Brexit news - live: MPs to vote on withdrawal bill in June as Cabinet sets summer deadline for exit
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Theresa May's cabinet has set a summer deadline for the UK finally to leave the EU, prompting speculation the prime minister could be ready to name her departure date.
The decision suggests Ms May is ready to confirm she will quit within two months when she meets Tory backbench leaders on Thursday, after she promised to quit when the first phase of Brexit is complete. She will bring forward her withdrawal agreement bill in early June to ensure Brexit happens this summer, Downing Street said.
It came after the EU told Britain that it was on a "Brexit break" but officials will meet Olly Robbins, Ms May's top Brexit negotiator tomorrow.
Elsewhere, a group of senior Tories urged Ms May to to stand firm against Labour's demands for a customs union in the cross-party talks or risk losing the support of her party's "loyal middle".
But the warning drew fury from shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who voiced fears that any agreement with Ms May would be "overturned within weeks".
Late on Tuesday Ms May met Jeremy Corbyn and both agreed that cross-party talks should continue.
However, making clear their precarious nature, the Labour leader told the prime minister he had "doubts over the credibility of government commitments, following statements by Conservative MPs and cabinet ministers seeking to replace the prime minister".
See how we covered the day's events live, below
Welcome to The Independent's politics liveblog, where we will be bringing you all the latest developments throughout the day.
Cross-party talks on a compromise Brexit deal are hanging in the balance, with Theresa May expected to come under pressure at Tuesday's Cabinet to pull the plug.
No substantive progress is understood to have been made in talks on Monday evening, as Jeremy Corbyn told Labour MPs the Government was not shifting on its red lines.
More from our political editor Andrew Woodcock:
"For the first time, senior Conservative and Labour figures are suggesting simultaneously that the negotiations are going nowhere," writes deputy political editor Rob Merrick.
Read his piece on the state of the talks:
Some 13 ex-ministers have written to the prime minister urging her not to concede to Labour over a customs union.
"We believe that a customs union-based deal with Labour will very likely lose the support of Conservative MPs, like us, who backed the Withdrawal Agreement in March ... and you would be unlikely to gain as many Labour MPs to compensate," they wrote, according to The Times.
"More fundamentally, you would have lost the loyal middle of the Conservative Party, split our party and with likely nothing to show for it.
"No leader can bind his or her successor so the deal would likely be at best temporary, at worst illusory."
Sir Michael Fallon, the former defence secretary, was one of the signatories of the letter to Theresa May.
He told Today: "They are clearly not getting anywhere.
"If they are going to include permanent membership of a customs union then, frankly, we would be better off staying in the European Union because at least then we would have a voice in the trade arrangements that are being negotiated.
"We can't say we are leaving the EU and then half stay in it. We are not going to get the benefits of leaving and we will be denied the benefits of remaining because we won't have a voice."
A top prosecutor has accused Sajid Javid of a “shocking” lack of action after he promised to investigate claims that grooming gangs are mainly men of Pakistani heritage.
The home secretary ordered the review of the “characteristics” of the gangs behind child sexual exploitation last July – saying the abuse had “disgraced our heritage”.
Story here:
Nigel Farage has done a phone-in on LBC, where he claimed his party was snatching support from Tory funders, as "life-long Conservative donors just don't see the point of the Conservative party".
He says there is huge anger from Remain voters, who are fed up with the Brexit chaos.
The Brexit Party leader said: "There will be Remain voters who vote for the Brexit Party. We have been got a candidate standing for us who voted Remain."
Jeremy Hunt has called for a huge increase in defence spending and the UK’s “hard power”, in a speech likely to win favour with Tory members in the looming leadership contest.
Delivering the annual Mansion House address, the foreign secretary praised the military might of “our great ally” the United States, under Donald Trump – and said Britain must do the same.
The potent combination of open Tory leadership campaigning and no Brexit progress seems to have sent everyone a bit mad in Westminster.
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