House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says that following the vote by MPs last night, the PM is going to try and renegotiate.

He asks what the alternative arrangements on the Northern Ireland backstop "might be".

Mrs May says that last night the House agreed a "clear direction" on the way a deal can be agreed.

"We are engaging positively" on suggestions from Nicky Morgan, Steve Baker and Jacob Rees-Mogg, she says.

She adds proposals might be a "unilateral exit mechanism or a time limit" to the backstop.

House of Commons
Parliament

Tory MP John Whittingdale says last year was the worst on record for the imprisonment and deaths of journalists.

He asks if the prime minister agrees that journalists fulfil a vital role in democracy, requesting pressure to be placed on those that infringe their work and rights.

Mrs May says she agrees and says the government is deeply concerned by the rise, and are placing resources behind media freedom and training journalists.

"This is an important issue, this government is putting its weight behind it."

House of Commons
Parliament

Theresa May is on her feet and answering questions from MPs in the Commons.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The DUP's Westminster leader Nigel Dodds asks if Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley will accept that the assembly members in Northern Ireland should have more powers.

He says it is "deplorable" that elected representatives in Northern Ireland do not take their places in Parliament, and that members of the same party "refuse to get the executive up and running".

Northern Ireland has been without an executive since January 2017, when the governing parties - the DUP and Sinn Féin - split in a bitter row.

Mr Dodds is referring in his remarks to members of Sinn Féin who refuse to take their seats in Westminster.

Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley says she wants to see the institutions in Stormont restored "as soon as possible", and it is important for the roles of the MLAs to continue.

Mark D'Arcy
Parliamentary Correspondent

MPs’ current instinct to use PMQs as an opportunity for Brexit performance art will compete with their yearning for politics as usual, today.

Some will be seeking elaboration from the PM about her new negotiating objectives in Brussels, others will want to talk about what used to be the bread and butter of politics, and my guess is that the PM’s first questioner, Labour MP Toby Perkins, will have a constituency question with a sharp political point.

Further down the batting order of questioners lurk some serious Brexit partisans - Labour’s Owen Smith is a hard Remainer, while the Conservative John Baron is a core Brexiteer who, lately, has been attempting to rally support for the prime minister’s Brexit deal.

Others to watch include Stephen Hepburn, one of the Labour rebels who defied the party whip last night to vote with the government and against the Reeves, Cooper and Grieve amendments.

Will the prime minister praise him and the small but important handful of MPs who did likewise? And watch out, too, for the DUP, who may want to underline the conditions for their continued support of the prime minister.

And then there’s Jack Dromey, co-sponsor of the one amendment that resulted in a government defeat – the Spelman Dromey amendment which rejected a no-deal Brexit.

He may well seek to underline that message.

Latest twist feels like a "throw of the dice" and does nothing to take no-deal off the table, says the CBI.

House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd says the government knows there is no technology in existence that would not lend itself to the target of terrorists.

We have to rule out that there is a technological solution available, he says.

Northern Ireland Minister John Penrose says "there are no currently available off-the-shelf solutions, but the political declaration points out that these could be developed over time".

"This would require innovation," he concludes.

House of Commons
Parliament

Over in the Commons, Northern Ireland questions kicks with a question from Tory MP Charlie Elphicke - who backed the Brady amendment last night - regarding the feasibility of using technology to avoid a hard border in the island of Ireland.

Northern Ireland Minister John Penrose says everyone agrees that a hard border must be avoided, and he agrees that technology could be used to avoid one.

He says the Cabinet Office has commissioned work on what technology is used on other borders and could be used in this case.

This work has shown that there is "no existing off-the-shelf package" that could deliver exactly what was needed in Northern Ireland, so new solutions will need to be found.

Northern Ireland Committee Chair Andrew Murrison asks whether the alternatives to the backstop will be to do with technology and systems, rather than a customs union.

