Image source, Reuters

Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of business group the CBI, says the delay in the vote is "yet another blow for companies desperate for clarity".

"Investment plans have been paused for two-and-a-half years," she said.

"Unless a deal is agreed quickly, the country risks sliding towards a national crisis.

"Politicians on both sides of the Channel need to show leadership, by building consensus to protect both the UK and EU's prosperity."

House of Commons
Parliament

The government is in disarray, Mr Corbyn says, with uncertainty rising for businesses and ordinary people panicked and concerned.

The fault of this lies at the door of "this shambolic government", he says.

If she doesn't take on board the fundamental changes required, he calls for the PM to make way for those that can.

House of Commons
Parliament

Theresa May says it is clear that if MPs want to deliver Brexit - which is met by shouts of "no!" from the SNP - they need to ask whether they want to do this by reaching an agreement with the EU.

If the answer is yes, she says, then no "enduring and successful" Brexit deal can be reached without some compromise on both sides.

Those who continue to disagree need to "shoulder the responsibility" of advocating an alternative, she says, and do so "without ducking the responsibilities".

MPs need to be honest that a second referendum risks dividing the country again, she says, "when as a House we should be striving to bring it together".

She says those calling for the UK to leave the EU without a deal, need to be up front that this would cause significant disruption for ordinary people.

None of the alternatives to a Brexit deal would win a majority in the House of Commons, she says.

Sterling staged a partial recovery ahead of the prime minister's Brexit speech. But her official confirmation that tonight's vote is off sent the pound slipping again.

The currency is down 0.79% against the dollar at $1.2631 and down 0.8% on the euro at €1.1072. However, the pound is still up on the day's lows.

House of Commons
Parliament

Mrs May says the treaty "is now clear" that the backstop "can only ever be temporary".

She says she is "clear" that these elements "do not offer a sufficient number of colleagues the assurances they need".

She says she will now go back again to EU leaders to discuss her next options.

She adds that she is in "absolutely no doubt that this deal is the right one".

This is the "best deal that is actually negotiable with the EU," she says.

She states that the backstop will be her focus in the days ahead.

House of Commons
Parliament

Prime Minister Theresa May begins her statement.

She says that after three days of debate on the withdrawal agreement in the Commons and much discussion outside Parliament, it is clear that there is "broad support" for many of the key aspects to the deal.

However, there remains widespread concern about the backstop.

This would result in defeat for the deal, she says, were MPs to vote on it.

Therefore, she says the government has made the decision to defer the vote.

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Parliament

Theresa May begins her Brexit statement to a packed House of Commons.

Image source, Mainetti

About 50 jobs could be lost in the Borders due to a restructuring at a coat hanger company.

Mainetti - which employs more than 350 staff at Jedburgh - hopes to achieve the reduction via voluntary redundancies.

The company said the last two years had been "difficult for the business" with losses reported.

MP John Lamont described it as "disappointing news" at a "long-standing employer" in the town.

Brexit backstop renegotiation 'not possible', says Leo Varadkar

Apple shares are weighing on Wall Street.

News that chip maker Qualcomm has won a court case that temporarily halts the import of some iPhones saw Apple's stock fall 2% at the open.

The Dow Jones fell 0.1% to 24,360.9 points are the start of trading. The S&P 500 opened 0.08% lower at 2,630.86. The Nasdaq 0.1% to 6,959.6.

Dr Catherine Haddon, from the Institute for Government, says the Brexit timetable is "all thrown up".

She adds that MPs will need to vote on the agreement at some point but Theresa May "could keep pushing this down the line".

The amount of time Mrs May has depends on whether her own MPs decide to trigger a leadership contest, she says.

Apple shares are dropping in pre-market trading on news that chip supplier Qualcomm said it had won a preliminary order from a Chinese court banning the import and sale of several iPhone models in the country.

According to reports, the order came from the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in China, the same court that earlier this year banned the import of some of memory chip maker Micron Technology chips into China.

Qualcomm initially filed the case in China in late 2017. The court found Apple violated two of Qualcomm's software patents around resizing photographs and managing applications on a touch screen.

Just ahead of Wall Street's open, Apple shares were down 3%.

Image source, Transport for London

In an update on the cross-London project, Transport for London says: "Crossrail Ltd announced in August that it expected the Elizabeth line to open through central London in autumn 2019, rather than December 2018.

"It has now become clear that more work is required than had been envisaged to complete the infrastructure and then commence the extensive testing necessary to ensure the railway opens safely and reliably.

"Today the new chief executive of Crossrail, Mark Wild, also confirmed that having reviewed the work still required to complete the project, an autumn 2019 opening date could no longer be committed to at this stage, and his team was working on a robust and deliverable schedule."

The statement added: "The emerging findings of the KPMG review into Crossrail Ltd's finances indicate the likely capital cost impact of the delay to the project announced in August could be in the region of between £1.6bn and £2bn."

A £1.4bn bailout of the delayed Crossrail project, which will no longer meet its autumn 2019 launch date, has been announced.

London’s £15bn route, to be known as the Elizabeth line, had been due to open this month.

The rescue plan - the third this year - will be used to plug a predicted £2bn hole in the project's finances.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said the new deal means "Crossrail's new leadership can get the job done".

Theresa May aims to renegotiate the Irish backstop element of her Brexit deal with the European Union, a junior minister has said.

Nadhim Zahawi, a junior minister in the Department for Education, said on Twitter: "@theresa-may has listened to colleagues and will head to Brussels to push back on the backstop."

It comes after the Prime Minister abruptly decided to pull a parliamentary vote on her exit deal, throwing Britain's plan to leave the EU up in the air on the eve of the vote.

At least five Conservative MPs are saying on Twitter that they are not happy about the Brexit withdrawal agreement vote being delayed, and they will vote against such a delay.

Some government sources are insisting there doesn't need to be a vote from ministers in order for the PM to delay the vote in Parliament - but there is still a lot of confusion about this.