SNP MP Stewart McDonald has denied reports the party is "under pressure" to back Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

The Scotsman newspaper reports, external Scotish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw as saying the SNP's MPs should vote for the new agreement to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

James Shaw
BBC Scotland reporter

A group of anti-Brexit campaigners have begun a court action claiming that the exit deal agreed in Brussels on Thursday is unlawful.

They are seeking a court order to prevent the deal coming into force at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

The campaigners argue that the deal breaches the terms of an act passed last year which stipulates that Northern Ireland must not be part of a separate customs union to the rest of the UK.

The deal agreed by Boris Johnson and other EU leaders says that Northern Ireland will be part of a UK-wide customs union.

But Northern Ireland will be aligned to some EU rules and there will have to be some customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

A separate action being brought by the same campaigners seeks to enforce the Benn Act, which is designed to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

That is expected to be heard on Monday if MPs sitting tomorrow reject the prime minister’s deal.

Victoria Derbyshire

John Baron, a Conservative MP who defied the government three times when he repeatedly voted against Theresa May's Brexit deal, says he's "inclined" to vote for Mr Johnson.

"The reason I'm inclined to vote for this one is very simple," he says.

"Theresa May's backstop could have had us locked into that arrangement indefinitely. Boris Johnson has torn up that backstop which means that if the trade talks are not successful then we could [still] leave on no-deal terms."

Image source, UK PARLIAMENT

MPs will be in Parliament for their knife-edge vote on Mr Johnson's deal tomorrow - but it's very rare for the Commons to sit on a Saturday.

The House of Commons has only sat on four Saturdays since 1939, including on 2 September that year, due to the outbreak of World War Two.

The last time there was a Saturday sitting was 3 April 1982, due to the invasion of the Falkland Islands.

Labour MP Hilary Benn, the chairman of the Brexit select committee, tweets that he won't be supporting Boris Johnson's deal.

In a series of tweets, Mr Benn says the political declaration in the deal is "bad news".

He writes: "The free trade agreement that the prime minister wants will end frictionless trade and result in additional cost and bureaucracy for British businesses and any divergence from a level playing field will adversely affect our access to EU markets."

Mr Benn adds that the deal is "even worse for the economy than Theresa May's deal was. It doesn't help manufacturing or services. And it opens the door to a deregulated future".

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

EU leaders are weighing up what to do if UK Parliament rejects Mr Johnson's new Brexit deal.

That's according to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, as reported by the Baltic News Service this morning.

"No matter how confident Mr Johnson, a rather charming personality, is, nevertheless, everybody thinks about alternative scenarios," Mr Nauseda said.

"I said we are probably trying to predict something that is unpredictable, and we have all possibilities to respond to Great Britain's decisions, and our job today is to just endorse the Brexit deal and express our delight that it is a great day for both the EU and Great Britain, but that is not the final result."

Downing Street has issued its legal advice on the new Brexit deal and its treatment of the Irish border.

BBC political correspondent Nick Eardley said the advice essentially says "This deal is different to last one because consent in Northern Ireland key."

Read more on what is in the new deal here.

Image source, EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

EU leaders have come together for the second day of the European Council summit.

They're perhaps breathing a sigh of relief as Brexit is not on the agenda.

Topics on today's agenda, external include:

• The long-term EU budget
• Climate change
• It's also thought the council will adopt a decision appointing Christine Lagarde as President of the European Bank

President of the European Council Donald Tusk and President of the European Comission Jean-Claude Juncker will hold a press conference at lunchtime.

Image source, Getty Images

Chuka Umunna's message to his former Labour colleagues over Boris Johnson's Brexit deal has provoked consternation from some.

Gloria De Piero, Labour MP for Ashfield, tweeted that Mr Umunna's "lecture on loyalty" was like a "weird dream".

Close attention is being paid to how the 21 former Tory MPs who rebelled against the government - and were subsequently sacked - might vote on Saturday.