Mr Penrose says no one would want to "rule in or out" any of those methods.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson says Michel Barnier has a team studying how to avoid a hard border, he asks the government to work with the EU on this.

Mr Penrose says the PM will meet with Brussels to discuss what can be done, adding that is "immensely" encouraging that work is already going on on the EU's side.

BBC Radio 5 live

Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin says he doesn’t think “it’s at all likely” that Theresa May will be able to win the necessary concessions from the EU on the issue of the backstop.

Sir Oliver says he would be "delighted, but very surprised if this move succeeds", and that if he were a betting person he would not bet on Theresa May coming back with a deal that will obtain a majority in two weeks' times.

If a deal supported by the majority of MPs cannot be achieved, Sir Oliver Letwin says being "maximally flexible" to achieve a cross-party consensus should be the priority, in order to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Speaking on the News Channel, BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith says that the backstop is here to stay, but there could be movements from the Irish government on the political declaration.

"Pretty much every single one" in the group of EU leaders have been saying that the deal is not up for renegotiation.

"Basically, the EU have said, 'forget it, your ideas are barking'," he says.

He adds that many MPs are "utterly worn out" and "fatigued" by Brexit, meaning that many may be willing to vote for any deal with a "little nip and tuck".

"Slowly, incrementally, she [May] grinds people down."

No 10 may have been "encouraged" by the "little noises" made in different EU capitals on making small changes to the backstop, Norman Smith says.

February recess may be scrapped, longer sitting hours may be enforced and even sitting on weekends may be necessary to get through Brexit legislation, even if there is a deal approved.

House of Commons
Parliament

Business in the House of Commons begins soon with MPs asking questions of the Northern Ireland secretary and her ministerial team, before Theresa May returns for PMQs.

After that, Labour MP Stella Creasy will ask an urgent question regarding the Domestic Abuse Bill and the consequences for victims of violence across the UK.

Tory Sarah Wollaston then tables her European Union (Requirements Relating to Withdrawal) Bill as a ten minute rule motion.

BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy says the bill "is being kept as a sort of legislative back-up plan, in case Commons allies fail to make any of their proposals stick".

Two amendments last night - from Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Conservative Dominic Grieve failed last night - did not pass. Both were designed to give MPs more of a say in the Brexit process.

After that MPs consider the remaining stages of the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Bill.

The government has also rescheduled a motion on sitting Fridays, which was pulled last week after threat of rebellion on an amendment that would have made it difficult to implement either the Grieve or Cooper amendments.

This may not have as much prevalence now, but the amendment remains regardless.

Katya Adler
Europe Editor

After a public shout out of “No way!” to renegotiating the Brexit backstop/withdrawal agreement, the EU now waits for Theresa May to come to Brussels.

Parliament appeared to lob the ball back in the EU’s court last night, by uniting(ish) around a request for alternatives to the backstop BUT the EU is preparing to send the ball back pronto, with the question to the prime minister: Your negotiators and ours failed after 18 months to come up with a better bilaterally acceptable Irish border guarantee so what concrete alternative do you have worked out?

Expect the EU to stand firm for now and for some uncomfortable days ahead.

Brussels deadline is 29 March, whereas the prime minister has self-imposed a deadline of mid-February when she says she wants to hold another parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal.

Brussels won’t rush to help her with that one.

EU diplomats tell me she has to be more realistic.

They don’t want to budge on core backstop principles so no unilateral exit mechanism to the backstop is likely for the UK.

The EU intends to stonewall Theresa May until “the message is driven home” I’m told.

Newspapers across Europe examine the latest Brexit twist and weigh up likely consequences for the EU.

Broadcasters and the media set up their cameras on College Green, which is just outside the Houses of Parliament.

But it looks as though the weather - and the recent activity there - has turned the usually green grass into a quagmire.

The BBC's political correspondent Nick Eardley tweets:

The latest parliamentary manoeuvres may have bought Theresa May time, but don't signal a route out of the impasse.