Prime Minister Theresa May has presented her deal on Britain’s EU withdrawal to the Commons.

Dominic Raab sensationally quit as Brexit Secretary on Thursday morning, in a massive blow to the PM’s plans.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey then followed suit.

Later, Jacob Rees-Mogg submitted a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee.

Here’s the latest:

6.15pm

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt arrives at 10 Downing Street
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt arrives at 10 Downing Street (Victoria Jones/PA)

6.13pm

Mrs May said she believed MPs in her party would back her deal – despite having suffered a series of resignations and submissions of no confidence letters in the hours before her speech.

She said: “I think what the British people want us to do, and I believe what MPs will do when it comes to the vote in the House of Commons, is focus on the fact people have voted to leave and focus on how we do that in a way that’s best for the UK.

“I’m committed, as Prime Minister, to bringing the best deal back to the UK.

“I think MPs across my party who look at that deal will recognise the importance of delivering on the vote of the British people and recognise the importance of doing that in a way that does protect people’s jobs, protect security and protect the unity of our United Kingdom.”

6.09pm

Mrs May said there were two inescapable facts about the Brexit deal and nobody had put forward any alternative proposal that dealt with them.

She said: “One simple fact remains and that is that nobody has produced any alternative proposal which both delivers on the referendum and also ensures there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

“There is another inescapable fact – there is no deal which can be agreed with the EU that does not involve a backstop to act as an insurance policy against a return to the borders of the past in Northern Ireland.

“All the other approaches – Norway, Canada Plus – would all require a backstop.

“And the alternative of repudiating that backstop would not only mean reneging on a promise to the people of Northern Ireland but it would also collapse the negotiations and end hopes of securing a deal.”

5.56pm

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, a Cabinet Brexiteer, is due to see the Prime Minister this evening, sources said.

5.56pm

Mrs May likened her determination to stick to her course to her cricketing hero – former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott.

“What do you know about Geoffrey Boycott? Geoffrey Boycott stuck to it and he got the runs in the end,” she said.

5.55pm

Theresa May takes a sip of water as she holds a press conference at 10 Downing Street
Theresa May takes a sip of water at the press conference at 10 Downing Street (Matt Dunham/PA)

5.53pm

The Prime Minister praised Michael Gove for his work at Defra but confirmed she had not yet appointed a new Dexeu Secretary.

She said: “Michael has done an excellent job at Defra, particularly in his defence of the fishing industry.

“There are some very important elements of the outline political declaration which recognise the UK will be an Independent Coastal State in the future.

“Fishing is an issue that matters to people and Michael has been doing an excellent job in ensuring we are delivering on that commitment that we have to come out of the Common Fisheries Policy.

“I have not yet appointed a new Dexeu Secretary yet and I will of course be making appointments to the Government in due course.”

5.48pm

Asked if she would contest a confidence vote and carry on as Prime Minister if she won by a single vote, Mrs May said: “Leadership is about taking the right decisions, not the easy ones.

“As Prime Minister my job is to bring back a deal that delivers on the vote of the British people, that does that by ending free movement, all the things I raised in my statement, ending free movement, ensuring we are not sending vast annual sums to the EU any longer, ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, but also protects jobs and protects people’s livelihoods, protects our security, protects the Union of the United Kingdom.

“I believe this is a deal which does deliver that, which is in the national interest and am I going to see this through? Yes.”

5.47pm

Mrs May acknowledged the agreement had involved “difficult and sometimes uncomfortable decisions”.

“I understand fully that there are some who are unhappy with those compromises but this deal delivers what people voted for and it is in the national interest,” she said.

“We can only secure it if we unite behind the agreement reached in Cabinet yesterday.

“If we do not move forward with that agreement nobody can know for sure the consequences that will follow.

“It will be to take a path of deep and grave uncertainty when the British people just want us to get on with it. They are looking to the Conservative Party to deliver.”

5.41pm

Mrs May said: “I believe with every fibre of my being that the course I have set out is the right one for our country and all our people.

