Tony Connelly - the Europe editor of Irish broadcaster RTE - has suggested Article 50 could only be extended if the House of Commons accepted the Irish backstop proposal - a red line for the majority of Brexiteer MPs.

Another complication, he says, would be the European Parliament elections coming up in May.

On his way to a meeting with the prime minister this morning, Tory Brexiteer Nigel Evans - who voted against Mrs May's deal - said: "We are leaving the EU. That's number one."

He added: "The Prime Minister is listening to the 17.4 million people and the red line that's most important is that we are leaving the EU. Some MPs need to accept that.

"We need to do trade deals throughout the world. We want to do them with the EU, but we should do them with the rest of the world as well."

Image source, Reuters

According to the Times' media correspondent, the Channel 4 drama about Brexit starring Benedict Cumberbatch will be shown in France.

Conservative MPs have been tweeting, after their leader Theresa May saw off a bid to remove the government from power on Wednesday.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss shares a scene from backstage before appearing on ITV's Peston on Wednesday night.

And Nick Boles gives a rundown of what he thinks are the best parliamentary speeches in living memory - with Michael Gove's words on Wednesday making the cut.

Some Conservatives who support holding another EU referendum are at the launch of their campaign "Right to Vote".

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

Meetings, on their own, are not a Plan B. Conversations, are not by themselves, compromises.

To get any deal done where there are such clashing views all around, it requires give and take. It feels like a political lifetime since there has been a fundamental dispute in the cabinet, in the Tory party and across Parliament. Theresa May has stubbornly, although understandably, tried to plot a middle course.

But that has failed so spectacularly at this stage. Ultimately she may well be left with the same dilemma of which way to tack.

It's clear, wide open, in public, that the cabinet is at odds with each other. Just listen to David Gauke and Liam Fox on whether a customs union could be a compromise for example.

The answer for her is not suddenly going to emerge from a unified tier of her top team. There are perhaps five or six of the cabinet who would be happy to see that kind of relationship as a way to bring Labour on board.

But there is a group of around the same size who would rather see what they describe as a "managed no deal".

Continue reading Laura's blog here.

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Theresa May is willing to listen to other parties... but only if they agree with her.

Image source, EPA

Conservative supporters of a new EU referendum have launched a Right to Vote campaign, as new figures suggested that a majority of voters in Tory seats want the public to have the final say on Brexit.

Analysis of polls involving more than 6,700 voters suggested that majorities in nine out of 10 Conservative-held constituencies back a so-called People's Vote.

Conservative MP Phillip Lee, who quit as a minister last year over Brexit, said that Tory support for a fresh poll was "underestimated" and was "growing fast" among the party's MPs.

The analysis was conducted by market research company FocalData for the Best for Britain campaign for a further referendum and the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate.

Its findings suggested that a majority in 290 of 317 Tory-held seats (91.5%) back a public vote if Parliament is unable to break the deadlock on Brexit.

BBC Radio 4

Former PM Tony Blair tells the BBC Radio 4 programme what he would say to Europe amid the current Brexit crisis.

He said over the last 13 months European politics "has been in turmoil...on the very issues which gave rise to Brexit, anxiety around immigration, anxiety around communities left behind".

"In a rational world, Europe would think again on the fundamental questions that gave rise to Brexit.

"If I was in government, I would say, 'OK, Europe, you can see what's happening in your own politics, we know what's happening in our politics, is there a way you can meet our anxieties over the questions of immigration and integration and you can do that on a European-wide basis that deals with the problems underlying Brexit?"

Labour's shadow secretary for international trade Barry Gardiner explains why Mr Corbyn is yet to meet the PM for talks:

BBC Radio 4

Ex-Labour PM Tony Blair spoke to the Today programme about Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's decision not to join Mrs May for talks unless the threat of a no-deal exit was ruled out.

"If, in a moment of national crisis, the prime minister asks the Leader of the Opposition to come and talk, of course he should," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"At some point he is going to have to make his position clear.

"It is quite hard to read the runes sometimes in Labour policy right now, but, as I understand, our position is that if the no confidence motion fails, as it has, then there is an overwhelming majority for supporting putting this back to the people."

Green MP Caroline Lucas is about to enter a 9am meeting with Mrs May - and she has been asking her Twitter followers for suggestions on points to raise.

Ms Lucas said she would use the meeting to "try to break open this gridlocked process and let different voices in".

Among the suggestions she received from her followers were calls to rule out a no-deal Brexit, extend Article 50 and organise a new referendum.

