The Prime Minister addressed the Commons this afternoon and admitted ‘as things stand there is not sufficient support’ to hold a fresh vote on her deal, quashing speculation that it would happen tomorrow. 

Now she faces a move by rebel MPs who want to pass a motion tonight to seize control of Brexit – giving them the power to hold a vote on Wednesday letting the Commons select its favorite Brexit option in so-called ‘indicative votes’.

The PM vowed to whip against the motion proposed by Remainer rebel MP Oliver Letwin and also said she could ignore MPs’ preferences if they try to force her to adopt a softer Brexit.ADVERTISING

But she offered to hold indicative votes on government time in an effort to head-off the rebellion – meaning the votes would do ahead but rebel MPs would not be in control of the process. 

That tactic looked like it could work this evening, with lead plotter Nick Boles suggesting support was slipping away from his motion.  

Mr May’s ministers have also again suggested that they could call a general election rather than be forced into a soft exit from the EU against their manifesto promises, despite a recent opinion poll suggesting just 12 per cent of the public back a new vote.

As it stands, Britain is due to leave the EU on May 22 if May’s Brexit deal passes a vote before Friday. She can still bring the vote back on Thursday, and will be hoping the prospect of a softer Brexit will bring Brexiteer MPs and the DUP onboard. If her deal is not passed before Friday, Britain is due to leave the EU on April 12.

But the Prime Minister today appeared to rule out a No Deal exit on April 12 by telling the Commons: ‘Unless this house agrees to it, No Deal will not happen.’ 

Tory MP Crispin Blunt then confronted Mrs May and said taking No Deal off the table was the ‘final torpedo’ to her deal and ‘the most shameful surrender of any British leader since Singapore in 1942’. 

MPs have already voted to rule out No Deal under any circumstances and leaks from the Cabinet suggest that ministers are still threatening to call an election if MPs try to force a soft Brexit because that option would contradict their manifesto pledges.

Mrs May made the humbling admission about her vote being axed as she faced the Commons today hours before MPs are set to vote to start taking control away of Brexit from her in a series of indicative votes tonight.

She said: ‘It is with great regret that I have to conclude that as things stand there is still not sufficient support in the House to bring back the deal for a third meaningful vote. I continue to have discussions with colleagues to build support so that we can bring the vote forward this week and guarantee Brexit’.   

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Theresa May has admitted in the Commons today that No Deal will not happen without Parliament saying so – but insists that her deal is the best deal even though she doesn’t have the support to bring it back for a third time

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO BREXIT THIS WEEK?  

 LIKELY TO HAPPEN TUESDAY:  MAY CONTINUES HER BATTLE FOR SUPPORT FOR HER BREXIT DEAL

Tuesday had been touted as a possible day for the third coming of the meaningful vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal, following heavy defeats in January and just a fortnight ago. But the DUP, whose support is key if she has any chance of getting it through the Commons, kiboshed that idea earlier and she announced it would not happen tomorrow.  With no sign that the Prime Minister is prepared to abandon the plan it means she is likely to spend the day trying to hammer out a deal with anyone receptive – if they exist.

LIKELY TO HAPPEN WEDNESDAY: MPs HOLD INDICATIVE VOTES  

The Commons is set to vote tonight to let MPs take control of Brexit. They are likely to hold a series of indicative votes on Brexit alternatives this week, most likely on Wednesday. The alternatives include a softer Brexit, a second referendum or leaving with No Deal. If one commands a majority, MPs will try to pressure Theresa May into adopting that option. But there is no binding way of making her do so. If the Commons votes against taking control in tonight’s vote Mrs May said she will make Government time available for some similar votes – which could be on Wednesday. Though some MPs remain sceptical.

COULD STILL HAPPEN THURSDAY: MAY HOLDS A THIRD MEANINGFUL VOTE ON HER BREXIT DEAL

May is likely to try and pass her Brexit deal a third time, after the EU offered a Brexit date of 22 May if she does so this week. The Prime Minister will use threats that MPs will take control and force a softer Brexit in an attempt to force Brexiteer rebels to finally back her. She may also offer them a date when she will quit in return for their support. Thursday is the most likely day for her vote, but there is a chance she won’t hold it if she still does not believe she’ll win.