“From the very beginning I have known what I wanted to deliver for the British people to honour their vote in the referendum.”

5.40pm

Prime Minister Theresa May holds a press conference at 10 Downing Street
Prime Minister Theresa May holds a press conference at 10 Downing Street (Matt Dunhaml/PA)

5.39pm

At a news conference in Downing Street, Theresa May said: “Serving in high office is an honour and privilege.

“It is also a heavy responsibility – that is true at any time but especially when the stakes are so high.”

The Brexit negotiations are “a matter of the highest consequence”, she said, touching “almost every area of our national life”.

5.07pm

Business Secretary Greg Clark backed the withdrawal agreement in a speech on energy policy, pointing to co-operation on energy as an “obvious example” of the value for participants of being in a broad and deep market.

“That’s something that should be prized and it’s one of the reasons I hope the proposals that have been agreed will be endorsed by Parliament,” he said.

4.40pm

4.38pm

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley urged political colleagues to “get behind the Prime Minister”.

Ms Bradley, a firm Theresa May ally, met with senior business figures in Belfast in a bid to convince them of the merits of the deal.

In a press conference, the Conservative MP was asked if the events at Westminster resembled a “car crash”.

“I wouldn’t describe it that way at all,” she replied. “I would describe it as a very difficult decision and Government takes difficult decisions and this is probably one of the most difficult decisions that Government faces.”

She added: “It’s not easy, nobody ever said this would be easy, but the Cabinet has decided and those people who served very, very well as secretaries of state and ministers who have decided they can’t support the deal, well quite rightly collective responsibility requires them to support the deal and therefore they have to leave Government.

“But the majority of the Cabinet is behind it, the remaining members of the Cabinet are absolutely behind this deal and what we need to do now is get behind the Prime Minister and get that deal sorted in the November (European) Council.”

4.34pm

Responding to Donald Tusk’s suggestion that the EU is prepared for a “no Brexit” scenario, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: “It’s good to see that ‘no Brexit’ is clearly on the table from the EU.

“Any sensible government would be contingency planning for no Brexit, and I am pleased to see that the EU is now planning for it too.”

4.03pm

3.46pm

European Council president Donald Tusk has appeared to express the hope that Brexit could still be averted.

“The EU is prepared for a final deal with the United Kingdom in November,” he told a news conference in Brussels.

“We are also prepared for a no-deal scenario but of course we are best prepared for a no-Brexit scenario.”

3.45pm

Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones said he and his Scottish counterpart Nicola Sturgeon had written to the Prime Minister calling for an urgent meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee of leaders of the UK’s constituent nations.

A copy of the letter read: “The UK Government’s handling of the deal reached is symptomatic of the chaotic approach to the negotiations and the lack of any meaningful engagement with the devolved administrations.”

It continued: “We continue to make the point at every opportunity that the UK Government cannot agree the UK’s position on the Withdrawal Agreement or the future relationship with the EU27 without the input of the devolved administrations.”

The letter added: “Given the future relationship will cover a number of matters within our devolved competence and crucial matters that will impact on the citizens of Wales and Scotland, it is essential we are involved.”

3.30pm


3.20pm

South East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray submitted a letter of no confidence in Mrs May.

“I have lost confidence in the Brexit policy of the Prime Minister and have therefore written to the chairman of the 1922 Committee asking for a vote to take place over her leadership,” said Mrs Murray.

3.10pm

Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti resigned as Conservative vice-chairman and prime ministerial trade envoy to Pakistan.

In his letter of resignation, he said he was quitting both because he cannot support the draft withdrawal agreement and because he was disappointed by the “lack of leadership” shown by the Government in the case of Asia Bibi, who was accused of blasphemy in Pakistan.

3.10pm

MSPs at Holyrood will get the chance to vote on the Brexit deal before the UK Parliament does, Scottish Constitutional Relations Secretary Mike Russell said.

