Summary

  • Theresa May has been back in Brussels to seek changes to the Brexit withdrawal deal

  • She met the Irish PM and the president of the European Council, before an EU summit

  • EU leaders insist the withdrawal deal can't be renegotiated - but say some points can be clarified

  • The PM has confirmed she will not fight the next general election

  • Mrs May remains Tory leader after surviving a confidence vote on Wednesday night

  • She won 200 votes, but 117 MPs voted against her

  1. DUP: 'PM has not been honourable'published at 11:08 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Radio 5 live

    Sammy WilsonImage source, Reuters

    The DUP's Brexit spokesman says Theresa May "has not been honourable" in holding up her end of the deal with the Northern Irish party.

    The Tories and DUP entered into a confidence and supply agreement after Mrs May's snap election last year, with the latter being offered £1bn to prop up the government and support them on votes.

    But questioned on whether Mrs May had got her money's worth, Sammy Wilson tells BBC Radio 5 live's Emma Barnett: "We have delivered on the deal. She got 50% of the votes on the Brexit legislation through as a result of our support, 20% of her domestic legislation wouldn’t have gone through without our support and the break in the agreement has not been by us.

    "It has been (broken) by the prime minister who promised she would not separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom - and then went away and negotiated such an arrangement."

    He adds: "We have done the right thing by the government.

    "We have been honourable. They have not been honourable. The prime minister has not been honourable in delivering the deal which she had with us – namely that she would not separate us from the rest of the UK."

  2. Tory members on the state of their partypublished at 11:03 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Patrick Evershed, who chairs the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association, and Binita Mehta-Parmar, a Tory member who voted Remain and supports Theresa May, speak to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.

    Media caption,

    Tory members on the state of their party

  3. No vote before Christmas?published at 11:01 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    This from the Labour whips...

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  4. Raab: May puts us at risk of Corbyn governmentpublished at 11:01 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Dominic RaabImage source, Reuters

    Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has warned that if Theresa May continues in place as prime minister, there is "a greater risk of a Jeremy Corbyn government".

    Speaking outside his home this morning, he told reporters: "After pulling the meaningful vote and with the scale that we now see of opposition to the deal, I don't think her position had been tenable.

    "We'll have to make the best of it but I think that my biggest fear now is that if she continues in place, we have a greater risk of a Jeremy Corbyn government.

    "So very much in sorrow not in anger I'm afraid I didn't vote for her last night."

    He added: "We will have to back her as best we can but the problem is that both in relation to Brexit and the wider sustainability of the government, given the likelihood of any changes to the deal, given the likely scale of opposition, it looks very difficult to see how this prime minister can lead us forward."

  5. MP apologises for tweeting ballot paperpublished at 10:38 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Tory MP Margot James has apologised for tweeting her ballot paper during last night's confidence vote in Theresa May.

    She posted the picture to show her support for the prime minister...

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    But after being questioned by her colleague Philip Hollobone on the "security of elections" and "secret ballots", Ms James admitted she may have been in breach of the rules.

    She added: "I would like to take the opportunity to apologise to the chairman of the 1922 Committee."

  6. Brexit gloom to hit housing market into 2019, says RICSpublished at 10:37 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Mark Hunter

    Uncertainty and gloom about Brexit are likely to hit the UK housing market well into next year, surveyors believe.

    The latest report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) predicts that the number of homes being sold - and their prices - will fall over the next three months.

    Fewer people are interested in moving, and fewer want to sell.

    Each home is already taking an average of four months to sell, the longest period since records began in 2016.

  7. MP says no confidence vote 'a bucket of cold water for EU'published at 10:36 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash believes last night's no confidence vote will "pour a bucket of cold water over the EU" and make them realise the UK can't be pushed around in the Brexit negotiations.

    The MP for Stone went on to say he now hoped to see some change in the talks, but believes "it was only because we took this stand".

    Bill Cash

    Sir Bill said he didn't see himself as a rebel, arguing he was just "supporting the vote of the British people who said they wanted to leave".

  8. More from Clarke: 'Highly unlikely' Tories would support no confidence motionpublished at 10:32 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Radio 5 live

    Ken Clarke says if there was a motion of no confidence put forward in Parliament by Labour, maybe the “completely extreme” members of his party would vote against their own government.

    But he thinks it is “highly unlikely” that Tories would vote for something that could result in a government led by Jeremy Corbyn.

    He adds: “Some of my colleagues have said and done some strange things recently, but that just about would take the biscuit. I don’t think there is anyone that fanatic in the Eurosceptic group.”

    Mr Clarke says he hopes Theresa May has not been damaged by last night’s vote.

    “The political class have got to pull themselves together and realise their first duty is to make sure that we get smoothly through March and do not disrupt our economy, turn away investment, cost jobs, make ourselves poorer - until we actually have given ourselves the space to have the long-term negotiations about what our long-term relationship is going to be...”

  9. Clarke: Leadership contest would have been 'irresponsible'published at 10:23 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Radio 5 live

    Ken Clarke

    Tory stalwart and Remain supporter Ken Clarke says his party has come very close to civil war, but he hopes last night’s vote of confidence in Theresa May will see them move forward.