FRIDAY: MPs TAKE CONTROL?

If the PM loses a third vote on her deal, MPs and Remainer Cabinet ministers will try and force her towards a softer Brexit. Brexiteer MPs and Cabinet minister will conversely try and push her towards a No Deal exit from the EU. Minister have also claimed that they could call an election if MPs try to force them into a soft Brexit. How this pans out will depend on the result of the votes tonight and on Wednesday.  Video playing bottom right…Click here to expand to full page

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Theresa May enters Parliament with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay ahead of her statement updating the Commons on her Brexit strategy. Michael Gove has denied he would want to take over from Mrs May before a cabinet meeting where she touted holding her vote again, which appeared to please Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom as she left 10 Downing Street

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These are the seven options for Brexit MPs could vote on this week if Mrs May is forced towards a softer Brexit

The seven options for Brexit Theresa May will present to MPs 

The seven Brexit options MPs may get to choose from:

:: Theresa May’s Brexit deal – The Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with Brussels that has already been rejected by MPs twice.

:: Revoke Article 50 – The cancellation of the UK’s notice to Brussels that it would leave the EU, which was given almost two years ago.

:: Second referendum – Another national poll of voters to check whether they still want to leave the EU.

:: The PM’s deal plus customs union – Labour’s Brexit plan, which would prevent Britain being able to strike its own trade deals.

:: The PM’s deal plus customs union plus single market – An even ‘softer’ Brexit plan, also known as ‘Common Market 2.0’ or ‘Norway Plus’, that would include keeping freedom of movement of people.

:: Free Trade Agreement – A trade deal between Great Britain and the EU, but excluding Northern Ireland, which would create a customs border in the Irish Sea.

:: No Deal – The country would leave the EU without striking an agreement with Brussels. 

Speaker John Bercow this afternoon confirmed that he had chosen Sir Oliver’s amendment to go to a vote. 

He also chose amendments tabled by Jeremy Corbyn, calling for indicative votes in Government time; and by Dame Margaret Beckett, which would seek to block a no-deal Brexit unless MPs vote for it. 

Mrs May had earlier told the Commons that the Government will oppose Sir Oliver’s amendment tonight paving the way for indicative votes on Brexit on Wednesday. Despite May’s opposition, Letwin’s amendment is still likely to a pass after it was narrowly defeated by two votes last week. 

The indicative votes will let MPs back a range of options including a softer Brexit, a second referendum and No Deal – but in practice the Commons is likely to back a softer Brexit. 

After ruling out a third vote on her deal tomorrow, Theresa May told MPs she could not guarantee that she would commit to implementing anything they voted for in an indicative process because they could involve an ‘outcome that is un-negotiable with the EU’.

She added: ‘No government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is. So I cannot commit the Government to delivering the outcome of any votes held by this House, but I do commit to engaging constructively with this process’.

The Prime Minister said the ‘default outcome’ remained leaving without a deal and said: ‘The alternative is to pursue a different form of Brexit or a second referendum.

‘But the bottom line remains: if the House does not approve the Withdrawal Agreement this week and is not prepared to countenance leaving without a deal, we would have to seek a longer extension.’

That would mean holding European elections and would mean ‘we will not have been able to guarantee Brexit’. 

Setting out the choices facing MPs, Theresa May said: ‘Unless this House agrees to it, no-deal will not happen.

‘No Brexit must not happen. And a slow Brexit, which extends Article 50 beyond May 22, forces the British people to take part in European elections and gives up control of any of our borders, laws, money or trade is not a Brexit that will bring the British people together.’

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Downing Street will ask MPs from all parties to help find her a Plan B as Tory rebels said their ‘isolated’ leader should ‘name a date’ for her resignation after failing to deliver Brexit for March 29.    

