feels about Britain and its handling of Brexit in this article.

Downing Street said the meeting of party leaders at 6pm was in order to discuss the prime minister’s letter to Donald Tusk.

“The prime minister has always been very clear about her willingness to engage,” her spokesman said. He went on:

We have reached out to leaders of all the opposition groups, including the TIG. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the extension letter but I’m sure they will raise other issues.

Green party leader Caroline Lucas said she would ask the prime minister to withdraw her letter to Tusk, criticising May for only seeking consensus after the letter had been sent. She said

Long after her letter to Donald Tusk found its way onto social media and without even bothering to send a copy to MPs, she has decided to invite us for a meeting about it.

She sent her ERG-influenced request to extend article 50 to hold her party together, and now she is attempting to placate the rest of us by pretending to hear our concerns.

In the Commons emergency debate Heidi Allen, the former Tory who now sits as an Independent Group MP, said that although Donald Tusk was saying MPs must pass the Brexit deal next week for the UK to get a short extension (see 4.38pm), “clearly that is not going to happen”. She added: “This government is on the edge of bringing this country down.”

Instead the government should allow “indicative votes” in the Commons immediately, with MPs given a free vote, so they can have their say and “stop this madness now”, she said.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has urged the EU to cut the British government “some slack” in its attempt to get a Brexit deal through parliament. He said:

There is a real risk of no deal happening by accident … it’s time now to cut the British government some slack when it comes to their request for an extension.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, Varadkar said he had an open mind about the length of any extension.

I don’t have a definitive view on how long an extension would be … [but] would prefer to see this resolved sooner rather than later.

The conciliatory rhetoric however did little to ease pressure on Theresa May. Varadkar said nothing to contradict Donald Tusk’s edict and insisted the withdrawal agreement, including the backstop, could not be changed.

The slack, in other words, is mighty short.

And here is a take on Donald Tusk’s statement from the BBC’s Andrew Neil.

In the Commons the Labour MP Ian Murray says it has been confirmed that Theresa May will make a statement outside the chamber at 8pm. Can she be made to address the Commons?

John Bercow, the Speaker, says it is up to May to decide whether she addresses the Commons. He says if May were to address the Commons, that would be well received.

Here is some comment from journalists on Donald Tusk’s statement.

From Sky’s Adam Boulton

From the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth

From Sky’s Aubrey Allegretti

From ITV’s Robert Peston

From the FT’s Jim Pickard

From Politico Europe’s Charlie Cooper

Back in the Commons, Anna Soubry, the former Tory who is now an Independent Group MP, says there are reports that, after meeting the opposition parties tonight for the first time as a group, Theresa May will make a statement to the media at around 8pm. Soubry says that shows May is treating the Commons with contempt.

Tusk says he will not give up trying to find a deal until the end.

He says he will maintain goodwill until the end.

And that is it.

I will post the full quotes shortly.

Tusk will not take questions, we’re told.

Barclay says he thinks having no Brexit is more damaging to the UK than a no-deal Brexit would be.

Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, says article 50 should be extended to the end of this year, at the minimum. That is the minimum amount of time needed for MPs to sort this out, he claims.

In the Commons Barclay says Labour has not said what length extension it wants. He challenges the party to respond, but Starmer does not take the bait.

Catherine McKinnell, a Labour backbencher, does intervene. She says business wants article 50 to be extended long enough to allow MPs to agree on an alternative approach.

Barclay says Starmer wants a second referendum. But Starmer cannot say what the question would be, and he has not persuaded his party’s front bench to back the policy, Barclay claims.

In the Commons Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, is responding to Starmer in the emergency debate. Labour’s Wes Streeting has just intervened to say that, for all her faults, at least when Theresa May speaks at the dispatch box, people think she means what she says. Streeting says the same cannot be said for Barclay, who urged MPs to back the government motion last week proposing an article 50 extension only to vote against it himself.

This is from ITV’s Robert Peston.

In Brussels some EU officials are now saying that EU leaders will not even take a decision about extending article 50 tomorrow - because Theresa May sent her letter too late.

This is from my colleague Daniel Boffey.

This is from the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge.

And this is from RTE’s Tony Connelly.

Back in the Commons Starmer has just repeated what David Lidington said in the Commons on Thursday last week about it being “downright reckless” to seek a short article 50 extension without a deal being passed.

This is from Sky’s Adam Boulton.

And this is from the Mirror’s Mikey Smith.

