Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at the government for its handling of Brexit in recent days, confirming his party would vote against the withdrawal agreement.

The Labour leader told the CBI conference in London that instead of national leadership, "we have a government in complete disarray" that has "begun to collapse on itself".

He added: "Now the Conservative Party is trying to decide whether this crucial moment in the country's history is the time to have a leadership election."

Adam Fleming
Reporter, Daily Politics

The European Commission has announced it intends to agree on a final draft of the political declaration with the UK by Tuesday.

The General Affairs Council made up of the ministers from the 27 EU member states met today to discuss the document, which outlines the future relationship with the UK.

They have given their guidance to the EU's chief negotiator and now he hopes to sign the deal off with the UK negotiators.

Image source, Getty Images

The Lib Dems' Brexit spokesman has tabled a bill calling for the Department for International Trade to be disbanded with immediate effect.

Tom Brake says the prime minister has negotiated a deal with the EU that leaves the department with no powers to create its own trade agreements.

By axing the department, he says the government could save £258.6m.He says: “I am calling for the department to be disbanded – and the Civil Servants re-deployed to departments where their work might actually be implemented.

“The DIT have not produced any new trade deals since their inception and May’s deal means they won’t in future – it’s time Fox was given his P45.”

Image source, Reuters

Jeremy Hunt has said it would be difficult and risky to reopen negotiations with the EU on the withdrawal agreement.

Speaking in Iran, the foreign secretary told the BBC: "I think we now have an agreement between the UK and the EU. It's very difficult once you've shaken hands on a deal to reopen it.

"And what we have to do is recognise any other course is potentially very risky and could mean that if we want to change something, then the Europeans could say they want to change something.

"You end up with then what I've called no-deal by accident."

Mr Hunt says the government now has to take the deal to the House of Commons.

"I think when parliament look at the deal in its entirety and recognise that it is by no means perfect but it has the vast majority of things people voted for when they voted to leave the EU, they will see that this is the right deal to back."

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Business Secretary Greg Clark has said any extensiton to the transition period would be a choice made by the UK.

Speaking to the BBC's business editor Simon Jack about Michel Barnier’s suggestion that the implementation period could be extended until 2022, he said: “We want to conclude the future partnership by the end of the implementation period - just over two years.

"That is important so that we can then invest with confidence, people know what the future relationship will be, and we can seize the opportunities for investment that in some cases people are waiting to see what that future framework would be like.

"But if there’s a matter of a few weeks or months that’re required to complete those negotiations, then what the proposal put on table for discussion this weekend includes is the ability for the UK, if we want to, to extend by a few weeks or a short period the transition period - the implementation period.

"But it would be our choice, and it would be an alternative to going into the transition backstop.

"The key point is we want to arrive at that future partnership, so it’s clear and people can see for years to come what our trading relationship's going to be.”

BBC News Channel

Phillip Lee, who quit his role as justice minister in June over Brexit, told the BBC: "I always presumed that they had the 48 otherwise why the rallying call last week.

"It would be pretty weak I think if there aren't 48 who are prepared to put their head above the parapet, but who knows.

"What I don’t quite understand is the arithmetic in Parliament doesn’t change irrespective of who’s prime minister, so I don’t understand the logic of pushing for a vote now.

"I don’t think it changes the dynamic here. At the moment this deal isn’t passing. Fifty, 60 Conservative MPs are making it clear they wouldn’t support this deal."

Amber Rudd has pledged to fix the problems with universal credit in her first appearance at the dispatch box as the new work and pensions secretary.

She told the House of Commons that in the very short time she has been in her new department she has seen that the department “is a force for good”.

She said there were “problems with universal credit” but she would be “listening and learning”.

She added: “I know it can be better. We will have a fair, compassionate and efficient benefit system.

“We can make changes. I know there are problems and we will be fixing them.”

She also thanked her predecessor, Esther McVey - who quit the post over Theresa May's Brexit deal last week.

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Getty Images

The Daily Telegraph also has a column from Norman Tebbit, external - a key figure in Margaret Thatcher's government - with the headline: "Sorry Mrs May, but you're no Mrs Thatcher."

He points out that it is 28 years ago this week that his former boss was "brought down by her own party", but there the parallels cease, he says,

After a "short history lesson" in Mrs Thatcher's successes - from defeating Arthur Scargill to triumphing in the 1987 election - Lord Tebbit writes: "Mrs May's record hardly compares."

He adds: "There are no Brexiteers anxious to become prime minister of a United Kingdom (still less of a dis-united kingdom) subservient to Brussels.

"Nor are there any Remainers who would want to be leader of a United Kingdom determined to remain the united, independent nation it once was.

"If Mrs May falls, it will be over principle, not personality."

The Daily Telegraph

Image source, Reuters

Boris Johnson has written his latest column for the Daily Telegraph, external, saying the EU "will turn us into captives" if the UK government signs Theresa May's "appalling sell-out" deal.

The former foreign secretary and Brexit campaigner listed all the things he sees the UK as "giving up" - including the "hope" of new trade deals, the "right" to vary our laws - and claims the deal is "betraying Leavers and Remainers alike".

He claims there is "a note almost of malice" when it comes to Northern Ireland, saying the EU is "punishing us by the surgical severing of part of the UK",

And he says Northern Ireland would not be alone in being "held hostage", with the rest of the UK "locked in" as well.

Mr Johnson expresses his dismay at the prospect of fixing any of the issues further down the line and instead lays out his plan:

1. Recognising not all the agreement is disastrous
2. Scrapping the Northern Ireland backstop
3. Accelerate preparations for exiting on World Trade Organization rules
4. Agree that the EU and UK will embark on a "giant free trade deal"
5. Withold half of the £39bn until the deal is agreed
6. Insist government gets behind Brexit

Nicholas Watt
Political editor, BBC Newsnight

Image source, EPA

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are an unlikely pair with vastly different political outlooks.

But the prime minister and Labour leader may find they are tied to each other in the coming month in ways that may well surprise both them and their parties.

In the Brexit endgame, each has one overriding aim and they may need the other to secure their goals.

The prime minister desperately needs Parliament to pass her Brexit deal - and that will probably be achieved only with Labour votes or abstentions.

And the Labour leader wants a general election - which will only happen with Tory acquiescence.

Read more of Nicholas Watt's blog here.

Reacting to Scottish Secretary David Mundell's support for Theresa May's Brexit plan, SNP MSP Tom Arthur suggested Mr Mundell was refusing to put Scotland's interests ahead of the interests of his party.

"He is quite clearly the cabinet's man in Scotland rather than Scotland's man in the cabinet - and his position is now utterly untenable," Mr Arthur said.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie called Mr Mundell's comments "unconvincing".

"The Scottish Secretary can't bring himself to say the prime minister's deal will make life better for people in Scotland and that's because it won't," he said.

"Tearing ourselves out of Europe will hit every single Scottish household."

The new Brexit secretary has got to work in Whitehall...

Image source, EPA

Image source, PA

Image source, PA