He said that while Mrs May’s deal was “essentially dead” after it prompted a string of resignations from her Government, the Scottish Parliament would have a symbolic vote on it.

In a statement to Holyrood, Mr Russell said: “The Scottish Government will bring the deal, if agreed at the Brussels Summit on November 25, to this chamber for a vote, before a vote takes place in the House of Commons.”

2.50pm

2.20pm

Steve Baker, a fellow European Research Group member who stood next to Mr Rees-Mogg as he gave his statement, tweeted a picture of his letter of no confidence in Theresa May, sent last month to the chairman of the 1922 Committee.

2.15pm

Theresa May
Prime Minister Theresa May has returned to Downing Street following her statement on Brexit (Nick Ansell/PA)

2.06pm

Chief Whip Julian Smith has said the Prime Minister would not abandon the withdrawal agreement in the face of widespread opposition among MPs.

Leaving Downing Street, he told reporters: “The Prime Minister is moving things on in the best interests of the country.

“The Prime Minister will not be bullied and will not change course.”

2.05pm

Jacob Rees-Mogg
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking outside Parliament (PA)

Mr Rees-Mogg said that he believed the necessary 48 letters to trigger a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister would be submitted, but declined to put a timeframe on the process.

If Mrs May was rejected by MPs, a vote to choose her successor could be conducted in “not months but weeks”, he said.

Asked why he was defying calls for party unity, he said: “People always call for unity when the policy they are following is wrong. It is a standard pattern of Conservatives when they note that failure is in the air.”

He said that Dominic Raab should not be blamed for the deal negotiated with Brussels, as it was clear that the process was driven by Downing Street. There was no point appointing a new Brexit Secretary, he said.

1.50pm

Mr Rees-Mogg declined to name his preferred candidate for leader.

But he listed Boris Johnson, David Davis, Dominic Raab, Esther McVey and Penny Mordaunt as potential candidates to succeed Mrs May.

1.47pm

Speaking outside Parliament, Jacob Rees-Mogg denied he was attempting a “coup” against Theresa May.

He said a coup involved using “illegitimate procedures” to remove someone from office, while he was making use of Conservative Party rules in an “entirely constitutional” way.

Mr Rees-Mogg said he was not putting himself forward as an alternative leader of the Tories.

“I am not offering my name as leader,” he said.

And he added: “This is nothing to do with the ambition of Brexiteers. It is everything to do with the ambition of Brexit for this country.”

Discussing Mrs May’s plan, he said: “This is not Brexit. It is a failure of Government policy. It needs to be rejected.”

1.45pm

Prominent Eurosceptic Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns, who previously threatened to trigger a leadership contest over the Prime Minister’s Brexit plans, said it was “time to save Brexit and our party with a new leader”.

1.32pm

Meanwhile, a protester who was blocking the road outside the Houses of Parliament has been removed by police.

Brexit protest
(Nick Ansell/PA)
Brexit protest
(Nick Ansell/PA)

1.30pm

Theresa May’s Brexit statement to the Commons came to an end after nearly three hours.

Some of the Tory MPs in the chamber cheered as the PM answered the final question.

Her statement began at 10.30am and finished at 1.28pm.

1.25pm

Jacob Rees-Mogg has handed in his letter of no-confidence to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, saying Theresa May’s Brexit deal “has turned out to be worse than anticipated and fails to meet the promises given to the nation by the Prime Minister”.

1.10pm

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll indicated almost half of voters now back a second Brexit referendum.

Support for a fresh vote on EU withdrawal was backed by 48% in a survey carried out after Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement text was published on Wednesday night.

The poll, commissioned by the People’s Vote and published in the London Evening Standard, found that just 34% were against a new vote.

With “don’t know’s” removed the ratio was 59%-42% in favour of a new referendum. If Mrs May’s deal is voted down by MPs, that gap widened to 64%-36%, excluding don’t knows.

