The pound has pushed higher, up nearly 0.7% at $1.2573, after that tally of MPs indicating Theresa May has the backing of enough MPs to win tonight's vote.

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Away from PMQs for a moment - the Chancellor earlier predicted the vote tonight will "flush out the extremists" and warned that the public would never forgive the Tories if they were to change leaders in the middle of the Brexit process.

Speaking this morning in No 11, Philip Hammond said now was not the time to be talking about changing leader and that Theresa May is, in his view, "the right person" to lead the country through Brexit.

"I'm very clear that the prime minister will have the support of the great majority of parliamentary colleagues," he said.

"I think what this vote today will do is flush out the extremists who are trying to advance a particular agenda, which would really not be in the interests of the British people or the British economy."

Mr Hammond said he was looking forward to Mrs May making "a strong showing" in the vote tonight which he said would strengthen her.

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Conservative MP Maggie Throup says the UK needs "a strong government to deliver Brexit on the domestic agenda" as a matter of necessity.

Ms Throup urges the benches "to unite", because the real threat is the Labour Party.

Theresa May says the Conservative Party "must unite as a party and bring our country back together again to get on with the domestic agenda".

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Tory Sir Patrick McLoughlin says in September 1997 there was a very narrow referendum result - 50.3% to 49.7% - in favour of the establishment of a Welsh Assembly. This result was acted on and the Assembly was created. "Does that hold any future reference?", he asks.

Theresa May says he makes a very important point. What was recognised then, she says, was that however small a margin of the result, it should be accepted and acted on.

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Labour MP Mary Creagh says "the economy is stalling, business investment is falling and we have the grotesque spectacle of Tory MPs putting party interests before the public interest".

She asks whether, if Theresa May survives the vote this evening, she will "rule out no-deal, face down her hard Brexiteers, let this place vote down her deal and go back to the public".

Theresa May says "the way to ensure no deal is to agree a deal" and adds that "employment is at a record high and wages are growing".

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Veteran pro-European Tory MP Ken Clarke asks if "at a time of grave national crisis", the prime minister can think of anything more "unhelpful, irrelevant and irresponsible" than for the Conservative Party to embark on "weeks" of a leadership election.

This is met by loud cheers on the Tory benches.

Theresa May says those weeks would have a real impact on the legislative process of Brexit, which could lead to Article 50 needing to be extended or rescinded by a future Conservative leader.

This could mean delaying or stopping Brexit, she says, repeating the message she focused on in her Downing Street statement this morning.

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Labour's Catherine West asks which is worse, a no-deal Brexit, or no Brexit.

Mrs May says it is "important that we do deliver on Brexit for the people of this country". She says the worst thing for the UK would be a Labour government.

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Labour MP Matthew Pennycook asks which misjudgment the prime minister most regrets; laying red lines down on Brexit before the negotiations began, wasting time on a general election, or consistently failing to push down the hard liners on her own benches?

Theresa May says she will tell Mr Pennycook "the right judgement" which was to accept the result on the referendum, to deliver on the result and to deliver "a good Brexit for the country".

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn managed to remain coherent while looking utterly furious during those exchanges – and the PM’s replies suggested a strategy of reminding her troops of the Labour threat…

The Labour leader’s demand for a vote on the PM’s Brexit Deal was effective up to a point, but his attack on the government’s “contempt of Parliament” itself begged the question, why was he not putting down a motion of no confidence?

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Labour MP Ellie Reeves says she vowed not to vote for the Brexit deal, and by pulling the vote the prime minister must concede that the "deal is doomed".

MPs and the Conservative Party have lost confidence in the prime minister, she says, it's time for the PM to "have confidence in the people" and give them what she calls a "People's Vote" (a new referendum) on the deal.

Prime minister says the vote on the agreement has been deferred. MPs put their faith in the British people in the 2016 referendum, she says, and it's their job to deliver the result.

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Conservative Mark Pawsey says that businesses are putting plans "on hold" to await the results of Brexit negotiations. He asks if their best interests are served by supporting her and her deal.

Mrs May says the UK does not need to "create more uncertainty" and that Conservative MPs shouldn't risk "handing the negotiations" to Labour.

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The SNP's Westminster Leader Ian Blackford says the prime minister's actions are "contemptuous of Parliament", because MPs voted for the meaningful vote and "it should be happening next week".

He calls the prime minister "a disgrace" and tells her to "take responsibility, do the right thing and resign".

Theresa May says she has deferred the vote "because I have listened to the views across this house".