Mrs May is expected to hold a vote to gauge support among MPs for the seven main paths for Brexit: The PM’s deal, No Deal, a second referendum, Labour’s preferred customs union deal, a Norway-plus EEA deal, a Canada-plus free trade deal or revoking Article 50 and staying in the EU. 

Brexiteers are furious because it would give control to Parliament, where the majority of MPs are remainers who want the softest possible Brexit or no Brexit at all. 

Tory MP Steve Baker, the ERG’s deputy chairman, said today: ‘National humiliation is imminent through these indicative votes. The wrong Conservatives have the levers of power’. Michael Fabricant tweeted: ‘If this is true, has Theresa May now decided to declare open war on ALL her backbenchers’. Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh said: ‘This is the most ludicrous, childish and unrealistic idea I have ever seen. Utterly unfit’.

Treasury minister Liz Truss  also said she would oppose the move as Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were seen outside Downing Street today.

Confirming the PM’s Plan B Business Secretary Greg Clark, one of the ‘gang of four’ senior remainers in the cabinet, said: ‘If doesn’t get passed then the Government will facilitate the ability for Parliament to express a majority of what it would approve. I think that is the right step’.

The row came as the DUP appeared to shred any hopes Mrs May had of getting her deal through as Westminster leader Nigel Dodds blasted the PM’s ‘inexcusable’ TV address on Wednesday and said she was ‘far too willing to capitulate’ during negotiations with the EU. 

He said: ‘The Prime Minister missed an opportunity at the EU Council to put forward proposals which could have improved the prospects of an acceptable withdrawal agreement and help unite the country. She has now agreed with the EU to kick the can down the road for another two weeks and humiliatingly revoke her oft-stated pledge that the UK would leave the EU on March 29’.

On her decision to point the finger at MPs for the Brexit stalemate he added: ‘Lectures by the Prime Minister putting the blame on others cannot disguise the responsibility her government bears for the current debacle’. 

Earlier the Prime Minister summoned cabinet ministers including Liam Fox, Philip Hammond and Stephen Barclay to No 10 for crisis talks. Tonight she will head to Chequers and is expected to focus on wooing Tory remainers and Labour rebels after Conservative Brexiteers and the DUP appeared to desert her. 

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Brexiteer Tory leadership candidates Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were outside the Cabinet Office today as Mrs May announced her Plan B

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Earlier Mrs May summoned ministers Liam Fox, Stephen Barclay and Philip Hammond to Downing Street today as she fights to save her deal

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Deputy leader Nigel Dodds also revealed the party remains ‘very disappointed’ with Geoffrey Cox’s legal advice on the Irish backstop as pressure was heaped on the Attorney General to tweak it.

Mr Hammond is leading negotiations with the Unionist party who previously grabbed an extra £1billion of funding for Northern Ireland in exchange for its 10 MPs propping up the Government for two years until this summer. 

But Mr Dodds insisted they were not talking money and said the Chancellor was there to discuss tax issues for Northern Ireland, calling the talks ‘constructive’.

He said: ‘We are not discussing cash. From day one, our focus has been on the red line of how Northern Ireland is treated separately from the rest of the UK. 

He added: ‘For us the key problem with the Withdrawal Agreement is the Irish backstop. We have had good discussion today. Those discussions will continue’. 

He said the Government was now ‘very focused’ on addressing the issue of the backstop, adding: ‘There is a renewed focus in Government on ensuring those issues are addressed’.

There is also growing pressure on Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to change his legal advice to ease fears that Britain would be trapped ‘indefinitely’ in the Irish backstop – and Mrs May’s top lawyer was also at today’s talks with Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Cabinet Secretary David Lidington and Tory Chief Whip Julian Smith. 

Despite the DUP’s denial, insiders suggested that the Government could promise to pump more money into Northern Ireland. The party negotiated an extra £1billion of funding in exchange for supporting Theresa May in a ‘supply and confidence’ deal struck in 2017. 

