We’re going to close down this live blog now – thanks for reading it and for all the comments throughout the day. Here’s a summary of the afternoon’s events:
Theresa May urged parliament to give her deal a “second look” as MPs prepare to vote tomorrow. She acknowledged it represented a compromise but warned MPs the eyes of history were upon them and characterised rejecting it as refusing to deliver the result of the referendum.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said May had failed to get the deal she wanted and said that, as she headed for a Commons defeat, the prime minister must stop trying to force MPs to vote for the deal she had settled for. Corbyn said rejection of the withdrawal agreement in parliament tomorrow, should that happen, must lead to a general election.
While she insisted the government was committed to pushing through Brexit on 29 March, May refused to categorically rule out extending article 50.
The government whip, Gareth Johnson, resigned because he was unable to support May’s deal. Johnson said it would leave the UK “perpetually constrained by the European Union”.
The Speaker, John Bercow, attacked the government over delays to the implementation of proxy voting in the Commons. The criticism followed news that a Labour MP was considering delaying the birth of her baby to vote tomorrow.
And my colleagues Heather Stewart, Jessica Elgot and Dan Sabbagh, have the full story as May appears to be heading for a crushing defeat over her Brexit deal:
My colleague, Jessica Elgot, has a little more detail on those suggestions emanating from the PLP meeting tonight that a no-confidence vote might not be far off, should May’s deal – as is expected – be voted down tomorrow:
New - A Labour source underlines that defeat in no confidence motion ≠ Labour endorses second referendum
"A public vote is *one* of the options, it doesn't say it's the preferred option or the default option. Obviously we will judge how to deal with the options."
Barry Gardiner wraps up by saying he has been “genuinely torn apart” by having to choose between leaving the EU, when that might harm the UK’s economy, and backing a second referendum, when that may be seen as patronising the electorate.
He says the Labour party’s policy is to push through Brexit while protecting the existing rights and standards the country currently enjoys. He says the government should back the same and urges MPs to reject May’s deal.
The prime minister has concluded her meeting with the Tory backbench 1922 Committee. My colleague, Dan Sabbagh, has this:
No surprise here but May did not give any indication what she would do next if her deal was vote down at the '22. Stressed that her party needed to come together to deliver Brexit and stop Corbyn..
Addressing his MPs this evening, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has signalled his belief that, as many expect, Theresa May has fallen short of the necessary support for her deal to get it through parliament.
And he reiterated that Labour would see that as grounds for her to call a general election.
Theresa May’s deal is a bad deal for our country. It fails to meet the needs of millions of our constituents facing deep insecurity and stress from a lack of good jobs, inadequate housing and chronic under-investment in their communities and futures.
Theresa May has attempted to blackmail Labour MPs to vote for her botched deal by threatening the country with the chaos of no deal. I know from conversations with colleagues that this has failed. The Labour party will not be held to ransom.
When the prime minister’s deal is defeated, she will only have herself to blame. She has spent two years negotiating with her cabinet and her bickering backbenchers instead of the EU, shutting out trade unions, businesses and parliament from the process.
The Tory party’s botched deal will be rejected by parliament. We will then need an election to have the chance to vote for a government that can bring our people together and address the deep-seated issues facing our country.
Labour MP says Corbyn performance “lacking in passion” and says he is not answering q’s on what happens next if Lab loses no confidence. “He might as having been reading out a takeaway menu or the weather forecast.”
Support for Corbyn in the room from Chris WIlliamson, Laura Smith and Hugh Gaffney, all of whom stressed urgent need for election and focus on austerity
Neil Coyle raises concern about Labour members leaving over Brexit. Others, including MEP Richard Vorbett, George Howarth, Steven Kinnock, Ben Bradshaw all asked for clarity on Lab position.
The shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, is responding to the Fox’s defence of May’s deal by saying the Leave vote was driven in part by falling living standards that, while they were in no way caused by the EU, took place during the UK’s membership of the bloc.
He says the vote was a cri de cœur and that the EU “did not present itself as a champion of the voiceless”. In response, he says Theresa May tried to appease her hard Brexit-supporting backbenchers, rather than unite the country.
While this debate is going on, the leaders of the two largest parties are meeting their backbenchers.
The PLP is meeting tonight in parliament where Corbyn is addressing Labour MPs on the eve of the vote. Over across the road in Portcullis House, the PM is going to address the 1922 committee of Tory MPs. One party definitely more united than the other, tonight at least....
According to various Westminster-based correspondents, Theresa May has just arrived at the 1922 Committee, where she was welcomed with cheering and banging of desks.
Fox has described the referendum as a “contract” with the British people that needed to be honoured.
For parliament to attempt in any way to thwart or block Brexit by any means would be an act of vanity and self indulgence that would create a breach of trust between parliament and the people, with potentially unknowable consequences.
Eighty per cent of the members of this house were elected on manifesto that said they would honour the result of the referendum and we have a duty to do so if we are to keep faith with our voters.
He was asked by the Labour MP Lucy Powell what progress he had made on the “dozens of trade deals” he claimed were awaiting sign-off after Brexit. Fox responded:
That process is going to the point where we are likely to be signing some of those agreements in the very near future, at which point we will put them to the House of Commons.
Fox is reiterating that the government’s view is that there are only three options: May’s deal, no deal or no Brexit. And he insists that, while the government will prepare for no deal, it does not want that outcome.
Fox also tells MPs he “shares many of the reservations” they have about the backstop arrangement.
But I believe they the construction of the backstop and the relationship that is set out in the political declaration means that the risk of getting to that backstop is much less than I fear the risk is of not being able to achieve Brexit. And, for me, that’s been one of the key political balances.
The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, is opening the EU withdrawal agreement debate after the Speaker, John Bercow, issued a stinging rebuke to the government, telling MPs:
I have no intention of taking lectures in doing right by parliament from people who have been conspicuous in denial of and, sometimes, contempt for it. I will stand up for the rights of the House of Commons and I will not be pushed around by agents of the executive branch.
Bercow had been asked by the Conservative MP Matt Warman about his decision to allow a debate on an amendment proposed by the Tory backbencher and former attorney general Dominic Grieve last week.
The May statement is over. A succession of Conservative MPs are now asking points of order inspired by the Sunday Times splash yesterday, suggesting that anti-Brexit MPs are plotting to change the parliamentary rules to allow motions proposed by backbenchers to take precedence over government business. John Bercow, the Speaker, is also being asked about reports suggesting that he conspired with Dominic Grieve ahead of the controversial procedural vote last week that will speed up any possible Commons vote on a Brexit plan B.
Bercow is broadly dismissing the reports, saying that the parliamentary rules on procedure are clear and that he is not involved in any plan to change them.
With regard to the meeting with Grieve, he says he meets MPs all the time.
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