Boris Johnson news - live: Brexit bill ‘paused’ after MPs vote for it but kill off plan for Halloween exit

Follow all the latest developments as they happened

Boris Johnson says the withdrawal agreement bill will be pulled and he will call a general election if the government loses the programme motion

MPs have voted in favour of a Brexit withdrawal bill for the first time – but killed off Boris Johnson’s proposal to ram it through Parliament, thereby derailing his plan to leave by Halloween.

The Commons voted by 329 votes to 299 – a majority of 30 – to approve the prime minister’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) in principle, six months after killing off Theresa May’s equivalent version.

However, the PM then lost a vote on his proposed timetable, which stipulated the bill would have to clear all its Commons stages by the end of Thursday in order to fulful his "do or die" pledge to exit the EU at the end of the month, by a margin of 322 to 308.

Mr Johnson then announced the legislation would be "paused", meaning that the EU will now have to grant an extension to Brexit in order to avoid the UK crashing out with no deal in nine days' time.

Key Points

• PM will pull Brexit bill if government loses timetable vote
• MPs attack 'abomination' of three-day timetable
• Labour MPs will table amendment on Final Say public vote
• Cross-party group tables customs union amendment
• Tusk says EU should treat extension request 'in all seriousness'
• Corbyn offers PM 'reasonable timetable' for bill
• Tusk to recommend EU member states approve Brexit delay

[22 October 2019 19:30 · Chiara.Giordano]

Lib Dem MP Layla Moran tweeted: "DUP in the lobbies voting No with us.

"And some LabLeaves. We HOPE we have defeated the Gov. let's see."

[22 October 2019 19:33 · Chiara.Giordano]

And the result for the programme motion is in and it has been rejected by 322 to 308, a majority of 14.

[22 October 2019 19:35 · Chiara.Giordano]

Boris Johnson has previously said he will withdraw the bill and seek a general election if he lost the vote.

[22 October 2019 19:36 · Chiara.Giordano]

The prime minister is still insisting Britain will leave the EU on 31 October.

[22 October 2019 19:39 · Chiara.Giordano]

SNP leader Ian Blackford says the House of Commons has "spoken with a very clear voice to tell the prime minister that he is not on".

He has told Mr Johnson that he is "instructed to seek an extension" and should "go to Brussels and do as you have been instructed".

[22 October 2019 19:40 · Chiara.Giordano]

Boris Johnson says the government will "pause" the Withdrawal Agreement Bill until the EU reaches a decision on a Brexit extension.

[22 October 2019 19:42 · Chiara.Giordano]

Ken Clarke has asked the prime minister to reconsider pausing the deal.

[22 October 2019 19:43 · Chiara.Giordano]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has offered a “reasonable timetable” for the bill.

He said: "The Prime Minister is the author of his own misfortune. So I make this offer to him tonight.

"Work with us, all of us to agree a reasonable timetable, and I suspect this House will vote to debate, scrutinise and, I hope, commend the detail of this Bill.

“That would be the sensible way forward, and that is the offer I make on behalf of the opposition tonight."

[22 October 2019 19:55 · Chiara.Giordano]

Mr Johnson told the Commons tonight: "Can I say in response how welcome it is, even joyful that for the first time in this long saga, this House has actually accepted its responsibilities together. Come together and embraced a deal.

"I congratulate honourable members across the House on the scale of our collective achievement because just a few weeks ago hardly anybody believed that we could reopen the Withdrawal Agreement, let alone abolish the backstop, that is indeed what they were saying.

"And certainly nobody thought we could secure the approval of the House for a new deal and we should not overlook the significance of this moment."

[22 October 2019 19:59 · Chiara.Giordano]

The chief spokeswoman for the EU Commission has said it is waiting to hear what the prime minister’s next move is.

She tweeted: “@EU_Commission takes note of tonight’s result and expects the U.K. government to inform us about the next steps.

“@eucopresident is consulting leaders on the UK’s request for an extension until 31 January 2020.”