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Theresa May (pictured last night) appears to have a final shot to get her Brexit deal through Parliament with the EU demanding a major ‘rethink’ on Brexit by Britain if they are to offer an extension and Philip Hammond has been in talks with the DUP today

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Powerbrokers DUP leader Arlene Foster and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke at a Washington DC gala dinner last night with Ms Foster hinting she could back Mrs May’s deal

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European Council President Donald Tusk is greeted by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in The Hague as the EU pushes for a longer delay to Brexit

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Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, pictured leaving the Commons last night, is said to be ‘updating’ his legal advice to include his view that the UK could withdraw unilaterally from the Irish backstop

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Amber Rudd arrived at No 10 Downing Street with Greg Clark and David Gauke together after they abstained in a Commons vote that saw Theresa May defeated and Mr Gauke was apparently told to resign but didn’t 

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Steve and Celine, of Claverdon, Warwickshire, inherited the 1960s family home 18 months ago from a family friend but admitted they found the property ’embarrassing’ as it was the ‘shabbiest on the street’.

They enlisted the help of George Clark and his team to bring the A-line building up to date, with a hefty £150,000 set aside to spend on the job.

But by adhering to the designs of architect Graeme Williamson, they ended up going a staggering £200,000 over budget, leaving viewers agog.

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The couple said they had a £150,000 budget to spend on bringing the 1960s A-line home up-to-date

Full-time mum-of-three Celine said the house had sentimental value as she grew up two doors down and spent much of her childhood visiting their family friend Sheila.

But having inherited it, she admitted she felt a ‘sense of dreadful shame’ every time she stood outside it and looked at its knackered paintwork and rotting timber. 

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Graeme suggested cladding the home all in one material, which didn’t go down well with Celine

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George Clark warned he thought the project could go way over budget as it was a ‘big job’

Another remarked: ‘Right I am 10 mins in #UglyHouse and it is p****** me off! “Oh I hate my gifted house, it’s ugly” Gifted!!!!! Maybe, just maybe do more than take a door off before you get a TV show in, ya snob!’

And one wrote: ‘Oh so you don’t like the house you’ve inherited? Ya boo sucks to be you doesn’t it.’

Celine’s husband Steve, a financial operations manager, said they were keen to find an innovative way to bring the house bang up to date.

Many took to Twitter to suggest they should have sold the house and bought a new one for the amount of money they spent on it.

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The Labour leader said he was ‘disappointed’ the MPs had resigned but sidestepped questions about whether he would change his approach.

Mr Corbyn has been warned by his own he must change his leadership style or face even more walkouts after the biggest split in British politics since 1981.

His intervention today ignores the warning of deputy leader Tom Watson, who refused to criticise the members of the Independent Group for their ‘premature’ decision.

Mr Corbyn even appears to be standing apart from his cloest ally in politics shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who called for a ‘mammoth listening exercise’ in the party today.

Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey and Mike Gapes left in rage at Mr Corbyn’s leadership. 

Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, Gavin Shuker, Ann Coffey and Mike Gapes left in rage at Mr Corbyn’s leadership

His intervention today ignores the warning of deputy leader Tom Watson, who refused to criticise the members of the Independent Group for their ‘premature’ decision

The Labour leader told the EEF conference in London today that anyone in Labour who did not feel they were being listened to ‘are not taking up the opportunities that are available’. 

Addressing the Make UK conference in London, Mr Corbyn said: ‘I regret that seven MPs decided they would no longer remain part of the Labour Party, I thank them for their work.

‘I hope they recognise that they were elected to Parliament on a manifesto that was based around investment in the future, was based around a more equal and fairer society and based around social justice.’

He added: ‘They were elected to carry out those policies, they decided to go somewhere else and I regret that because I want our party to be strong, I want our party to be united around the policies that we have put forward.’

Asked about Mr Watson’s call for him to work more consensually, Mr Corbyn blasted: ‘Anyone who thinks they are not being consulted are not taking up, in my view, the opportunities that are available there and open and ready for them at all times to do that.

