Brexit today - as it happened: Theresa May says EU withdrawal is 'on course' but admits she is 'disappointed after parliamentary defeat
Tory rebels vote to give meaningful parliamentary vote on any final Brexit deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has arrived in Brussels and is set to urge European leaders to officially approve an agreement to move Brexit talks onto the second phase.
But it comes after the Prime Minister faced an embarrassing defeat in the Commons on Wednesday on the Government’s Brexit legislation.
Asked about the defeat, inflicted after 11 of her own MPs defied her instructions to oppose the amendment, Ms May said the result was “disappointing” but insisted the legislation was still making good progress in the Commons.
“I'm disappointed with the amendment but actually the EU Withdrawal Bill is making good progress through the House of Commons and we're on course to deliver on Brexit,” she told reporters in Brussels.
At a dinner later this evening with the leaders of the EU 27, the Prime Minister will repeat her case for moving the talks on to trade negotiations, which she sees as crucial to offering certainty for businesses.
They are all but certain to approve the deal to move to “phase two” on Friday, after Ms May has Brussels, launching a new stage of talks that could be hampered by divisions at home and differences with the EU.
This liveblog is now closed, but you can see all of today’s developments in Westminster and Brussels below.
Brexit questions has just started in the Commons. Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, and David Davis are responding for the Government.
Hilary Benn says it is Davis' intention to complete a free trade deal by March 2019 but claims last week that his colleague Michael Gove said this would be done during the transitional period, after Brexit day.
Davis says the Government will seek to negotiate the "substantive" part of the deal before March 2019
David Davis says a no deal scenario has become much "less probable" after last week's agreement between Theresa May and the European Commission on the terms of withdrawal.
Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, is now up. He says last night's vote was humiliating for the Government - he now seeks assurances the Government will not attempt to reverse the vote.
Davis says the Government will have "to think about how we respond" to Wednesday's evenings vote.
Anna Soubry says "nobody drank champagne" and took no pleasure in voting against the Government last night.
In other news: new Government figures show local authorities accepted 15,290 households as being statutorily homeless between July & September in England. This is up six per cent on previous quarter.
The figures, released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), also show that on September 30 the number of households in temporary accommodation was 79,190.
That's up 6% from the same date last year, and up 65% on a low point of 48,010 on December 31 2010.
Davis told the Commons that Wednesday's vote would lead to a “very compressed timetable” for ministers, adding that the Government “will have to think about how we respond to it”.
His comments came as shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer challenged him on the vote at Brexit questions.
Mr Davis said: “Let me first make an observation on last night's outcome, as he describes the result.
“The effect of it is to make the powers available under Section 9 deferred until after, as we see it, we get royal assent to the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill, which means there will be a very compressed timetable.
“Now those who want to see a smooth and orderly exit from the European Union hopefully will want to see a working statute book.
“So we will have to think about how we respond to it, but as always we take the House of Commons' view seriously and will continue to do so.”
This is from the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg. We're keeping a close eye on proceedings.
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David Davis cleared of contempt of Parliament
Commons Speaker John Bercow says MPs requests to launch contempt proceedings over the Brexit impact reports do not meet the sufficient test.
It essentially means David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, has not acted in contempt of Parliament.
He was speaking in relation to this:
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