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As it happenedended

Brexit news: Theresa May insists her EU exit plan is not dead before flying to Brussels for crucial meeting

Follow the latest updates

Lizzy Buchan
Political Correspondent
Wednesday 17 October 2018 17:35 BST
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Theresa May insisted her Chequers blueprint for Brexit was not "dead" hours before she travelled to Brussels to address EU leaders at a crucial summit.

Tackling Ms May at the weekly session of prime minister's questions, Jeremy Corbyn noted she had not mentioned "Chequers" in either her conference speech or in a recent update to the Commons on the state of the negotiations.

But, in her reply, Ms May said: "He asked me if the Chequers plan was dead, the answer is no."

Arriving at the EU summit, the prime minister said she believes a deal on the UK's orderly withdrawal from the EU remains "achievable", despite the deadlock in negotiations.

Ms May was due to address leaders of the 27 remaining EU states before they discuss Brexit in her absence at the European Council on Wednesday evening.

But leaders were openly saying that there would be "no breakthrough" at the summit, which was long billed as the "moment of truth" when a deal must be done to give time for ratification by the date of Brexit on March 29.

To follow the events as they unfolded, see our liveblog below

Ashley Cowburn17 October 2018 16:49
Lizzy Buchan17 October 2018 17:04

Another breaking story - A Labour motion designed to force the government to publish its analysis of the impact of Universal Credit on people's incomes has been defeated in a Commons vote.

MPs voted 299 to 279, majority 20, against the opposition's proposal.

Here's our earlier piece on their stunt:

Lizzy Buchan17 October 2018 17:11

Lizzy Buchan17 October 2018 17:20

European leaders have started arriving for the summit in Brussels, where Theresa May will make a last-ditch attempt to agree a Brexit deal.

She told reporters that a Brexit deal is still possible and can be sealed “over the next days and weeks” as she arrives a moment-of-truth summit with EU leaders.

Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has sent this report:

Lizzy Buchan17 October 2018 17:37

That's it for The Independent's politics liveblog for the day. Thanks for following!

You can keep up with all the latest developments on our website and by following @indypolitics on Twitter.

Lizzy Buchan17 October 2018 18:02

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