The Élysée stressed on Wednesday that the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had not yet taken a decision on May’s extension request and would wait until the European council meeting on Thursday, where May is expected to explain her strategy. “No decision will be taken by France before the European council,” a source in Macron’s office said.

Paris will then confer with other EU leaders on its response to the extension request.

Starmer says that Theresa May’s letter to Donald Tusk (see 12.21pm and 2.06pm) implies that she just wants to bring the same deal back for a third vote.

Starmer says the main problem with Theresa May’s strategy is that she seems to think the “blinkered approach” she has adopted up to now can just be pursued for another three months.

That approach has “failed badly”, he says.

He says the Commons needs a different approach.

The French foreign minister has said categorically that Paris could say no to May’s request for an extension if the prime minister does not set out a clear plan for the withdrawal agreement to be ratified by parliament.

The pro-European Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking EU reform and wants to avoid his term being bogged down in Brexit, is happy for France to take the hardest line in voicing EU exasperation.

The foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament on Wedsnesday afternoon:

Our position is to send a simple and clear message to the British.

He said there were only two ways to leave the EU – ratify the withdrawal agreement or a no-deal exit.

He said if the withdrawal agreement wasn’t ratified by parliament, “the central scenario is a no-deal exit. We’re ready”.

Le Drian said France would examine the extension request in terms of protecting EU interests. France needed three things: First, that a short technical extension clearly sets out the path to the ratification of the withdrawal agreement. Second, that the UK “is very clear that the withdrawal agreement will not be renegotiated and will be preserved in its entirety”. Third, that the UK does not take part in European elections.

He stated, that if May could not present “sufficient guarantees of the credibility of her strategy” that will lead to the extension being refused and a no-deal exit.

An official at the Elysee palace warned this week:

Playing for time just for the sake of playing for time would not constitute a project or strategy. Now is not the time for procrastinating.

My colleague Jessica Elgot has more on Theresa May’s meeting with opposition party leaders later.

It will be odd if Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t turn up. He was asking for a meeting with Theresa May today only a few hours ago at PMQs. (See 12.10pm.)

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, will make a statement about Brexit later, at 4pm UK time.

This is from my colleague Angelique Chrisafis, with more on what the French are saying about an article 50 extension.

In the Commons Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader, has just said she has been invited to a meeting at Number 10 later. According to the Sun’s Hugo Gye, all opposition leaders have been called in.

And this Le Point report has more on Emmanuel Macron’s stance on an article 50 extension.

This is how the article starts.

Pour Macron, c’est décidé : il faut ... refuser aux Britanniques tout report du Brexit, prévu à la date du 29 mars. C’est en tout cas la position qu’il exprimera jeudi lors du Conseil européen.

And this is how that gets translated by DeepL, with some tidying up from me.

For Macron, it is decided: we must ... refuse to allow the British to postpone the Brexit, scheduled for 29 March. In any case, this is the position he will express on Thursday at the European council.

The Evening Standard is splashing on Theresa May’s comment that as prime minister she is not willing to delay Brexit beyond 30 June. (See 12.08pm.)

They are interpreting it as a threat to resign if MPs insist on a longer delay.

The only drawback with this is that it is not entirely clear at whom such a threat might be directed. Most of the MPs likely to favour a longer article 50 extension would be quite happy to see May resign, not least because that might precipitate a general election.

Here are some lines from the Number 10 post-PMQs briefing.

From my colleague Heather Stewart

From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar

Labour’s Angela Eagle says May often mentions the referendum, but she does not mention the general election, which denied her a majority, and she does not mention the two defeats her deal has suffered. She urges May to stop “banging her head against a brick wall” and to allow MPs to find an alternative. Instead May is kowtowing to “Brextremists”, she says.

May says 80% of the votes cast at the election were cast for parties that stood on a platform of honouring the referendum result.

Labour’s Yvette Cooper says May’s plan has been rejected twice. She says what May is doing is “deeply dangerous” for the national interest. Calling for MPs to be allowed indicative votes, she says: “I beg the prime minister to think again.”

UPDATE: Here is the full quote.

Richard Drax, a Tory Brexiter, says May gave a firm commitment that the UK would leav the EU on 29 March. What guarantee can she give that, if there is an extension, the UK will leave by 30 June?

May says no deal has not been taken off the table. The EU has been very clear that it will not let the UK remain in the EU if it does not hold European elections.

Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, says May is the “roadblock” to a solution. He says it is “blindingly obvious” that May should allow MPs to hold indicative votes, to find a way forward.

May says it has been open to the house already to debate Brexit alternatives. She says it has debated other plans, and they have been rejected.

