May to update Commons on Brexit talks progress

Prime minister’s statement earlier than expected

Prime Minister Theresa May is to give a statement to Parliament today on the latest developments in Brexit talks, Downing Street announced.

The PM had been expected to deliver her statement tomorrow ahead of a Commons debate on Thursday, but her official spokesman said the earlier timing would “give Parliament a couple of days to digest the content”.

Labour will use a vote on Thursday to attempt to force Mrs May to bring her Brexit deal back to the Commons for a showdown by February 26 to prevent her “running down the clock” to the UK’s scheduled departure date of March 29. But the prime minister is expected to offer MPs a further chance to vote on non-binding amendments on February 27.

The move is aimed at postponing a rebellion by ministers who are committed to removing the possibility of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

Yesterday, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay was meeting members of the Alternative Arrangements Working Group of Tories drawn from all sides of the party who have been seeking a compromise solution to avoid the need for the controversial “backstop” to keep the Irish border open.

Mr Barclay will later travel to Brussels for talks over dinner with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson indicated he would be willing to accept a time limit on the Brexit backstop as his price for backing the PM’s Withdrawal Agreement.

But Mr Johnson insisted that

aseparate codicil setting out amendments to the backstop plan would not be “good enough”, indicating that he is holding out for changes to the text of the agreement itself.

“The argument is now about how to get out of the backstop,” Mr Johnson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“And how to make sure that the UK isn’t locked in that prison of the customs union. I think that you would need to have a time limit.”

Asked if changes to the backstop proposals could come in a separate codicil to the Withdrawal Agreement, Mr Johnson said: “I don’t think that would be good enough.”

Meanwhile, Mrs May has offered further talks with Labour in an attempt to secure cross-party consensus on Brexit.

In a letter to Jeremy Corbyn, she questioned his call for a customs union with Brussels, but offered concessions in other areas and said she wanted talks between Labour and Tory teams “as soon as possible”.

Picture: Getty Images. Theresa May had been expected to deliver her statement tomorrow.