Brexit news: Anger as government admits it will fail to strike Japan or Turkey trade pacts by exit day in event of no-deal
Updates from Westminster as they happened
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Your support makes all the difference.The government has been accused of breaking its promises after it emerged that key trade deals would not be ready by Brexit day in a no-deal scenario.
Whitehall documents reveal agreements with Japan, Algeria and Turkey will not be rubber-stamped by March 29 – despite Liam Fox’s assurance that deals would be ready at “one second after midnight”.
Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: “Brexiters promised that voting Leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.
“Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members.”
The news emerged as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “not very optimistic” that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided after meeting Theresa May.
Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay travelled to Brussels with attorney general Geoffrey Cox as the government scrambles to secure a deal, while Jeremy Corbyn and his top team were also in the Belgian capital for crunch talks.
Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives were both braced for fresh walkouts after 11 MPs formed a breakaway group in protest at the direction of their parties.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
Speaker John Bercow "is entitled to a fair hearing" following accusations of bullying, says Sir David Natzler, who steps down as clerk of the House of Commons on 1 March.
Sir David told The House magazine: "Well, there's accusations and accusations. If he had been found to have done something wrong and was irremovable in some way, that would be damaging to the organisation.
"But, I'm afraid this isn't a benign environment, and you have to differentiate between people who are accused by the press or anybody else of stuff and people who have been found to have done something wrong."
Sir David added: "Any accusation can be made. You could be accused of bullying, but it doesn't mean you've been a bully. It's as simple as that.
"Everyone has the right to have their side of the story heard if they're going to be told that they've done something wrong.
"So that applies to accusations whether it's against the Speaker or me or the youngest member of staff.
"They all are entitled to a fair hearing and to one person putting their view forward and then another and witnesses and so on. That hasn't happened."
However Sir David admitted that a "culture of excessive deference" and an "unwillingness to confront some unacceptable truths" had persisted in parliament.
Joan Ryan MP has denied claims she accessed Labour Party systems after leaving the party to join The Independent Group.
The Enfield North MP told the Press Association: "Neither I, nor my office, have accessed or used any Labour Party data since I resigned the Labour whip and my membership of the Labour Party."
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said: "We have received an initial report of a data breach from the Labour Party and will be making enquiries."
A Labour spokesperson said: "The Labour Party became aware of attempts to access personal data held on the party's systems for unauthorised use.
"Personal data the party holds about individuals is protected by law, under the GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.
"We are aware that the Information Commissioner is taking an increasingly serious view of misuse of personal data and requires a data controller to take reasonable and proportionate steps to ensure the security of data held on its systems.
"The Labour Party takes our data protection obligations extremely seriously."
The SDLP and Fianna Fail, who formed a partnership earlier this month, have called for an alliance of pro-Remain parties across Ireland "to stave off the worst outcomes of Brexit".
They set out five principles, including the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly, standing firm on the backstop, voting down a no-deal Brexit, committing to reconciliation and "reassuring unionists that constitutional change can only come about through the mechanisms outlined in the Good Friday agreement."
"It is just 36 days until Brexit and with each passing day the UK edges ever closer to crashing out of the European Union without a deal," the statement reads.
"The arithmetic in Westminster no longer allows us to leave anything to chance. Brexit can only be stopped by actions, not words or placards. Extraordinary times call for more than ordinary measures."
MPs are worried that they might lose their Easter break because of Brexit.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom failed to guarantee parliament would rise on 4 April and return on April 23, amid claims that some civil servants have been told their leave is cancelled.
Asked about the break by shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz, she said: "What I can say is we always announce recesses subject to the progress of business and that remains the case for the time being."
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