Jeremy Corbyn to meet PM to discuss way forward on Brexit

Having boycotted earlier cross-party talks, the Labour leader said he was ready to discuss a “sensible” approach to Brexit after MPs voted on Tuesday night to rule out no-deal.

But the prospect of a deal being secured by the scheduled departure date of March 29 appeared remote as the EU set its face firmly against reopening the Withdrawal Agreement it reached with Mrs May in November.

MPs voted by a margin of 317 to 301 to back a plan - the “Brady amendment” - which requires the PM to replace the Agreement’s controversial backstop with “alternative arrangements” to keep the Irish border open after Brexit.

But asked five times on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme what this “alternative” involved, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay was unable to provide any specific explanation.

Mr Barclay said the UK was “exploring in terms of the use of technology ... looking at things like the time limit” to deal with the backstop.

He added: “There are a number of options, there are issues in terms of having time limits, issues in terms of exit clauses, issues in terms of technology, and this will be the nature of the negotiation with the European Union in the coming days.”

Downing Street has suggested that the UK’s position could involve a time-limit or exit clause to the backstop or swapping it for a free trade agreement, as proposed in the so-called Malthouse Compromise drawn up by MPs from the Tories’ Remain and Leave wings.

There was no immediate announcement of any plan for Mrs May to visit Brussels, where MEPs were due to debate Brexit after an address from European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mr Juncker met the European commissioners on Wednesday morning to discuss new plans for dealing with a no-deal Brexit, said a spokesman.

A spokesman for European Council president Donald Tusk announced that he will speak by phone with Mrs May on Wednesday evening.

Following Tuesday night’s votes in the House of Commons, Mr Tusk’s spokesman said: “The Withdrawal Agreement is and remains the best and only way to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the European Union.

“The backstop is part of the Withdrawal Agreement, and the Withdrawal Agreement is not open for re-negotiation.”

Brussels’ chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters that the EU’s position was “very clear”, while Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the backstop remained “necessary” and French President Emmanual Macron said the Withdrawal Agreement was “not renegotiable”.

The European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said there was “no majority to re-open or dilute” the Withdrawal Agreement.

Mr Barclay claimed that Tuesday night’s amendments, two weeks after Mrs May suffered the heaviest parliamentary defeat in modern history over the meaningful vote, had “overturned a defeat of 230 into a victory”.

But there was concern from the business community, with CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn describing the Brady amendment as “a throw of the dice” and warning that firms were having to accelerate expensive no-deal preparations.

Tuesday’s votes saw members of the European Research Group of Tory Eurosceptics, led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, swing behind the Prime Minister to hand her victory just weeks after consigning her Brexit Plan A to a record Commons defeat.

While Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the Conservatives had shown they “can and will come together in the national interest”, signs of division in the party remained as Tory former minister Anna Soubry said she finds her “party drifting to the right”.

Mr Rees-Mogg made clear on Wednesday that he remains prepared to see the UK leave without a deal on March 29 if the EU refuses to reopen negotiations.

“If (the EU) think the Withdrawal Agreement is non-negotiable then we will have to leave without an agreement,” he told TalkRadio. “Do they want the £39 billion, do they want an agreement ... or us just to leave? It’s up to them.”

Labour’s Ian Murray, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second EU referendum, said: “The PM is going to Brussels to demand alternative unicorns to the Northern Irish backstop but can’t tell anyone what these alternatives are.

“That’s because there isn’t an alternative. Her only aim is to look after her party at the expense of the country.”

MPs supported a cross-party amendment opposing a no-deal Brexit by 318 votes to 310. But while this will place political pressure on the Prime Minister, it is not legally binding on the Government, unlike the legislation which remains on the statute book naming March 29 as exit day.

Those determined to prevent no-deal or delay Brexit will have a further opportunity no later than February 14, when Mrs May has promised the Commons a further opportunity to vote on her plans.

There were recriminations on the Labour side after 14 MPs rebelled to vote against an amendment from Yvette Cooper which would have given Parliament the power to direct the Brexit process, potentially delaying withdrawal until the end of the year.

Leading Labour Remainer Chuka Umunna said: “There is no point claiming you are opposed to a ‘no deal’ Brexit if you are not prepared to will the legal means to stop it happening.”

Shadow cabinet minister Barry Gardiner insisted that Mr Corbyn has not backtracked by agreeing to speak with Mrs May while no-deal Brexit remains a possibility.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “Parliament yesterday explicitly said that they did not want no deal to happen and the Prime Minister, when it came to the summing-up after the debate, accepted that that was the will of the House.

“She has said she will be coming back in two weeks’ time, she hopes, with something from Europe, but there will be another opportunity at that stage if she has run down the clock further, for a legislative vehicle to then be put in place by Parliament to avoid no-deal.”