Sir Oliver Letwin, a Conservative, asks May to confirm that the full length of the extension available to the UK will be available to MPs.

May says, if her deal is rejected again, the house will have to decide how to proceed.

(Letwin seemed to be asking for an assurance that the UK would not leave the EU before 30 June without a deal. May effectively sidestepped the question.)

Ken Clarke, the Tory pro-European, asks if May will arrange for indicative votes next week so that MPs can find out what Brexit plan they can agree on.

May says MPs have already had many opportunities to vote for Brexit alternatives. MPs have voted against a customs union and against a second referendum.

She says she is clear about her intention to bring forward another motion.

Labour’s Catherine West says the EU is just offering an extension until 23 May, or until 2019.

She asks May to back calls for a second referendum.

May says she continues to think that, having asked the public for their view, MPs must do what they voted for.

The Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle says May opposed repealing section 28, even though that led to LGBT people like himself being stigmatised in schools. Just today Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, took the same approach, saying parents should be able to choose when their children are “exposed” to LGBT education, he says. He asks May to reject Leadsom’s comments.

May says she will write to Russell-Moyle explaining the government’s policy on LGBT education.

Here is the full text of May’s letter to Tusk requesting an article 50 extension.

The Tory Brexiter Peter Bone says May will be betraying the British people if she extends article 50.

May says she always wanted to leave on 29 March. But she wants to leave with a negotiated deal. That requires an extension until 30 June.

She says at this point the house must decide what it wants.

For the record, here is the full “reckless” quote from David Lidington in the Brexit debate last week.

In the absence of a deal, seeking such a short and, critically, one-off extension would be downright reckless and completely at odds with the position that this house adopted only last night, making a no-deal scenario far more, rather than less, likely. Not only that, but from everything we have heard from the EU, both in public and in private, it is a proposal it would not accept.

In the Commons Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Wesminster, says that David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, said last week that seeking a short article 50 extension without MPs having passed a deal would be “downright reckless”. Does May agree?

May says the SNP have always wanted to stop Brexit. She says it cannot be delayed for much longer.

Blackford says May’s deal has been rejected twice, in the biggest and fourth biggest government defeats in parliamentary history. The only solution is to give the decision back to the people.

May says parliament gave this decision to the people.

Here is a more readable version of the letter to Tusk.

Corbyn says today marks 1,000 days since the referendum. May is running down the clock, he says. But she has failed to convince MPs that her deal is anything other than a failure. People are frustrated by her approach. Will May give the public a chance to reject the deal and vote out the government?

May says Corbyn’s answer shows he does not respect the referendum result.

May accuses Corbyn of disrespecting democracy by wanting to hold a second referendum.

Corbyn says Labour’s plan got more support in the Commons than May’s.

He says May said last week the EU would only allow an article 50 extension for a clear purpose. What is it?

May says, if Corbyn had listened to her first answer, she would have heard.

Corbyn says May proposed meaningful vote 3 (MV3). But the Commons rejected this.

He says Lidington said last week it would be reckless to do what May is doing now. Is she being reckless?

May says she has no idea what Labour wants. She says she is opposed to a long extension. It would mean taking part in the European elections, and it would mean hours and days of the Commons contemplating its navel on Europe.

She says the Commons has indulged itself on Europe for too long.

Corbyn says the CBI said the vote to extend article 50 was a dose of common sense. Will May compromise?

May says the Commons has voted on and rejected leaving with no deal, Labour’s deal and a customs union. It wants a deal, she says.

Jeremy Corbyn starts by also condemning the New Zealand terror attack, and sending condolences to those affected by the cyclone in Africa.

He says the UK is in a “national crisis”. He is meeting MPs to discuss alternative approaches, and is going to Brussels tomorrow. Will May meet him today to discuss this?

May says it is a bit rich for Corbyn to call for a meeting today, when he has been refusing meetings with May for days and days. And Corbyn refused to allow David Lidington to meet Keir Starmer, she says.

She says Labour MPs want to avoid Brexit.

Theresa May starts by condemning the “appalling and cowardly attack” in Christchurch on Friday. There can be no place for the appalling ideology behind this, she says.

And she thanks the emergency services for how they handled the Stanwell attack at the weekend.

She expresses her shock at the devastation caused by the cyclone in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

And, on the subject of Labour and the length of a possible article 50 extension (see 11.46am), here is a question from a reader BTL.

SteveGkr

20 March 2019 11:16am

Andrew,
Does coming out in favour of a 3 month extension (11:08) mean that, in practice, Labour are coming out against a second referendum?