BBC Radio 4

Speaking to the Today programme, Tony Blair - who served as Labour prime minister for 10 years - said: "When you look at this mess, if you want to bring closure to this debate, counter-intuitively it is only going back to the people in a final say referendum you're going to do that.

"And the problem with her deal, the reason MPs didn't accept it, I think is her fundamental argument was 'look we need closure, let's turn the corner, get it dealt with and move on'.

"And when they studied the detail, they realised it doesn't bring closure because the future trading relationship is shrouded in mystery, one part of the cabinet thinks one thing, a soft Brexit, the other thinks a hard Brexit.

"If you'd done her deal, you would have gone the other side of March 2019 and you'd still be arguing about the same things."

BBC Radio 4

A bit more from Tony Blair's interview earlier on with the Today programme.

"If I was the government now, I would already be having discussions with Europe about the terms of an extension [to Article 50]," he said.

"I'd be saying, look we need further time to clarify what Parliament wants and essentially, there are those choices - you can do a soft Brexit, a hard Brexit or back to the people.

"Or alternatively, once you run that, there's a majority for a referendum - there may not be, but if there is - and you need the time to do that."

Asked what Theresa May could do to determine what Parliament wants, he says: "She can take a step back and say, 'look we haven't got an agreement in Parliament, here are the options, here are the pros and cons of each option and, yes, you run a series of indicative votes."

Jeremy Corbyn says he will not meet for discussions with the prime minister while the possibility of a no-deal Brexit remains on the table, a fact that was reiterated by Labour's Barry Gardiner on BBC Breakfast this morning.

However, the Labour leader is due to make a speech on Brexit later this morning as some of his MPs push him to come out in support of another referendum.

Image source, PA

Image source, PA

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Getty Images

Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable says Theresa May expressed a willingness to carry on talking when he met her on Wednesday night to discuss the way forward on Brexit.

"I think in the current state of crisis that is a positive," he told the Today programme.

He told the PM that his party wanted the prospect of a no-deal Brexit taken "off the table" and a new referendum.

"The fact that my team are willing to continue talking to her team of senior ministers this morning suggests that at least there is a willingness to explore these things."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

More from the former prime minister who's on the Today programme. Tony Blair says that both the UK and EU have had to change their stances over the past two-and-a-half years.

“Over these 30 months, we’ve found out the realities of Brexit,” he says, adding that the EU has also had to face realities about the state of its own politics – “it’s been in turmoil” – during that time.

The next step now, Mr Blair says, is for the UK to remain in a reformed EU.

“In a rational world, Europe would think again on the fundamental questions that gave rise to Brexit.”

He adds it is “almost inevitable we will have to go back and get an extension to Article 50”.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

It is understood attempts by a group of senior Tories to give Parliament control of the Brexit process have foundered.

Former ministers Nick Boles, Oliver Letwin and Nicky Morgan were pressing for parliaments most senior committee to be given the power to draw up a new Brexit bill.

However, last night, the Liaison Committee rejected the proposal. It's understood a majority on the committee felt they were not equipped to draw up legislation.

There was also anger at what was seen as an attempt to bounce the committee into accepting the plan.

It's understood, however, there are likely to be further moves to find alternative ways to give Parliament a decisive role.

BBC Radio 4

The former PM Tony Blair says: "At one level, this negotiation has never really been a negotiation, it’s been a choice.

"Because for over four and a half decades, Britain has been part of the European trading system and then the single market and customs union.

"And as a result of that, commercial relationships, trading relationships and investment decisions have grown on the basis of Britain as part of that European trading system.

"The choice all the way through has been very, very simple. You either break free of that because you want to make your own rules, in which case you are going to disrupt all those relationships, what I call the painful Brexit.

"Or alternatively you want, as some people do, a softer Brexit where you stay tied to the rules of the EU system because you want access to the markets. But then the problem is that in the name of taking back control you’ve actually given up the control you’ve got, and that’s the pointless Brexit."

He adds for two years Mrs Theresa May has tried to have her cake and eat it - with access to the single market and customs union without abiding by the rules - and Europe said "no" to that.

"At some point, it doesn’t matter how much discussion you have, how much negotiation, you have to decide to have a Norway-type solution which is your soft Brexit, which leads to the charge that it’s pointless, or do you want your Canada-style free trade agreement, in which case it’s going to be painful."

BBC Radio 4

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair is on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning.

He says he believes the public "should be proud of their MPs as they’re doing what MPs should do, they are studying the detail" of the Brexit deal.

"They realised it did not resolve the essential problem of the negotiation and they couldn’t support it," he said.