Brexit news: Theresa May accuses Labour of slowing down talks as cross-party discussions continue
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has accused Labour of dragging its feet over cross-party Brexit talks as MPs return to Westminster after the Easter break.
The prime minister said the Labour Party was engaging in the talks in a “serious” way but said there were difficulties with scheduling the talks.
Jeremy Corbyn said the lack of progress was due to the government’s refusal to compromise.
“They cannot keep on just regurgitating what has already been emphatically rejected three times by Parliament, there’s got to be a change,” the Labour leader said.
Mrs May remains under considerable pressure from her own backbenchers, who remain largely dissatisfied with her leadership.
Officers of the 1922 backbench committee met on Tuesday evening to discuss changing the party’s rules.
A rule change could allow MPs to challenge Ms May’s position as leader as early as June.
Nigel Evans, the committee’s secretary said Theresa May should announce her resignation “today” in order to break the Brexit impasse.
“I hope she does accept the fact the call for her resignation now is growing into a clamour,” he said.
But prisons minister Rory Stewart backed Mrs May as “our best hope” of resolving Brexit.
He told BBC’s Today programme that “the problem is not the Prime Minister, the problem is Brexit”.
If you would like to see how the day in Westminster unfolded please see what was our live coverage below:
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to give a statement to the Scottish Parliament about plans for Scottish independence on Wednesday.
The First Minister is reported to have requested time to address parliament during Wednesday afternoon about Scotland's future and a potential independence referendum.
Ms Sturgeon said in January that she would set out her timetable for another vote in a "matter of weeks", but remained tight-lipped in light of ongoing Brexit uncertainty at Westminster.
Before the parliament's recess, Ms Sturgeon revealed that she would set out her plans for a second Scottish independence referendum after "this phase of the Brexit negotiations".
With the EU granting a six-month extension of Article 50, the First Minister is now expected to elaborate on the SNP's plans ahead of the party's conference at the weekend.
A Scottish Parliament spokesman said that, if the First Minister had requested the opportunity to address MSPs, any rescheduling to Wednesday's business would be confirmed by lunchtime on Tuesday.
On Tuesday morning Ms Sturgeon was meeting with cabinet colleagues and no one from her office could be reached for comment.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The First Minister has made clear she will update the Scottish Parliament after the Easter recess."
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to give a statement to the Scottish Parliament about plans for Scottish independence on Wednesday.
The First Minister is reported to have requested time to address Holyrood tomorrow about Scotland's future and a potential independence referendum.
Ms Sturgeon said in January that she would set out her timetable for another vote in a "matter of weeks", but remained tight-lipped in light of ongoing Brexit uncertainty at Westminster.
You can watch the Brexit Party's launch of a tranche of new candidates here.
Nigel Farage has pledged to target Labour voters as leader of the Brexit Party.
Speaking at the campaign event, which you can watch in the post below, to announce five new candidates, he said the party was already "doing very well" with Conservative supporters.
The former Ukip leader said: "There are five million people that voted for Jeremy Corbyn and voted for Brexit as well and that's going to be our task.
"I think we will go on squeezing the Conservatives and squeezing Ukip down to virtually nothing.
"We're going to go after that Labour vote in a very big way."
John Bercow has said a request for Donald Trump to address Parliament during a state visit would be "considered in the usual way", but did not say whether such a request had yet been received.
"Should a request be made to address the Houses of Parliament, it will be considered in the usual way," a spokeswoman for the Speaker's Office said.
It comes following reports Buckingham Palace is set to announce in the coming days a state visit for the US president, an event which would likely trigger more mass protests across the UK, where Mr Trump remains highly unpopular.
"The only way the next six months are to not be wasted is if Westminster, and the rest of the country, do not allow the Brexiteers anywhere near Brexit. They are fundamentally malignant, and too useless to do anything," says The Independent's political sketch writer Tom Peck.
Read more...
It appears Rachel Johnson, sister of Boris, and former BBC presenter Gavin Esler are both standing as MEP candidates for Change UK, the new pro-Remain party set up by The Independent Group of MPs.
A vote to leave the EU is so important, so life-changing for the next two generations that I am impelled to stand up and be counted for what I believe in, which is that we are far better in Europe," Rachel Johnson has told the Evening Standard.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish schoolgirl who has inspired a worldwide series of school strikes in protest at climate change inaction, is in Westminster, where she will later address MPs.
It comes a day after the 16-year-old spoke at Marble Arch to Extinction Rebellion demonstrators, who have protested the government's lack of urgency in tackling climate change. More than 1,000 activists have been arrested over the past eight days.
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