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The four political groups backing the main motion represent over 500 of the assembly’s 750 MEPs, meaning their motion is likely to prevail at the vote.

However some of the other groups have tabled their own alternative motions:

The left-wing GUE group ’s motion says that representatives from the devolved administrations should be included in the Brexit talks.

It also calls on the UK to sign up to the European Convention on Social Security, and for Northern Ireland to be given a “special status within the EU”.

The ECR group – which contains the British Conservative MEPs – says the Parliament should avoid making “excessive demands” in order to support the negotiations.

They also say negotiations on the future trade relationship should be allowed to take place alongside talks on the exit terms.

The EFDD group , which contains Britain’s 20 UKIP MEPs, says any final deal must not include freedom of movement obligations, which would be a “betrayal of the will of the British people”.

It also says the UK should not be legally obliged to pay into the EU budget after Brexit, and that the UK should be allowed to provisionally strike trade agreements with non-EU countries as long as they are conditional on Brexit. 

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Strasbourg

UKIP leader Paul Nuttall dismisses claims of a €50bn EU exit bill as "ludicrous", and accuses the EU of making threats. 

Failing to conclude a trade deal with the UK would cause "immense damage" to European economies, he adds, and says for the EU it would be like "cutting off your nose to spite your face". 

However, he says the "most offensive" part of the EU's negotiating guidelines was the instruction that Spain will have to agree to any deal applying to Gibraltar. 

He calls for Gibraltar to become a "fully integrated" part of UK, with its own member of Parliament to better recognise its status. 

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Strasbourg

Conservative MEP Ashley Fox says the Brexit negotiations should lead to a "deep and special partnership" between the EU and the UK. 

Pledging a constructive atmosphere in the talks, he adds: "We all need a good agreement rather than a good fight."

However, he tells MEPs that the sovereignty of Gibraltar should "not be part of these negotiations", and that he was disappointed with recent references to the Rock in the EU's draft negotiating guidelines. 

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Strasbourg

Michel Barnier, the European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator, says that the Parliament will "set the tone" of the talks to come. 

He tells the assembly that "disunity" between the remaining EU states could endanger the chances of a final deal being done.

This final deal, he adds, should show what it means to be outside the Union and include a "pedagogical dimension".

He repeats that a final exit bill will be sought by the EU that will see the UK "deliver" on the budgetary commitments it has made as a member. 

On the demand that negotiations must be phased in two parts, he says the EU is not doing this for tactical advantage but to "build trust" and maximise the chances of a final deal being done. 

To do otherwise would be "risky", he adds. 

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the European Commission and Parliament are largely "on the same lines" when it comes to the Brexit talks. 

"This is the time to stay united", he says, adding that the remaining EU states will have a stronger position if they are "singing from the same hymn sheet". 

He says he hopes talks will take place in a friendly atmosphere, and that the EU is "not in a hostile mood".

He adds that the Commission wants to reduce the "uncertainty" for EU citizens, and avoid a "disorderly" separation, telling MEPs: 

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Strasbourg

Dutch MEP Marcel de Graaff, from the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) says that the UK will be better off outside the EU but warns the remaining states "want to punish" Britain. 

Former UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe, who now sits as an independent in the Parliament, accuses German MEP of "bellicose threatening". 

However he says his demands will end up a "pen with no point" in the negotiation talks. 

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Strasbourg

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says the triggering of Article 50 last week was a "great historic day", to which the response has been "all too predictable".

He says that MEPs' demands are "unreasonable" and "impossible for Britain to comply with".

He says the reported figure for an exit bill appears to have been "plucked out of the air", and is effectively a "ransom demand".

"You should be making us an offer we can't refuse to go", he adds, calling the EU's response to the exit notice "vindictive and nasty". 

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Strasbourg

German MEP and left-wing GUE group leader Gabriele Zimmer says the prescribed negotiating period seems an "incredibly short" amount of time given the complexity of the task ahead. 

She notes preserving the rights of EU citizens and avoiding a hard Irish border will be priorities for her group.

However she notes that the Brexit vote was also about "unsolved problems in the European Union", that allowed "demagogues such as Mr Farage" to "turn the table" of public opinion. 

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Strasbourg

Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group and is also the Parliament's chief Brexit spokesman, says the UK's participation in the European project has never been "a love affair", but more of a "marriage of convenience". 

He adds that it may have been "naive" to expect to reconcile Britain, with its common law system, within the Union - noting: "Perhaps it was never meant to be." 

He says, however, that he still hopes that one day a "young man or young woman" will "try again" to bring Britain back into the EU. 

He tells MEPs that Brexit is a "catfight in the Conservative Party that got out of hand". 

However, he says the coming negotiations should bring about a "deep and comprehensive partnership" with Britain, whose attitudes towards civil liberties he says he will miss. 

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Strasbourg

From the Conservative ECR group, Flemish nationalist MEP Helga Stevens says that Brexit must not prove to be a "missed opportunity".

Pointing out that the UK will remain an important security and economic partner for the EU, she says that the exit deal should not end up as a "nasty break-up". 

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Strasbourg

The leader of the Socialist and Democrat group, Italian MEP Gianni Pitella, says that "substantial progress" will have to be made on withdrawal terms before the future relationship can be discussed.

He says that any deal that threatens co-operation on security to get favourable trade terms will be sent "back to sender". 

He adds that for the remaining 27 EU members, Brexit should be an opportunity to "build our unity around a common destiny". 

European Parliament
Strasbourg

German Christian democrat MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right EPP group, says he hopes the European Parliament stays "united" during the upcoming talks.  

He adds that avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will be a top priority for MEPs, and that the UK cannot be allowed to enjoy "the same or better conditions" outside the Union than within. 

He also says it must be clarified whether, for example, what kind of level of participation the UK could have in EU agencies like Europol once it has left. 

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The draft motion, external backed by four groups backs a number of positions taken by EU leaders, including the need for a “phased approach” to negotiations.

This would require progress on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal, including settling financial commitments, before talks on a future trading relationship can start.

It also backs the call for transparency in the talks, and for the UK to be considered liable for financial commitments that apply after it leaves the EU.

It also says:

• transitional arrangements should be time-limited to three years and be enforced by the EU’s Court of Justice
• UK citizens in the EU and EU citizens in Britain should receive “reciprocal” treatment
• the final deal should not include a “trade-off” between trade and security co-operation 
• the UK should adhere to EU environmental and anti-tax evasion standards to get close trade ties 
• the European Banking Authority and European Medicines Agency should be moved out of London
• the UK should pay towards costs for the EU that “arise directly from its withdrawal” 

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Hello and welcome to coverage of this plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The sitting will be getting under way shortly, when MEPs will be debating their red lines for the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

The European Parliament has to ratify any deal between the UK and EU before it can be agreed to by the national governments.

MEPs are setting out their conditions for approving the final deal in a bid to influence the final negotiating instructions EU leaders will agree at the end of this month.

A draft motion drawn up by four of the Parliament’s political groups will be voted on after 11.00 BST.