Image source, Getty Images

The PM has said the UK will leave the EU on 31 October "do or die" - even if it means walking away without a deal.

There are three ways to avoid this happening: MPs could pass a deal, postpone the date of exit, or cancel Brexit altogether.

Unless a new plan is agreed, Mr Johnson does not need to do anything for a no-deal Brexit to happen.

This is because the UK's departure on 31 October is already written into law. He could just run the clock down.

However, it's not as simple as that...

Read more here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Philip Hammond has said he was readopted as the Conservative candidate for his constituency last night, despite the PM warning Tory MPs who rebelled against the government that they would be deselected.

Mr Hammond said he does not believe the government would have the power to stop him from running as a Conservative candidate for Runnymede and Weybridge.

"There would certainly be the fight of a lifetime if they tried to," he added.

He said the issue could "possibly" become a legal battle.

"This is my party. I have been a member of this party for 45 years. I am going to defend my party against incomers, entryists, who are trying to turn it from a broad church into a narrow faction."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, PA Media

Former chancellor Philip Hammond has said he believes the bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October will get enough backing from his group of "incensed" Tory rebels to be formally introduced to Parliament.

A motion will be put forward today and, if successful, will allow the bill to be introduced to the Commons tomorrow.

Mr Hammond said it was a "very modest bill in its ambitions" to delay Brexit by three months to allow Parliament the time to scrutinise any withdrawal agreement drawn up by the government with Brussels.

But Conservative MPs who vote for the bill have been warned they would have the party whip withdrawn - meaning they would not be able to run as an MP for the party in a general election.

"There's a group of Conservatives who feel very strongly that now is the time that we have to put the national interest ahead of any threats to us personally or to our careers," Mr Hammond said.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, AFP

The foreign secretary said the key moot point this week was whether or not the bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October would be approved by MPs.

Dominic Raab said the bill was "deeply irresponsible and counterproductive" and might mean an election was "forced on this country".

In response to the bill's proposed delay to Brexit to 31 January, he said: "We cannot countenance any further delay because it stops the country from moving forward."

Sterling has fallen below $1.20 for the first time since January 2017 amid the political uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

The pound had fallen more than a cent against the dollar on Monday, and it continued to slide overnight. In early London trade it hit a low of $1.1991.

You can track the exchange rate here.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said no MP who wants Brexit to happen should vote for the bill preventing a no-deal departure on 31 October.

He insisted the government was "making good progress" in its negotiations with the EU.

However, he told Radio 4's Today programme: "The one handbrake on getting the country moving forward has been this lingering doubt in Brussels that Brexit could be cancelled or delayed - which is why this legislation is deeply irresponsible."

"I think no MP that wants to deliver on Brexit, that wants to get a deal, should vote for it," he added.

Mr Raab said he did not want Tory rebels such as Philip Hammond to feel pushed out of the party, but added: "We do need to focus our minds on the reality of this crucial crossroads week for the country - we want to get out of this Brexit rut we've been in for three years."

BBC Radio 4

Image source, EPA

And more on Conservative MP Justine Greening's announcement that she will not be standing as a candidate at the next election.

The MP for Putney told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she has written to the prime minister to inform him of her decision.

She said: "I want to focus on making a difference on the ground on social mobility and I believe I can do that better outside Parliament than inside Parliament."

The former education secretary supports calls for a second referendum.

Ms Greening said Parliament was "gridlocked on Brexit" and accused Boris Johnson of offering Britain a "messy" general election that forces the public to choose between "no deal or Jeremy Corbyn".

She added: "[It] is a lose-lose general election for Britain. A far better way of resolving a path forward on Brexit is to give the British people a direct choice between the different options on Brexit themselves, rather than a messy general election which I believe all the evidence suggests, will be yet again, inconclusive in a route forward on Brexit."

BBC Radio 5 Live

Baroness Chakrabarti has been doing the media rounds this morning.

Minutes after her appearance on BBC Breakfast, she spoke to 5 Live.

In the interim, it was revealed Remain-supporting Tory MP Justine Greening would stand down as an MP at the next election - and Chakrabarti said she was "really sorry" to hear the news.

"We disagree about many things but we've also agreed in the past over civil liberties issues," she said.

"I'm sorry to see One Nation Conservatives... who do believe in a voice for people in Parliament, and do believe in the rule of law, I'm sorry to see them treated in this way."

"I believe that the Conservative Party and our politics will be poorer from their departure from these vital debates," she added.

BBC Breakfast

The shadow attorney general says the confusion over whether or not Labour would support Boris Johnson's call for a general election was merely "a matter of sequencing".

