Saturday sitting of Commons could be the decision day for Britain’s departure

MPS may vote on deal on Oct 19, the day after EU summit, or hear how PM intends to deliver pledge

MPS could vote on Boris Johnson’s deal to take the UK out of the European Union the day after next week’s summit of EU leaders in a rare Saturday sitting of the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister made clear that MPS will sit on Saturday Oct 19 to set out how he wants to meet his “do or die” pledge to leave the EU by the end of this month.

The sitting will be only the fourth such sitting since the end of the Second World War.

The other occasions were in 1982 for the invasion of the Falkland Islands by Argentina, in 1956 to debate the Suez crisis and in 1949 to hold summer adjournment debates.

The summit in Brussels on Oct 17 and 18 is the last scheduled meeting of European Union leaders before Britain is supposed to leave on Oct 31. If the Prime Minister is able to get an agree- ment, it will be an opportunity for MPS – who will have to give their approval – to debate it, and perhaps even vote on it.

Otherwise, Mr Johnson is expected to set out how he plans to take Britain out of the EU at the end of the month regardless.

The prospects of an agreement were looking slim after Downing Street accused the EU on Tuesday of making it “essentially impossible” for the UK to leave with a deal.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said: “The Prime Minister has an opportunity on the 19th to announce that he has obeyed the law, signed the letter, and sent it off to Brussels to ask for the extension which will give us time to work out a sensible relationship with Europe.

“The idea that the Prime Minister will break the law yet again is something that needs to be borne in mind, here.

“We will do everything we can in Parliament, including legislating if necessary, to ensure that Parliament makes that application to obey the EU number two act, which is the one that prevents us going into a no-deal crash out on Oct 31.” The news came after Mr Johnson told a group of moderate MPS that he was desperate to get a deal but stood ready to leave the EU without a deal.

One source said that the Prime Minister made clear that if there were a delay, the Conservative Party’s manifesto

‘No deal isn’t a destination but that truth is very much part of his [Mr Johnson’s] thinking at the moment’

would say that the Tories were still seeking a deal, rather than accepting a no-deal solution.

The MP said: “Some of the reporting had suggested that there would be a manifesto which would seek a mandate for no deal, whereas the PM actually wants to get a deal.

“He was very clear in underlining that.”

Victoria Prentis, another MP who was present at the meeting, added that Mr Johnson had made clear that “no deal isn’t a destination but that truth is very much part of his thinking at the moment”.