Brexit news: Theresa May tells MPs to ‘get on with it’ as she turns up pressure on parliament to force through deal
See how The Independent covered the day's political events
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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
Theresa May is currently meeting opposition party leaders in her House of Commons office.
She's likely to face a series of demands, including for a fresh referendum from the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Green Party and Plaid Cymru and for a softer Brexit from Labour.
It's safe to say she's almost certain to ignore all of them and re-iterate that MPs must choose between her deal and no deal...
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has tweeted to say any Brexit delay must have a "clear purpose" that has "political support" in the UK...
Ahead of their meeting with Theresa May, the leaders of the SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party released a joint statement calling on the prime minister to allow MPs to vote on revoking Article 50 if it is the only way to avoid a no-deal Brexit.
Ian Blackford, Vince Cable MP, Liz Saville Roberts MP and Caroline Lucas MP said:
“We agree that the House of Commons must formulate a plan that will give the EU Council the confidence to agree a longer extension beyond 30 June, so that by the end of next week legislation can be in place to prevent a no-deal exit.
“Parliament should now sit in continuous session until it can reach a decision and set out a clear plan.
“We will be pushing for the House of Commons to support a referendum on remaining in the EU, others will put forward their own positions.
“If the Commons cannot agree, as a last resort we would be prepared to take steps to secure a parliamentary vote on the revocation of Article 50.
“The prime minister must not be allowed to bully MPs into a choice between her bad deal and no deal. That would make Brexit a choice between disaster and catastrophe, and that would be a failure of truly historic proportions.
“The UK - and all of its people and nations - deserve better.”
Former attorney general Dominic Grieve has hit out at Theresa May, saying he has "never felt more ashamed to be a Conservative"
NEW: No10 has confirmed that Theresa May will make a statement in Downing Street at 8.15pm.
The BBC is reporting that Jeremy Corbyn walked out of tonight's meeting with Theresa May because The Independent Group's Chuka Umunna was present...
ITV hears the Labour leader said Mr Umunna was "not a proper party leader"...
Responding to reports that Jeremy Corbyn stormed out of tonight's meeting with Theresa May and other party leaders, a Labour spokesperson says:
"It was not the meeting that had been agreed and the terms were broken. Downing Street is in such chaos that they were unable to manage their own proposed meeting. We are in discussions with Number 10 about holding the bilateral meeting with the PM that Jeremy proposed at PMQs."
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has said Jeremy Corbyn's refusal to take part in the talks "a strange way to behave in a national crisis."
Chuka Umunna, spokesman for The Independent Group also called his behaviour "extraordinary".
The lectern for Theresa May's speech, bearing the governmental crest, has been set out.
An SNP MP has come out swinging at Jeremy Corbyn with a mid-2000s teen movie reference after he walked out of a meeting with Theresa May.
Stewart McDonald told the Labour leader to "get a grip".
He tweeted: "I mean honestly, nine days until the country he wants to be Prime Minister of leaves the EU and @jeremycorbyn has gone full 'you can't sit with us'. This isn't Mean Girls. Get a grip of your life, man!''
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments