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Brexit: Theresa May meeting EU leaders in bid to rescue deal Brexit: Theresa May meeting EU leaders in bid to rescue deal
(about 1 hour later)
Theresa May is meeting European leaders and EU officials later for talks aimed at rescuing her Brexit deal. Theresa May is meeting European leaders and EU officials on Tuesday for talks aimed at rescuing her Brexit deal.
She is holding talks with Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Germany's Angela Merkel after postponing a Commons vote on the deal.She is holding talks with Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Germany's Angela Merkel after postponing a Commons vote on the deal.
The UK PM has said she needs "further assurances" about the Northern Ireland border plan to get backing from MPs.The UK PM has said she needs "further assurances" about the Northern Ireland border plan to get backing from MPs.
European Council President Donald Tusk insisted the EU would "not renegotiate" but said leaders would discuss how to help "facilitate UK ratification". European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker said the EU would not "renegotiate" the deal but there was room for "further clarifications".
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said further talks with Brussels would focus on the Brexit "backstop" on the Irish border, which Mrs May earlier admitted had caused MPs "widespread and deep concern". The prime minister is understood to be seeking legal guarantees that the UK will not be trapped in the Northern Ireland backstop plan indefinitely.
Critics object to the backstop - a temporary customs arrangement designed to prevent the need for checkpoints at the Irish border if a long-term solution cannot be agreed - because it imposes different regulations in Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK and risks becoming permanent. Critics object to the backstop - a temporary customs arrangement designed to prevent the need for checkpoints at the Irish border if a long-term solution that avoids them cannot be agreed - because it imposes different regulations in Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
The PM's abrupt U-turn, after days of repeated insistence that the vote would go ahead, prompted Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to secure a three-hour emergency debate on Tuesday. They also object to the fact that under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, the UK can not exit the backstop without the EU agreeing.
"It cannot be right that the government can unilaterally alter the arrangements," said Mr Corbyn, who earlier accused Mrs May of "losing control of events". What is Theresa May asking for?
No date has been set for the Brexit deal to be put before MPs, although Mrs May indicated the final deadline for the vote was 21 January. Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said Mrs May was seeking to give the UK Parliament a vote on whether to enter the backstop - and an annual vote on whether the country should remain in it.
Leading Conservative Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said Mrs May lacked the "gumption" to put her "undeliverable" deal before MPs. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this could be done in an "addendum" to the withdrawal agreement, without changing the main text of it.
He is trying to get enough Tory MPs to submit letters of no confidence in the PM to trigger a leadership contest. Asked if this would be enough to satisfy critics of her deal, she said Mrs May was "absolutely determined to get a deal Parliament can vote for".
The Times reported that Crispin Blunt became the 26th MP to do so on Monday. In other Brexit developments
"I want to encourage those who are thinking about it; get it done," Mr Blunt told the paper. What next for the vote on deal?
Forty eight Conservative MPs must submit letters for any challenge to be initiated. MPs have to give the go-ahead for Mrs May's deal if it is to come into effect when the UK leaves the EU on 29 March.
Former Brexit minister Steve Baker told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is a grave decision to make but what I would say to my colleagues is: you now face the certainty of failure with Theresa May, you must be brave and make the right decision to change prime minister." But the PM did not a set a date for the issue to return to Parliament in her Commons statement on Monday.
In other Brexit developments: Mrs Leadsom suggested talks with the EU could go right down to the wire, saying: "The EU is always in a position where it negotiates at the last possible moment."
So, what next for Mrs May? Jean Claude-Juncker, who will later hold talks with Mrs May in Brussels, said: "The deal that we have achieved is the best deal possible, it is the only deal possible."
The prime minister told MPs on Monday that a number of European leaders had "indicated that they are open to discussions to find a way to provide reassurance" over the backstop. But he said there was "room enough to give further clarifications and further interpretations".
However, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it was not possible to renegotiate the Irish border backstop proposal without "opening up all aspects" of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It is not clear if that would be enough to win over Conservative Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party, whose votes Mrs May relies on to win key votes in the Commons, who have called for the entire backstop plan to be dropped.
And Mr Tusk pointed out in a tweet that time for discussion was running out. Andrea Leadsom said the prime minister had decided to pull the vote on her Brexit deal "at the last minute" after speaking to cabinet members on Monday morning on the phone.
European leaders were already due in Brussels at a summit on Thursday but Mr Tusk's spokesman said they would now meet specifically to discuss how to prepare for a no-deal scenario. Her U-turn sparked anger among MPs, who had spent three days debating the deal and had been promised the final say on it on Tuesday.
Mrs May will set off on another intense round of diplomacy before then, travelling to The Hague and Berlin to meet her Dutch and German counterparts on Tuesday. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Mrs May had "lost control of events" and a number of Tory MPs called for her stand down, saying she had lost all credibility.
She will then meet Mr Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels. More backbench Tory MPs are considering submitting letters of no confidence in the prime minister in the hope of toppling her and forcing a Tory leadership contest.
The BBC's Brussels reporter Adam Fleming said Mrs May was "trying get more legal oomph behind the language" in the withdrawal agreement about the EU using "best endeavours" to get a trade deal that would remove the need for the backstop to be used. So far 26 MPs have publicly said they have written such letters - 48 of them are needed to trigger a vote.
What do critics not like about the deal? Former Brexit minister Steve Baker told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is a grave decision to make, but what I would say to my colleagues is: you now face the certainty of failure with Theresa May, you must be brave and make the right decision to change prime minister."
Dozens of Conservative MPs had been planning to join forces with Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and the DUP to vote down Mrs May's deal. Separately, Labour is coming under pressure from the SNP and Lib Dems to call a vote of no confidence among all MPs - something only the main opposition party can do.
The Tory rebels and the DUP do not like the Northern Ireland "backstop", a legally-binding proposal for a customs arrangement with the EU, which would come into force if the two sides cannot agree a future relationship that avoids the return of customs checkpoints on the Irish border. It could lead to a general election being called - giving the public a say on who the next prime minister should be, rather than just Tory MPs.
Tory MPs say it is unacceptable because it would result in new regulatory barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and could continue indefinitely, because the UK would not be able to leave without the EU's approval. Labour want to force a general election but they have said they will not call a vote of no confidence at this stage and will wait until the prime minister holds the Commons vote on her deal, when, they say, it will stand more chance of success.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said she had told the prime minister in a phone call that the "backstop must go". However, Labour will seek to keep the pressure on the PM in an emergency debate in the Commons later on Tuesday - which was granted after the decision to call off the vote on the Brexit deal.
Will Labour now table a vote of no confidence in the PM?
Mr Corbyn had been hoping to force a general election if Mrs May had lost Tuesday's planned vote, by tabling a vote of no confidence.
In his reaction to Mrs May's announcement that the vote would be delayed, he urged the PM to stand down because her government was now in "chaos".
But Labour has rejected calls from the SNP, the Lib Dems and some of its own MPs, to call a vote of no confidence in the prime minister on Tuesday.
A Labour Party spokesperson said it had more chance of success when the deal came back before MPs.
However, Labour will seek to keep the pressure on the PM in an emergency debate in the Commons - which was granted after MPs were denied a say in the cancellation of Tuesday's vote.