    Talking to Emma Barnett on BBC Radio 5 live, he says: “It would have been absolutely irresponsible if in the middle of all this crisis, when we are trying to settle historic issues which matter enormously to our children and grandchildren, the Conservative Party had decided to spend the next five or six weeks having an internal civil war arguing over the leadership.

    “Someone would have emerged, come back and faced exactly the same problems, exactly the same negotiating problems, exactly the same Parliament, same arithmetic, and we’d have simply wasted everybody’s time and made the Conservative Party look divided and ridiculous.”

    He says the hard-line Brexiteers will “carry on arguing as they always have”, but the majority of the public and party will just “ignore them”.

  10. Parliament has reached gridlock - Tory MPpublished at 10:18 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Sarah Wollaston

    Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston says Parliament has reached "gridlock" and the only remaining options are no deal or another referendum.

    “There are two different competing versions of what people voted for in the last referendum... There’s no version that’s going to pass the commons," she says.

    “And so eventually we either fall out with no deal and no transition in just over 100 days or we actually ask the prime minister to take the deal back to the people and ask them the simple question, ‘is this what you voted for’.”

  11. Rees-Mogg and Gina Miller poles apart on May and Brexitpublished at 10:15 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Radio 5 live

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  12. Javid: 'Clear win' for Maypublished at 10:12 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Hereford and Worcester

    Home Secretary Sajid Javid says last night was a “clear win” for the prime minister with the “vast majority” of MPs backing her.

    Speaking to BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, he says there is now “an opportunity for MPs to rally round her and we’re seeing evidence of that”.

    He says he is “confident” that when Theresa May comes back to Parliament she will have “a lot to share” and people will eventually conclude that her deal is “the best way to deliver on the referendum result”.

    Mr Javid, who has been touted as a leadership contender, adds that taking the top job is “the last thing on my mind”.

    Asked whether he is preparing for a leadership challenge, he says: “I’m preparing to do even more to sell this deal.”

  13. Tory MPs clash over confidence votepublished at 10:04 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Victoria Derbyshire

    Richard Harrington and Sir Bill Cash
    Image caption,

    Richard Harrington and Sir Bill Cash disagree on how Mrs May won the vote

    Conservative MP Sir Bill Cash, who voted against the prime minister last night, says most of the MPs who supported her were part of the government or on its "payroll".

    However Business Minister Richard Harrington hit back, branding the comments "condescending".

    "That’s the last thing on my consideration. The reason I voted for her is because I believe in compromise," he says.

  14. Jo Johnson: Delaying vote on Brexit 'totally unacceptable'published at 10:00 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    The former minister tweets...

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  15. Supreme Court ruling welcomed by SNP leaderspublished at 09:56 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

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  16. Scottish Brexit bill 'outside powers'published at 09:55 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Supreme CourtImage source, PA

    The Supreme Court has ruled that parts of a Brexit bill passed by the Scottish Government would be outside its legislative powers.

    MSPs passed legislation of their own in March after a row with UK ministers over Westminster's EU Withdrawal Bill.

    But UK government law officers asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether the bill falls within Holyrood's remit.

    Seven justices at the court agreed unanimously that although the bill "as a whole" was not outside Holyrood's powers, the parts that would "modify" UK law would be.

    The court's president Lady Hale said: "We wish to make it clear that it is no part of our function to determine or to influence the political questions which underlie this dispute.

    "Our role is a purely legal one."

  17. Harry Redknapp doesn't envy Maypublished at 09:52 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    BBC Radio 5 live

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  18. German papers: 'A bitter victory'published at 09:50 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    NewspapersImage source, PA

    The German press has generally welcomed the fact that Theresa May survived the vote of no confidence.

    However, the papers are concerned that she will not be able to take the agreed Brexit deal through Parliament.

    Surviving the "dramatic" vote of no confidence gives Mrs May a "welcome respite", the website of the centre-right daily Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung says. "But will she still manage the big deal?"

    It notes that "it is hard to count how many times the British prime minister has been on the brink of defeat in this nerve-racking Brexit process, which she avoided at the last moment".

    The website of the left-liberal weekly Spiegel says it was a "bitter victory" for May, and that "a hoped-for margin [of votes] has failed to materialise for the prime minister".

    The website of the centre-right daily Die Welt appears equally concerned about the scale of support for May in her faction, saying "the number does not really give anyone a reason to celebrate".

    "She was weakened, but she showed no weakness," the website of the centre-left daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung says. It praises her for staying "cool and self-confident despite the considerable pressure before the EU summit".

  19. May to meet Tusk for 'last minute talks'published at 09:45 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

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  20. No room to renegotiate withdrawal agreement - German interior ministerpublished at 09:43 Greenwich Mean Time 13 December 2018

    Today Programme
    BBC Radio 4

    German interior minister Stephan Mayer has said there is no scope for renegotiating the withdrawal agreement.

    "There is no room for changing the agreement itself, but I am deeply convinced that the EU27 should be open to push forward clarifications, especially with regard to the backstop," he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

    "I don't see any room for amendments on the legal agreement, but I think beneath that we should consider if it's possible to make clarifications in the political declaration or elsewhere to avoid a hard Brexit."