‘I’m always prepared to discuss policies with people in the party and I do all the time.’ 

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Leading members of the European Research Group criticised an article written by the Prime Minister today in which she promises to ‘battle for Britain’ in Brussels. 

Mrs May is expected to return to Brussels this week to reopen talks on the Irish border backstop component of the divorce deal.  Her renegotiation comes after she won a Commons vote on Tuesday backing changes to the backstop. 

But rumours re-appeared today she would get no more than a legal ‘codicil’ – an extra document attached to the deal explaining why the backstop would be temporary – and not a full re-write of the protocol. 

Steve Baker, the deputy chairman of the Brexiteer ERG, warned Mrs May this would not be enough and suggested she was ‘co-opting’ his members without permission. 

As well as a full re-write of the backstop, the ERG is also unhappy with the £39billion divorce bill Britain has promised to pay.

Signally the renewed revolt today, Mr Baker said:  ‘Trouble ahead. Leave-backing MPs voted to support alternative arrangements in NI but with grave misgivings about the whole agreement.

‘Now the PM co-opts us into accepting everything but the backstop and, on the backstop, accepting a codicil.’ 

Brexiteer MP Andrea Jenkyns added: ‘No Prime Minister, we said we would support the amendment to send a message to EU re the Backstop.

‘We all said there are other issues with Withdrawal Agreement. Britain deserves a better deal.’ 

Tory Simon Clarke added: ‘I have huge admiration for Nicky Morgan for her key role in delivering the Malthouse Compromise – a challenge for both Remainers and Leavers but a way forward for us all.

‘If the Withdrawal Agreement is to pass, this is how – not talk of codicils etc.’ 

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The Labour leader has refused to meet the Prime Minister in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s devastating vote unless she rules out ever allowing a no deal Brexit to happen.

Mrs May wrote to the Labour leader tonight to say she was ‘disappointed’ at his stance – reminding him he has repeatedly insisted ‘dialogue in politics’ is crucial. Mr Corbyn has been repeatedly criticised for meeting with extremists on the grounds of peace talks.

She warned him ruling out no deal was an ‘impossible condition’ because the law meant Britain would leave the EU on March 29. Signing the deal is the only way to avoid a no deal exit short of betraying the referendum result, she said.

Jeremy Corbyn ordered his MPs not to take part in Theresa May’s desperate effort to win votes for her Brexit deal today as the stalemate in Westminster deepened. 

The Labour leader has refused to meet the Prime Minister in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s devastating vote unless she rules out ever allowing a no deal Brexit to happen.

Mrs May wrote to the Labour leader tonight to say she was ‘disappointed’ at his stance – reminding him he has repeatedly insisted ‘dialogue in politics’ is crucial. Mr Corbyn has been repeatedly criticised for meeting with extremists on the grounds of peace talks.

She warned him ruling out no deal was an ‘impossible condition’ because the law meant Britain would leave the EU on March 29. Signing the deal is the only way to avoid a no deal exit short of betraying the referendum result, she said.

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Prince Philip has been supremely fit since his Navy days and is understood to still walk or take the stairs whenever possible. 

Since his retirement in 2017, Philip has maintained his independence through driving, whether it is a car on the roads around Sandringham, or a carriage through the leafy grounds of Windsor Castle, where he spends the majority of his time.

Indeed the Duke was behind the wheel when his Land Rover collided with another vehicle near Sandringham on Thursday afternoon. 

While there is no suggestion that his health has played any part in the accident, it will no doubt prompt fresh concern surrounding his condition. 

As Rhiannon Mills, Sky’s royal correspondent, noted: ‘Obviously, the fact that he is 97 years old will bring with it its own concerns. He is of course very independent and he has been a very active man.’ 

The Duke of Edinburgh has encountered a handful of relatively minor health issues in recent years, including undergoing a hip operation in May 2018 and suffering a bladder infection the year before. 

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