Katya Adler
Europe Editor

Image source, PA

The excitable interventions we're witnessing in Parliament will convince EU leaders even more deeply that MPs are still very divided over Brexit and that now is not the decisive moment for Brussels to budge.

The EU wants to avoid an endless process of Theresa May shuttling to and from Brussels, getting a tweak or two, returning to Parliament, having the deal still rejected, coming back to Brussels and so on.

It's right to think the EU sometimes insists one thing, then does something rather different.

But the Irish backstop is a hugely sensitive issue, painfully co-negotiated over months with UK negotiators and almost impossible to fudge (as the EU prefers to do in difficult situations).

EU leaders are unlikely to touch the conditions of the backstop until a no-deal Brexit is well and truly staring them in the face. And even then they are unlikely to entertain changes unless Dublin is on board.

We're nowhere near there yet, if we ever get there.

House of Commons
Parliament

Environment Secretary Michael Gove intervenes to ask why Jeremy Corbyn is scared to take an intervention from Labour MP Angela Smith, believed to be wanting to ask a question about a second referendum.

Jeremy Corbyn thanks Michael Gove for "that brief statement of his leadership intentions".

The Speaker intervenes to call order, saying there have been attempts to shout the leader of the Opposition down from Cabinet members and that it is up to Jeremy Corbyn who he decides to accept interventions from.

Mr Corbyn says the International Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, has "failed to replicate trade agreements", and that the UK may lose 40 or 50 trade agreements in a no-deal scenario.

He says the government has shown "no leadership or willingness to listen to Parliament", and that Labour will back amendments that give Parliament a greater say.

Jeremy Corbyn concludes by asking MPs to "lead where this government has failed".

House of Commons
Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn asks which of the red lines the PM has changed since the deal was defeated two weeks ago.

"She is refusing to accept the clearly stated will of this House," he states.

He says that a "permanent customs union" is a "pragmatic solution that helps deliver the Brexit that people voted for".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

It will not be any comfort to say "I told you so" when a no-deal Brexit happens, Mr Corbyn says, when cancer patients can't get medication and there's chaos at ports.

"Tonight we have the opportunity to take no-deal off the table," he adds.

Labour have always called for no-deal to be taken off the table, and if MPs vote to do this, he says he will be happy to meet with the prime minister for Brexit talks.

The prime minister's red lines must change, he says, with the primary part of Labour's amendment about finding a consensus.

The EU has always said it would be happy to return to negotiations if these red lines were shifted, he says.

However, the PM has still given no indication of what red lines will be changed, despite her support for the Brady amendment.

Chief whip Julian Smith has been pictured in the Commons chamber holding up a piece of paper towards the opposition benches.

Journalists in the press gallery above have been straining to read the message:

House of Commons
Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn asks if the prime minister is "seriously" suggesting that 14 February should be the date for the next debate on Brexit.

A second referendum would be like asking the public to vote again until they give the right answer, but so far, that is precisely what she is asking this House to do, he says.

He says he hopes MPs back amendments to avoid the UK crashing out without a deal, as "everyone except the prime minister says this would be disastrous".

"To crash out without a deal would be deeply damaging for industry and the economy," he says, noting that he backs Labour MP Yvette Cooper's amendment, with a three months' extension of Article 50 for "renegotiation".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Speaker John Bercow is battling to keep the Commons under control, taking points of order from Conservative MPs unable to intervene in Mr Corbyn's speech.

MPs attempting to tell the Speaker what to do and how to manage the debate are "beyond credulity", Mr Bercow says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Jeremy Corbyn says his amendment calls for sufficient time for Parliament to vote on options that prevent leaving with no-deal.

He says it is now "inevitable" that the government will have to extend Article 50 in any scenario, and that he hopes the amendments taking no-deal off the table pass this evening.

If the government is serious about keeping the threat of no-deal on the table then "it is not even close to being prepared", he says, noting that "the exit date would have to be extended".

He says there is "no chance" that primary legislation and secondary legislation, including over 600 statutory instruments, could clear the House between now and 29 March, even if a deal supported by the majority was found.

