House of Commons
Parliament

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The debate gets under way and the first speech comes from Conservative Ken Clarke.

His motion commits the government to negotiating "a permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU" as part of any Brexit deal.

This arrangement would give the UK a closer trading relationship with the EU and reduce the need for some (but not all) checks at the Irish border.

He argues that his motion "helps to ensure that what I regard as the damaging consequences of leaving the EU are minimised".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Before the main debate starts there is a mini debate about which motions the Speaker has selected.

John Bercow defends his decisions saying: "It is in pursuit of progress that I have made the disinterested judgement that I have made."

"I understand it won't please everybody," he adds.

Westminster Hall

Ms McKinnell criticises the PM for refusing to rule out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit to use it as a bargaining chip.

"There will be many people who wanted the UK to leave the EU on Friday or as soon as possible," she says.

"It’s because they are frankly sick to the back teeth of hearing about this issue.

"They have had enough of Brexit.

"Understandably, they just want what have turned into a national nightmare to be over."

She says she is "angry" because three years have been spent on Brexit while there are a "myriad of issues that need our attention" such as climate change and universal credit.

House of Commons
Parliament

John Bercow announces which amendments he has selected for debate.

• Motion C: Customs union - Proposer: Ken Clarke, Conservative
• Motion D: 'Common Market 2.0' - Proposer: Nick Boles, Conservative
• Motion E: Confirmatory public vote - Proposers: Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, Labour

• Motion G: Parliamentary supremacy - Proposer: Joanna Cherry, Scottish National Party

• Now that the business motion has been approved, the indicative votes debate begins
• This debate can go on until 20:00 BST
• At the beginning of the debate Speaker John Bercow is announcing which motions have been selected
• MPs will vote between 20:00 - 20:30
• The results will be announced later in the evening - last week it took over two hours for the votes to be counted

MPs have voted for the Business of the House motion 322 votes to 277.

Speaking about the debate of the Business of the House motion, BBC Parliamentary correspondent Mark D'Arcy says the "long speeches and mammoth parliamentary interventions suggest that someone was trying to pad out the debate - if only to limit the time for debate later on".

Image source, Getty Images

Labour's announcement it would be backing the Common Market 2.0 motion came shortly after shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry faced a rather difficult interview on the BBC Radio 4's World At One programme.

Asked by presenter Sarah Montague about the possibility Labour would be asking its MPs to support the motion, Ms Thornberry said she "was not in a position to say what the whipping arrangements are".

She said: "Sorry, I may be a bit of out of date... things move so fast."

Ms Thornberry said: "From the conversations that I had at the weekend, I certainly had thought I knew where we were likely to be going, but it does depend on what the negotiations are across the house and what it is the speaker had agreed to."

The motion would see the UK retain free movement of people.

When asked if supporting it meant compromising on Labour's stated policy on freedom of movement, Ms Thornberry said “we are trying to pull the House of Commons together” and “there is a certain amount of give and take on this”.

The Guardian's Ben Quinn wondered whether Ms Thornberry's interview on the World At One was "evidence of policy chaos... or refreshingly candid for the times we live in".

The deputy political editor of the Mail on Sunday described it as "one of the worst interviews I've ever heard".

House of Commons
Parliament

The debate concludes and MPs begin to vote on the Business of the House motion.

The motion sets out the framework of the indicative votes debate.

House of Commons
Parliament

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"I don't care what anyone says," Labour's Kate Hoey tells MPs.

"Leave meant leaving all the institutions of the EU."

She says that the majority of the motions due to be debated do not allow the UK to leave "in the way that people thought they were voting for".

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative Jacob Rees-Mogg describes the indicative votes process as a "deeply unsatisfactory constitutional innovation".

He says it does not allow for a way to hold anyone to account for the decisions made.

Furthermore, he says it fails to provide "sufficient time for debate".

Westminster Hall

Labour MP Catherine McKinnell opens the debate on the three Brexit petitions.

The first calls for Article 50 to be revoked, the second demands a new referendum and the third urges MPs to "honour the referendum result".

She says the petitions committee is debating them all together and as soon as possible "so that they would not be overtaken by events".

She says they find themselves "through the looking glass" debating potential Brexit outcomes at the same time colleagues in main chamber debating a way out of this “ludicrous” situation.

House of Commons
Parliament

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Conservative Bernard Jenkin says that "the problem with the process of indicative votes is that MPs are free to pick and choose the policies they like."

"Exactly," shout several MPs.

"But without any responsibility for what happens afterwards," adds Sir Bernard.

Adam Fleming
Brussels reporter

Image source, EPA

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald says the Irish backstop would have to come back in “a new iteration, another form” if the UK leaves without a Brexit deal, because the UK has commitments to Ireland enshrined in international law.

Speaking after a meeting in Brussels with the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, she says they did not discuss what checks would be required at the Irish border in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The “chaos” at Westminster had left Irish people feeling “concern, frustration, worry and dismay,” she says.

House of Lords
Parliament

The government has confirmed that the House of Lords will now sit next week.

The chamber was due to rise on Thursday, 4 April and return on Tuesday, 23 April.

But Lord Taylor, the government's chief whip in the Lords, pointed out that following the third defeat of the withdrawal agreement on Friday, the default Brexit date has now become Friday, 12 April.

He said: "We may need again to react swiftly to consider any necessary legislation to ensure continuing legal certainty."

The move was supported by Labour with "the proviso that it is genuine business arising from Brexit".