One of the group, Richard Benyon, has tweeted to say he will be supporting Boris Johnson's deal.

BBC News Channel

Tom McTague, who writes for The Atlantic, says it's "too far gone" to expect any DUP support for the PM's deal now.

"Among the unionist papers they're calling it the betrayal act," he says. "They feel abandoned by London."

"This is something that has always been felt by Northern Ireland - they are always waiting to be betrayed by the English. They feel that that happens regularly."

Former Tory MP and minister Sam Gyimah says it's not true that a vote for Boris Johnson's deal would stop Britain from leaving the EU without an agreement.

Image source, Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The Liberal Democrat spokesperson for foreign affairs, Chuka Umunna, has a message to his former Labour colleagues who are tempted to vote in favour of the prime minister's deal.

"A lot of those who have been mooted in potentially supporting Boris Johnson in this are people who aren't planning to stand for Parliament again and I would just ask them, very respectfully, do you want one of your last acts in British politics to be helping facilitate one of the most right-wing nationalist political projects this country has seen?" he says.

"And if the answer to that is 'No,' I just don't see how you can support his withdrawal agreement."

Mr Umunna left Labour in March over its position on Brexit and its handling of anti-Semitism allegations.

The Commons Treasury select committee is demanding the government produces fresh forecasts of what it would cost to leave the EU under Boris Johnson's new deal before the vote on Saturday.

In a letter to Chancellor Sajid Javid, Catherine McKinnell, the committee's acting chairwoman, says it is "unacceptable" to have not received the information after a request three months ago.

"It appears to be an attempt to avoid scrutiny," she writes.

Mr Javid told reporters in the US on Thursday that he did not intend to update finance ministry forecasts on the cost of Brexit that were last produced in November 2018.

More on the news that Conservative MP Mark Field is to stand down at the next election.

In a statement released last night, Mr Field said he would back Boris Johnson's new deal but disagreed with the PM's "impatient approach to getting Brexit done".

The MP for the City of London, who became known for tackling a protester during an event earlier this year, warned that what happened next would "not be plain sailing" and said he could not face "becoming a dissenting voice from the backbenches".

BBC News Channel

The prime minister's deal is proving more popular with Leave voters than Theresa May's deal was, early polls suggest.

Sir John Curtice, politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, says polling evidence from ComRes suggests two thirds of Leave voters support the deal.

The deal is fairly unpopular with Remain voters - only 19% of them approve of the deal, he says.

The news will give Mr Johnson "some encouragement" that, in the event of a general election, he may be able to "squeeze" the Brexit Party vote to ensure he wins a majority.

"Early signs [are] good for the prime minister - but still need to be made rather better," Sir John says.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, Reuters

Election expert John Curtice has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the prime minister’s chances of winning the next general election would increase if MPs back his Brexit deal.

“If he does get a deal through and delivers it by the end of October... then I would suggest the prospects for Boris Johnson look rather good,” he said.

Prof Curtice said current opinion polls suggested the Conservatives would achieve around 326 seats in the Commons, which signaled an overall majority.

He added that hypothetical polling had suggested that if Mr Johnson achieved Brexit by 31 October then support for the Brexit Party would fall away, potentially increasing a Tory majority.

"An early election looks a relatively attractive but not entirely risk-free project,” Prof Curtice said.

Match the headline to the newspaper...

• Final hurdle in sight as Johnson gets his deal
• It's my deal or no deal
• Johnson gets his Brexit deal - now it's a numbers game
• 'Now seal our deal'
• He's done his duty: Now MPs must do theirs
• Get real... take the deal
• Just do it!
• Johnson gets his EU deal... now for the tricky part
• On the brink of Brexit... once again
• DUP veto threat leaves Johnson's Brexit deal gamble in the balance

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MPs are expected to table amendments to the PM's deal when it goes before Parliament for voting on Saturday.

One of them is former Tory rebel Oliver Letwin who now sits as an independent MP. The text of his proposal has just been released, the BBC's Jessica Parker tweets...