Jeremy Corbyn says in his scenario, a customs union would be negotiated that is designed to ensure that jobs, investment and frictionless trade are protected.

House of Commons
Parliament

Jeremy Corbyn says many communities across the UK have been neglected for "far too long", lacking decent investment with too few secure and well paid jobs.

These issues are not issues "facing Britain alone", but communities across Europe, he says.

It's quite clear that the first duty MPs have is to block a "disastrous no deal", and he hopes they will back the amendments that do this in the vote tonight.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says "this whole process was only secured in the teeth of opposition of the government". He commends MPs who voted for Parliament to have a "full democratic role in the Brexit process".

He says that Labour have been "clear from the start" that there "must be a meaningful vote" on the final negotiated deal.

He says the deal is vital for the "future facing all of our constituents". He states that EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens abroad have been "deeply stressed" by the Brexit process so far.

"We cannot wish away the votes of 17m people who voted to leave any more than we can ignore the concerns of 16m people who voted to remain," he states.

"We have to unite," on Brexit, he says.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Theresa May says MPs will have the right to decide if they agree with the revised agreement that will come forwards, but she advises MPs to "look at it carefully" before they decide where their votes will go.

Winding up her speech, the prime minister says she believes the government is "in reach of a deal the House can stand behind".

She says that when she goes back to Brussels she needs the strongest voice behind her, adding that the amendments "provide a cacophony of voices when we need just one".

Theresa May urges MPs to "give me the mandate I need" to return to Brussels and demand the Withdrawal Agreement be reopened.

"The time has come for words to be matched by deeds," she says, "if you want Brexit you have to vote for Brexit."

The DUP - which the government relies on for a majority in Parliament - has said it will back Sir Graham Brady's amendment.

The government has called on all MPs to back the amendment, which calls for Parliament to require the backstop to be replaced with "alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border".

House of Commons
Parliament

The concept of alternative arrangements to the backstop have been accepted by the EU, Theresa May continues, and a number of MPs have put forward ways to achieve this, such as placing a deadline on the backstop.

The government will seriously consider these suggestions, she says.

Some say that there is no point even trying to achieve any change and that the EU won't budge, she says, but she adds that the EU has made many concessions throughout negotiations.

The deal reached with the EU has been rejected, she says, and this is Parliament's opportunity to tell them what MPs want.

"This is not the second meaningful vote," she says, but a vote for the Brady amendment sends the message to the EU that they need to make changes to the backstop.

A vote against the amendment tells the EU that - despite what people have said - the backstop is not the problem and the UK is not committed to delivering a workable Brexit.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Conservatie MP Jacob Rees-Mogg intervenes to thank Mrs May for reassurances that the deal will be reopened for negotiations. He asks for assurances that this new deal will also be voted on.

Mrs May confirms that the next agreement, when it is brought back, will also be voted on by the Commons.

House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Nicky Morgan says that there are "very surprising members" who have been "coming together" and she asks for the prime minister to look at "fleshing out" these potential agreements.

Ms Morgan is referring to the proposals that have emerged today, dubbed the Malthouse propsals.

Mrs May says that these are new proposals from Nicky Morgan and members of the ERG - the group of Brexit-supporting Tory MPs - which the government is "engaging with seriously and positively".

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Theresa May says the message has been unequivocal that the House wants changes to a backstop before it will back a deal.

She says this is why it is in everyone's interests to back Tory MP Sir Graham Brady's amendment.

Theresa May says talks with the EU on the backstop will not be "a further exchange of letters, but a significant and legally binding change to the withdrawal agreement".

She acknowledges that negotiating a change "will not be easy", but says that she believes with these legally binding changes "a mandate will be secured by this House and the UK's departure from the EU will be secured".

DUP's Westminster Leader Nigel Dodds says he welcomes the need to address the issue of the backstop "as the primary problem", and that Theresa May can be "assured" of the DUP's support to find any solution that avoids a hard border.

"We will ensure the motions put forwards are ones that maintain our precious union," Theresa May adds.