My response: it probably depends who you talk to in Labour. Quite how in favour of a second referendum they are is a matter of debate, with different people interpreting the party’s carefully-worded comments on this subject in strikingly different ways.

But there has always been an unresolved tension between Labour’s notional support for an referendum (which would take at least five months to organise, according to a through Constitution Unit analysis), and its desire to avoid a long article 50 extension. You can hold a referendum, or avoid a long article 50 extension, but you can’t do both.

The request for an emergency debate on Brexit will come from Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, not the backbencher Alison McGovern.

And this is from ITV’s Paul Brand.

More from my colleague Dan Sabbagh on the People’s Vote march.

The People’s Vote campaign has announced the names of some celebrities who are sponsoring coaches from their home towns to bring supporters to the march in London on Saturday. They include actor Jason Isaacs (Liverpool); broadcaster Joan Bakewell (Manchester); advertising executive and film producer Trevor Beattie (Birmingham); comedian and actor Steve Coogan (Manchester); businessman and chair of Stoke City FC Peter Coates (Stoke); Joe Hemani, chairman of tech firm Westcoast PLC and vice president of Chelsea FC (more than one coach); actor Natascha McElhone (Brighton); TV cook and majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club Delia Smith (Norwich); and actor Sir Patrick Stewart (Huddersfield).

The writer and director, Armando Iannucci, who is sponsoring a coach from Oxford to help get campaigners to the Put it to the People march on Saturday 23.

Voters have been left befuddled and bemused by what’s going on in Westminster and I think the only sensible thing left is to put whatever Brexit deal parliament comes up with to the voters one last time. It’s just one more vote to settle matters; what’s the problem? The prime minister’s now on to her third.

There are three urgent questions today.

All three have been tabled by Conservatives, fuelling suspicions that the government is trying to fill up the Commons timetable – perhaps to delay any emergency debate on Brexit.

All but three of the 20 MPs who spoke at last night’s 80-strong meeting of the European Research Group, demanded that she quit, Christopher Hope reports at the Telegraph.

This is from ITV’s Paul Brand.

The Labour leadership has never explicitly backed a long article 50 extension. When Yvette Cooper put forward her first bill designed to enable parliament to take control of the Brexit process, Jeremy Corbyn’s main objection to it was that it proposed a nine-month article 50 extension and the party only decided to back it after being assured that that date could be changed.

These are from my colleague Daniel Boffey.

This is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.

Labour is backing calls for an emergency debate on Brexit, the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar reports.

This is from Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, on Theresa May’s decision to rule out asking for a long extension to article 50.

The prime minister appears to be pursing a course of action that her own deputy last week described as reckless.

Theresa May is desperate once again to impose a binary choice between her deal and no deal despite parliament clearly ruling out both of those options last week.

What the government should be doing is showing real leadership, making good on their commitment to break the deadlock and secure an extension with a genuine purpose.

And these are from RTE’s Europe editor Tony Connolly

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

Jeremy Corbyn will throw himself into the middle of the negotiations with the EU by holding talks with Michel Barnier in Brussels just hours before Theresa May seeks to persuade leaders at a summit to accept a short delay to Brexit, my colleague Daniel Boffey reports.

Q: As a devout Christian, have you said prayers for Brexit?

Leadsom says her faith is a private matter.

Q: Do we need prayers?

We always do, Leadsom says.

And that’s it. The phone-in is over.

Leadsom says she has had concerns about how the EU has handled the Brexit negotiations.

She says the onus is on the EU to offer more on the backstop.

Q: Do you think the EU has bullied the prime minister?

Leadsom says she cannot comment on that. But she says she does not think Theresa May feels she has been bullied.

Q: Are we in a constitutional crisis following John Bercow’s ruling?

Leadsom says she does not see it that way.

Q: So Robert Buckland, the solicitor general, who said the country was in a constitutional crisis was wrong?

Leadsom says Buckland may have had his reasons for what he said.

But she does not see it like that.

She says she thinks a majority of MPs could vote to hold a third meaningful vote, regardless of the Bercow ruling.

And she suggests a new meaningful vote could take place next week.

Leadsom has also refused to deny a report saying she told cabinet yesterday:

This used to be the cabinet that would deliver Brexit - and now from what I’m hearing, it’s not.

She has also refused to rule out running for Conservative leader.

And she hinted that she would resign if Theresa May did opt for a nine-month article 50 extension. Asked if she would stay in government in those circumstances, she refused to give that commitment.

More from the Leadsom phone-in.