Brexit: Leo Varadkar warns Theresa May not to renege on promises over Irish backstop to win over Conservative rebels
European leaders say they can clarify aspects of Withrawl Deal with Theresa May, but cannot re-open negotiations
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has played down expectations of a Brexit breakthrough from EU leaders after surviving a bruising no-confidence vote triggered by Tory rebels.
The prime minister travelled to Brussels to seek fresh concessions to get her Brexit blueprint "over the line" in parliament, in the wake of her decision to shelve a crunch Commons vote on the deal over fears of a catastrophic defeat.
Ms May also confirmed she would not lead her party into the 2022 election - but failed to say if she would stand down after exit day in March 2019.
See below for live updates
Backstop klaxon: Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said he expects assurances given by Theresa May on the Northern Ireland backstop to be honoured.
"What we want is an enduring assurance that there will not be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, no matter what the circumstances," he said.
"That is an assurance the UK government gave us over a year ago. The Withdrawal Agreement puts that into law and now we would like to see that agreement ratified."
He suggested Britain could lift the threat of a no-deal Brexit by suspending - or ending altogether - the Article 50 withdrawal process.
"It is possible, if the UK wishes to, to revoke Article 50 or, if that is a step too far, to seek an extension of Article 50 so that the UK parliament has more time to come together and decide what they would like the outcome to be," he said.
"It is absolutely within the gift of the United Kingdom to take no-deal off the table if they wish to."
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has been in Stockholm to attend the UN-led peace talks on Yemen, where he met delegations of both the Government of Yemen and the Houthis.
Speaking after the visit, he said: “Today’s agreement in Stockholm between the Yemeni Government and the Houthis is an important step towards ending the conflict in Yemen - the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
“We have been working with the United Nations to bring the two sides in this terrible conflict together for the first time in years, including through constructive talks with key Saudis and Emiratis during my recent visits, and regular discussions with Oman.
“Today in Stockholm, I urged both sides to seize this opportunity and reach agreements which can alleviate the dreadful suffering of the Yemeni people and bring us closer to ending this horrific war.
"It is now vital that the parties act in good faith and take urgent steps to implement these agreements. We will also discuss with our partners in New York the actions the Security Council needs to take to build on the progress achieved in Stockholm.”
European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker appears to be sending a sartorial message to the PM.
MPs will not be asked to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal before the end of this year, Downing Street has said.
A No10 spokeswoman told reporters: "The 'meaningful vote' will not be brought to parliament before Christmas."
The spokeswoman said the vote - which was scheduled for Tuesday this week but postponed by the prime minister after she accepted she would lose heavily - will come "as soon as possible in January".
The government has committed to holding it before January 21.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has responded to Theresa May's attempts to dampen expectations over her Brexit deal.
He said: "It is clear there will be no changes to the deal the PM brought back last month. Theresa May herself says she isn’t expecting a breakthrough.
“There must be no more dither and delay, or attempts to run down the clock in an attempt to deny parliament alternative options.
“People and businesses need certainty. The prime minister should put her deal before parliament next week in our country’s interest.
“She has admitted her deal is likely to be defeated by a significant margin. There is no time to waste, and parliament must take back control.”
In festive news, the Liberal Democrats have demanded Christmas be cancelled - for MPs at least - unless the meaningful vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal takes place.
Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said it was "an insult to the British people" to go on the three-week holiday leaving such an important decision unresolved.
There is no provision for a vote before the house rises on December 20.
In a letter to Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, he said: "At a time of so much uncertainty caused by this Brexit mess, it is an insult to the British people that Theresa May is happy for MPs to go on holiday without voting on the biggest issue in generations.
"People deserve better, and the Liberal Democrats demand better.
"Liberal Democrats do not believe Parliament should rise for the Christmas recess until Theresa May does what the people expect and give MPs a vote on her deal.
"Now more than ever MPs should be working to help their constituents, not least by giving them a final say on Brexit with the option to remain in the EU."
Local councils will be allowed to introduce “inflation-busting” council tax hikes under new plans announced by ministers today, Labour has warned.
James Brokenshire, the housing and communities secretary, said the new local government funding plan will see councils given permission to raise council tax by up to 3 per cent next year.
More here:
More details on the backstop: The Irish border backstop is not on the table for re-negotiation, Leo Varadkar has said.
Ireland's Taoiseach held a lengthy one-to-one meeting with Theresa May ahead of the main European Council summit of leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
He said that while the EU was keen to assist the Prime Minister, it could not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement.
Mr Varadkar said: "As the European Union we are very keen to offer explanations, assurances, clarifications, anything that may assist MPs to understand the agreement and hopefully to support it but the backstop is not on the table."
Recap: If you’re just catching up on the latest Brexit developments, here’s what has happened so far today.
After Theresa May survived the no-confidence vote yesterday evening, with 200 MPs backing her over 117 against, this afternoon No 10 said the "meaningful vote" on the Withdrawal Agreement would not now be brought to Parliament before Christmas.
A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed that it was the Government's aim to hold the vote in the Commons "as soon as possible in January".
Ms May arrived in Brussels for an EU summit, where she sought fresh assurances from EU leaders regarding the operation of the Northern Ireland backstop she admitted was required if the agreement was to get through the Commons.
But she played down the prospect of an "immediate breakthrough" during the two-day gathering.
Indeed, some of her EU colleagues were keen to remind her no more negotiations were on the table at all, and said they could only offer “clarifications”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met Ms May in Berlin on Tuesday, said: “I do not see that this Withdrawal Agreement can be changed.”
French President Emmanuel Macron made the same point: “We cannot reopen a legal agreement, we can't renegotiate something which has been negotiated over several months. We can have a political discussion in this context.”
There is no other credible fall-back solution to replace the backstop that would allay Irish fears of seeing a "corrosive" hard border on the island of Ireland, the country's foreign affairs minister has said.
Simon Coveney told a parliamentary committee on Thursday that, even though the Irish government did not want to use the insurance mechanism contained in the draft withdrawal agreement, it had to be included.
"We are all committed to ensuring that the backstop never takes effect and should it take effect, we are committed to trying to ensure that it is only temporary so that it can be replaced with something more permanent," Mr Coveney said.
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