It also found voters were split 54%-46% in favour of remaining in the EU. Little more than one in 10 (12%) believed that the UK was going to get a good deal with the EU.

The poll surveyed 1,153 people.

1.05pm

Brexit-backing Tories in the European Research Group have gathered for a meeting in Parliament.

A loud banging of tables could be heard from outside. The meeting is being chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Former minister Sir Edward Leigh said “very possibly” there would be enough letters submitted to the 1922 Committee today, although he will not send one.

There was a “genuine difference of opinion”, he said.

1pm

Jacob Rees-Mogg is to submit a letter of no-confidence in the leadership of Theresa May, a European Research Group spokesman has said.

He earlier threatened the PM with a vote of no confidence during the Commons debate.

12.50pm

Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena has quit his post as a parliamentary private secretary in the Ministry of Justice, telling the Prime Minister that her EU withdrawal agreement “does not deliver a good and fair Brexit”.

The North-East Hampshire MP, who had served at the non-ministerial rank of PPS since January this year, backed Leave in the 2016 referendum campaign.

In a letter to Mrs May, he said: “A good and fair Brexit must be good for those with close links to the European Union, be that family or business, but it must be fair to those who voted to leave the EU also – taking back control of our laws, our borders and our money.

“This draft agreement does not do that.”

12.45pm

Shortest-serving Cabinet ministers since 2010
(PA Graphics)

12.40pm

Theresa May dismissed suggestions she should step aside, after Labour’s Mike Gapes asked: “Isn’t it time she recognised reality and after all the prodigious efforts stood aside for someone else who could take this country forward in a united way?”

But the Prime Minister replied simply: “No.”

12.30pm

As the debate continued in the Commons, Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) suggested Mrs May should step down following her own transition period.

He told the PM: “The Prime Minister is well known for her dancing – sadly having seen the withdrawal agreement it’s now clear whose tune she’s been dancing to.

“(Mrs May) campaigned for Remain, she voted Remain, now surely it’s in the national interest for her to leave – perhaps following a short transition period.”

Mrs May replied: “Can I note the way in which he carefully tried to weave into his question various references to matters that are not perhaps entirely relevant to the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration.”

The PM said every MP will have a decision to take when the deal is before them.

12.10pm

Explaining his resignation, Dominic Raab said he believed Theresa May should stay on as Prime Minister but change course over Brexit.

“I have been fighting for a good Brexit deal but the terms proposed to the Cabinet yesterday had two major and fatal flaws,” he told the BBC.

“The first is that the terms being offered by the EU threaten the integrity of the UK.

“The second is that they would lead to an indefinite, if not permanent, situation where we are locked into a regime with no say over the rules and the laws being applied, with no exit mechanism.

“I think that will be damaging for the economy but devastating for public trust in our democracy.”

He said he still respected the Prime Minister and held her in “high esteem” adding: “I think she should continue but I do think we need to change course on Brexit.”

11.50am

11.35am

Leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg directly raised the spectre of a leadership challenge to Mrs May.

Mr Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group, highlighted areas of the deal where he said the “honourable” Prime Minister had reneged on promises over leaving the customs union, maintaining the internal integrity of the UK and leaving the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

He told MPs: “As what my right honourable friend says and what my right honourable friend does no longer match, should I not write to my right honourable friend the member for Altrincham and Sale West?”

This was a reference to Sir Graham Brady MP, the chairman of the Tory 1922 committee, to whom MPs must write to express no confidence in a leader in order to trigger a challenge.

Mrs May replied that “some difficult choices have had to be made” to avoid a hard border on Ireland, adding: “It is not only our intention, but we will be working to ensure that protocol does not have to be put into place.”

Tory leadership
(PA Graphics)

11.20am

Back in the Commons, the Democratic Unionist Party’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds tore into the Prime Minister over her deal’s handling of Northern Ireland.

He told MPs: “I could today stand here and take the Prime Minister through the list of promises and pledges she made to this house and to us, privately, about the future of Northern Ireland in the future relationship with the EU.