Shami Chakrabarti told BBC Breakfast: "Of course we always want a general election because you don't end austerity and 'food bank Britain' without a general election.

"But there is an order of priority and today and tomorrow, the primary priority working across parties is to legislate against a disastrous no deal."

She said Labour would support a general election at "an appropriate moment".

She would not confirm how many MPs she expected to vote for the bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit on 31 October when it is introduced to the Commons later today.

BBC Breakfast

The shadow attorney general, Baroness Shami Chakrabati, tells BBC Breakfast the party's priority is to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

"The first thing to deal with today is to lock down this legislation to make sure we do not crash out on 31 October."

She said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will meet with a cross-party group of MPs this morning "to make sure that our parliamentary priority in the next couple of days is to legislate to prevent a no-deal crash-out".

Clive Coleman
BBC legal correspondent

Image source, PA Media

It isn't just MPs who are trying to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

The courts are getting involved too - and legal action will be heard at Scotland's highest civil court today.

This challenge is brought by SNP MP Joanna Cherry and 74 other MPs and peers.

The parliamentarians are seeking a ruling that Boris Johnson is acting unlawfully - because suspension of Parliament is, they argue, a denial of political accountability, curtails Parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit options, and is therefore unconstitutional.

The UK government has argued it is acting entirely lawfully and that this is a normal exercise of proroguing power.

The judgment from today's hearing will be released tomorrow.

It's interesting that the Lord Advocate, James Wolffe QC - Scotland's highest law officer - has applied to make representations in this challenge.

If he's allowed to do so, we're told that he will argue that the PM's progrogation of Parliament is an abuse of exectuive power.

Image source, Reuters

Former Conservative leader William Hague says it is time for Britain to go to the polls.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph,, external he said the only way to solve the Brexit impasse is to elect a fresh Parliament.

"We have a Parliament that cannot go backwards, forwards, or agree to sit still," Lord Hague wrote.

"It is unable to agree on the best or prepare for the worst. While we should not blame all the individuals in it, many of whom have striven to avoid this paralysis, the collective effect of this Rubik's Cube of a House of Commons is that it cannot properly serve the country in any scenario that we can now construct," he added.

"It is the most seriously defunct Parliament of modern times."

Lord Hague backed Remain in the 2016 referendum, despite being a Eurosceptic.

If there is a general election in October, it will be the third in five years, after polls in 2015 and 2017.

BBC Newsnight

Image source, UK Parliament

There's been some confusion about Labour's stance on Mr Johnson's warning of a snap general election.

Speaking at an event last night, the party leader Jeremy Corbyn told supporters his party was ready for a vote, adding: "I will be delighted when the election comes.

"I'm ready for it, you're ready for it, we're ready for it," he said.

He accused Mr Johnson of "threatening people with a no-deal Brexit if he doesn't get his way in Parliament".

But shadow Northern Ireland secretary Tony Lloyd later told Newsnight Labour would vote against any government plans to hold a general election before 31 October.

Asked whether Labour would vote against having an election before 31 October, he said: "That is absolutely right…we will stop a no-deal Brexit."

He said Labour "will not have Boris Johnson dictate the terms of an election that crashes this country out with no deal".

Labour backbencher Mary Creagh also said her understanding from speaking to senior members of her party was that Labour would not support a vote for a general election before 31 October.

1) Boris implored his own MPs to back him over Brexit and to reject what he said was "another pointless" delay being proposed by Labour

2) Downing Street told journalists the government expected to table a motion to hold a general election on 14 October if MPs voted to take control of business in the House of Commons later today

3) The government also upped the ante by threatening to deselect some of the most senior Conservatives in the party if they defied the party whip

4) The MPs who are hoping to fast-track a bill in the Commons revealed they are contemplating a further delay to Brexit until 31 January 2020

5) Meanwhile, across the Channel, the European Commission said it was considering allowing EU countries to apply for cash to cope with a no-deal Brexit using a special emergency fund

Read more here.

Another day of high drama looms in the land of Brexit.

MPs will return to the House of Commons this afternoon, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a showdown after No 10 officials warned he would call for a snap general election on 14 October if MPs succeed in seizing control of Commons business.

Rebel Tories and Labour MPs are planning a bill to stop the UK leaving the EU on 31 October without a deal.

Mr Johnson said he did not want an election, but progress with the EU would be "impossible" if the MPs win.

Meanwhile, a judge in Edinburgh is due to hear arguments over the prime minister's plan to shut down the UK Parliament.

Mr Johnson wants to suspend Parliament for five weeks ahead of a Queen's Speech on 14 October - but a cross-party group of parliamentarians wants a ruling at the Court of Session that he is acting illegally.

We'll have all the latest updates here as they develop.