Brexit news: Theresa May tells MPs to ‘get on with it’ as she turns up pressure on parliament to force through deal
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has risked the anger of MPs after she blamed them for forcing her to ask the EU for a "short delay" to Brexit.
In a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk, the prime minister asked for a three-month extension to Article 50 negotiation process, pushing the scheduled date to leave the EU from 29 March to 30 June.
However Mr Tusk put his foot down, saying he would grant the delay but only if MPs backed Ms May's Brexit deal.
Some hours later Ms May used a televised address to accuse the Commons of having tried everything to avoid making a decision on whether it wanted to leave the block with a deal, crash out without one or not leave at all.
From Downing Street she told voters she was "on your side", adding that she believed "You're tired of the infighting, you're tired of the political games and the arcane procedural rows, tired of MPs talking about nothing else but Brexit when you have real concerns about our children's schools, our National Health Service, knife crime."
"You want this stage of the Brexit process to be over and done with. I agree," she said.
In response the PM was accused of being "toxic" and even of risking her colleagues' safety.
It meant that Ms May must now find a way of putting her deal before parliament for the third time, with no clear evidence that MPs will back it after twice voting it down by crushing margins.
If the deal fails again there is a significant chance she could resign, having told MPs earlier in the day she could not be the leader to impose a lengthy delay to Brexit.
See below how we covered the day's events live
MPs' reactions to Ms May's address are not favourable.
Conservative Andrea Jenkyns said her boss had added "very little", and encouraged her to ensure that Brexit happens on 29 March regardless of parliament.
"As usual another statement saying very little," she tweeted. "PM says she regrets having to delay. Then don't do it! "It is in the Prime Minister's power to ensure we leave on the 29th, regardless of what Parliament suggests."
Fellow Tory Connor Burns tweeted in response to the speech: "What was actually the point of that?"
Lucy Powell, a member of a group of MPs who back a "Norway-plus" model for Brexit, denounced the suggestion by Mrs May that the Commons has not decided what it wants.
She wrote on Twitter that MPs have "never been asked what we want", adding: "We just keep getting asked about the same thing that we've said we don't want!"
Chuka Umunna has said The Independent Group would "not stand in the way" of Theresa May's Brexit deal if she puts it to a public vote.
On Twitter, addressing the meeting with the PM held before her address to the country, he said: ".@Anna_Soubry and I very much welcomed the chance to have a frank discussion - on behalf of @TheIndGroup - with the PM this evening on the national political crisis the UK is in, along with representatives of the other opposition groups in the House of Commons.
"We made it clear we would not stand in the way of the PM’s #Brexit deal IF she puts it to the people in a confirmatory #PeoplesVote with Remain on the ballot. At the very least a series of indicative votes should be held to determine where a majority lies in the Commons."
Former minister Sam Gyimah is not pleased at what his party leader has said.
A couple more reactions from MPs to being blamed by Ms May for the Brexit "crisis".
Our political editor Joe Watts has analysed Theresa May's speech and her endgame plan for Brexit. Her days in No10 may be numbered.
A quick reminder of what happened when Jeremy Corbyn went to meet Ms May before her speech.
He has since been criticised for acting as though he were in the Lindsey Lohan classic Mean Girls.
One MP has reacted to Ms May's blaming of parliament for the Brexit crisis by suggesting she is so intoxicated by her deal she cannot see the bigger picture.
Labour MP Lisa Nandy has accused the prime minister of "pitting parliament against the people".
She has also pointed out that Ms May attacked the very people she needs to get her deal over the line.
Her Labour colleague Pat McFadden has used the same line:
And here is a reminder of what Donald Tusk said earlier today – that any Brexit extension is conditional on MPs voting for Ms May's deal.
The PM said tonight she was still "determined" to deliver Brexit and wanted to pass her deal at the third time of asking.
Wes Streeting, of Labour, has accused the prime minister of putting MPs in danger with an "incendiary" address to voters.
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