“But I fear it would be a waste of time since she clearly doesn’t listen.”

Mr Dodds, the DUP’s leader in Westminster, went on to praise the five ministers who quit on Thursday morning, saying: “The choice is now clear: we stand up for the United Kingdom, the whole of the United Kingdom, the integrity of the United Kingdom, or we vote for a vassal state with the breakup of the United Kingdom, that is the choice.”

Mrs May responded saying the deal ensured that “we are preserving the integrity of the United Kingdom”, adding: “The backstop is something which nether side, neither the United Kingdom nor the European Union wish to ever see being exercised.”

11.15am

Meanwhile, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan urged all MPs to “please vote against this bad deal” and repeated his call for a second public vote on Brexit.

11.05am

He said: “In fact the list of EU measures that continue to apply to the UK in respect of Northern Ireland runs to 68 pages of the agreement, this affects VAT declarations and rules of origin checks.”

Mr Corbyn also said it was “clear the Prime Minister’s red line regarding jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice had also been torn up”.

He said: “By 2021 under the Prime Minister’s plan, we will either be in a backstop or still in transition.

“It is utterly far-fetched for the Prime Minister to say this plan means we take control over our laws, money and borders.”

Jeremy Corbyn
(PA)

11am

Mr Corbyn went on: “The withdrawal agreement is a leap in the dark – an ill-defined deal by a never-defined date.”

The Labour leader told MPs that the backstop “insurance policy”, as Mrs May put it, would create a “de facto border down the Irish Sea”.

10.52am

Jeremy Corbyn
(PA)

Mr Corbyn described the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration as a “huge and damaging failure”, adding: “After two years of bungled negotiations the Government has produced a botched deal that breaches the Prime Minister’s own red lines and does not meet our six tests.

“The Government is in chaos. Their deal risks leaving the country in an indefinite halfway house without a real say.

“When even the last Brexit Secretary, who theoretically at least negotiated the deal, says ‘I cannot support the proposed deal’, what faith does that give anyone else in this place or in this country?

“The Government simply cannot put to Parliament this half-baked deal that both the Brexit Secretary and his predecessor have rejected.

“No deal is not a real option and the Government has not seriously prepared for it.”

10.50am

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is responding to the Prime Minister’s statement.

10.45am

Brexit
The scene in the Commons during the PM’s statement (PA)

10.43am

In her statement to the Commons, Mrs May said that the draft treaty agreed by Cabinet on Wednesday was not a final agreement, but brings the UK “close to a Brexit deal”.

There was laughter as she said that it would allow the UK to leave “in a smooth and orderly way” on March 29.

“It takes back control of our borders, laws and money. It protects jobs, security and the integrity of the United Kingdom, and it delivers in ways that many said could simply not be done,” said the PM.

“We were told we had a binary choice between the model of Norway and the model of Canada, that we could not have a bespoke deal.

“But the outline political declaration sets out an arrangement that is better for our country than both of these – a more ambitious free trade agreement than the EU has with any other country.

“We were told we would be treated like any other third country on security co-operation.

“But the outline political declaration sets out a breadth and depth of co-operation beyond anything the EU has agreed with any other country.”

Brexit
(PA)

10.37am

Mrs May said that the agreements reached in negotiations on Britain’s future relations with the EU offered a “breadth and depth of co-operation beyond anything the EU has agreed with any other country”.

10.33am

Addressing MPs, Mrs May paid tribute to Dominic Raab and Esther McVey, who have resigned from her Cabinet.

She said: “Delivering Brexit involves difficult choices for all of us. We do not agree on all those choices, but I respect their views.”

10.31am

Theresa May is making a statement in the Commons.

10.30am

Anne-Marie Trevelyan has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Education, saying she cannot support the Brexit deal after negotiations “built on the UK trying to appease the EU”.

10.29am

Suella Braverman has resigned as a Brexit minister, her office said.

10.27am

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable responds to the resignations.

10.25am

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took a swipe at the Universal Credit scheme following Ms McVey’s exit.

10.20am

10.15am

As two ministers resigned from the UK Cabinet, European Commission chief negotiator Michel Barnier tweeted…

10.10am

In a resignation letter, Ms McVey cited concerns over the future of the Union and a lack of control over money, law, borders and trade policy under a deal she felt kept the UK too close to Brussels.

The Tatton MP wrote: “The British people have always been ahead of politicians on this issue, and it will be no good trying to pretend to them that this deal honours the result of the referendum when it is obvious to everyone that it doesn’t.

“We have gone from no deal is better than a bad deal, to any deal is better than no deal.

“I cannot defend this, and I cannot vote for this deal. I could not look my constituents in the eye were I to do that.

“I therefore have no alternative but to resign from the Government.”

10.05am

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has resigned, saying the Brexit deal “does not honour the result of the referendum”.

10am

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: “The Government started Britain on a journey with no actual idea of their route or their destination. The Conservative Government is in meltdown and it’s clear the Conservatives are now driving the country off a cliff.

“The Tories are finally realising what we have always known. There is no way to prevent Brexit from leaving our country worse off.

“A People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, where they can choose to remain in the EU, is the only route out of this uncertainty. It is time people had the power to end this mess.”

9.40am

Brexit graphic
(PA Graphics)

9.35am

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “This is now an incredibly serious situation. The Prime Minister’s Brexit deal has fallen at the first hurdle.

“When Theresa May makes her statement to Parliament this morning she can’t stand up and say ‘nothing has changed’. She needs to urgently to rethink her approach.”

9.12am

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage congratulated Mr Raab for his resignation and called for more to follow.

9.10am

Remain-backing Conservative MP Anna Soubry said Mr Raab’s resignation marks “the end” of Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement, and called for a government of national unity.

9.05am

Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to confirm or deny reports that he told Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting he “could not guarantee that people would not die” if no Brexit deal was agreed.

He told the Today programme he would not go into what people had said behind closed doors, but said the prospect of no deal was “not pretty” for healthcare.

Matt Hancock leaves 10 Downing Street
Matt Hancock leaves 10 Downing Street (Victoria Jones/PA)

9am

Dominic Raab has resigned as Brexit Secretary, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the terms proposed for our deal with the EU”.

8.40am

Esther McVey
Esther McVey leaves her home in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, who was said to have argued against the Brexit agreement and called for a Cabinet vote, was tight-lipped on the matter on Thursday morning.

“Thank you and good morning,” she said as she left her London flat.

8.15am

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said that Mrs May’s plan had only seven pages out of more than 500 looking at the future relationship with the EU, of which three were on trade.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “There is nothing in there about a comprehensive customs union and if you look at those seven pages, it must be the first time in history that what is proposed is a trade agreement that makes it harder to trade, not easier to trade.”

8.00am

At the conclusion of the press conference in Brussels, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said: “This is a very important moment. What we have agreed at negotiators’ level is fair and balanced, takes into account the UK’s positions, organises the withdrawal in an orderly fashion, ensures no hard border on the island of Ireland and lays the ground for an ambitious new partnership.”

Mr Barnier said he would now travel to Strasbourg to discuss the agreement with the European Parliament, adding: “We have no time to lose.”

7.45am

Shailesh Vara has quit as Northern Ireland Minister, saying he cannot support Mrs May’s Brexit agreement, which he said “leaves the UK in a halfway house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation”.

7.30am

The European Council will hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels on November 25 to finalise the UK’s withdrawal agreement, council president Donald Tusk has announced.

Speaking alongside EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier at a press conference in Brussels, Mr Tusk said Brexit was a “lose-lose situation” for the UK and EU, and sent a message to the British people: “As much as I am sad to see you leave, I will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible, for you and for us.”

Belgium EU Brexit
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier delivers the draft withdrawal agreement to European Council president Donald Tusk in Brussels (Francisco Seco/AP)