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Conservative Remain-supporter Dominic Grieve says that "apart from a small minority in this House, who are absolutely fixated and persuaded that we can part company with our nearest neighbours", MPs generally believe that Brexit, in whatever form, will be damaging to the country.

"We are tying ourselves up in knots and that's why we are paralysed," he states.

"Threatening to leave is the behaviour of a three-year-old who says they will hold their breath if they do not get the toy they want," he adds.

"We cannot allow this to happen," he says, adding that "Brexit is not a sacred duty at all, but a rather profane matter".

He says he is "really alarmed" that the prime minister does not seem to understand his view that his "sacred duty" is to prevent it.

"There is going to come a time when my ability to support this government is going to run out," he finishes.

A Labour MP says no-one can explain why his party is not backing calls for a new EU referendum, with one option being to remain in the EU.

• Amendment a, tabled by Jeremy Corbyn, calls for the government to give a vote on the withdrawal agreement by 27 February, and also requests that MPs vote on next steps if the impasse continues.
• Amendment i is from the Remain-supporting SNP, and seeks to extend the date of Brexit by at least three months, while amending the EU Withdrawal Act to reflect this.
• Amendment e is from Remain campaigner and second vote advocate Anna Soubry, and calls on the government to publish a full official briefing within seven days of all the impacts of leaving the EU with no-deal on business and trade.

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Conservative Leave supporter Peter Bone says that the motion today calls for the UK to reject leaving the EU with no-deal.

"It doesn't matter what ministers have said, it's what the motion says," he states. He says this is the reason he will "not be supporting the motion tonight".

"I think the government thought they could slide it through and it wouldn't matter," he says.

The PM's Withdrawal Agreement does not end free movement of people, does not end payments to the EU and the European Court of Justice still has a "significant say" in UK laws, he adds.

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Plaid Cymru's Hywel Williams says that a business in his constituency is committed to Wales, but due to uncertainty they are having to open a new distribution centre in the Netherlands.

He says that it is time for the people to have a final say on the deal brokered.

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Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee, Sir Bill Cash, says that it makes "no sense" why the motion is being tabled today.

The PM's negotiated Withdrawal Agreement is inconsistent with the EU Communities Act 1972, he says, as well as the referendum itself and EU laws and treaties.

A vast majority of voters "see through this charade" as do the Conservative Party membership, he warns.

"We are now truly entering the world of George Orwell in his Ministry of Truth," he states.

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Conservative Dame Caroline Spelman says that when she was growing up, Britain was the "sick man of Europe" and she doesn't want to return to that again.

For Britain's success to continue, investors need to see the UK as a "certain" place to invest, she says.

The future of the health coverage received by 250,000 British pensioners living in Europe is "at stake" in the event the UK leaves without a deal, she adds.

"Sick and vulnerable people have been caught up in the Brexit turmoil," she adds.

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Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin says it is only via legislation that the government will be compelled to act on the majority opinion among MPs that a no-deal exit should not be an option.

He adds that he has been "forced to conclude" that the prime minister is allowing the UK to be "heading for no-deal".

"When the chips are down, she will actually prefer [...] to head for the exit door without a deal [...]in the event her deal has not succeeded", he says.

"That is a terrifying fact," he says.

After an intervention from Conservative MP Anna Soubry, Sir Oliver says he agrees that the briefing documents relating to business and trade on the implications of a no-deal Brexit should be revealed, and that more information on the impact of no-deal should have been shared.

On the potential of a no-deal exit, Sir Oliver concludes: "we will have in effect for a period to take on the government of this country".

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Labour chair of the Brexit committee Hilary Benn says the country is in a "mess", and "we have no idea what Brexit actually finally means".

The backstop plan, he says, is only necessary because the prime minister "announced casually that the UK is leaving the single market and the customs union"

"In her heart, the prime minister knows if she wants to keep an open border in Ireland the UK is going to have to remain in a customs union," Mr Benn says.

He says Theresa May does not want to admit this, not because it would be economically damaging, but because it would damage the Conservative Party.

"The prime minister got up this week and said 'hold your nerve' [...] I think the question we're entitled to ask is: 'hold your nerve for what?'".

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Next to speak is Tory MP Anna Soubry, who has tabled an amendment to the motion today calling on the government to publish the most recent official briefing document presented to cabinet on the implications for business of a no-deal Brexit.

She says there are often good reasons for official advice to remain confidential, but "a number of members of the cabinet" thought this briefing should be published.

"Nobody has denied to me that that is not a fact", she adds.

"These are not papers in the normal terms, these are papers I would suggest of national importance".

It would be "reckless" for the Conservative party to contemplate leaving the EU without a deal, she says - adding it is currently "in hock" with the Brexit-supporting European Research Group, which she calls a "party within the party".

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Labour's Yvette Cooper says the PM's agreement represents a "blindfold Brexit, with no idea what kind of arrangements the UK faces".

Theresa May, she says, is playing a "game of chicken" with MPs by forcing them to choose between no-deal and a "damaged deal".

"This is not a responsible way for the government to operate", she adds.

"Everyone is laughing at us, at least they would be if it was not so sad," she says.

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Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab says the UK must leave the EU at the end of next month, to "give businesses the certainty they require".

Extending Article 50 will "only make things worse", he says, and accuses Labour of "fueling the uncertainty they criticise" by not laying out a clear plan.

He adds that although he will vote against the three amendments selected for debate today, he is "struggling with the idea" of backing the government's main motion.

He says however that he will listen to what ministers will have to say at the end of the debate, because he would "rather be in a position of supporting the government".

"We want the government to go in with the strongest hand possible", he adds.

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The SNP's Peter Grant says his party's amendment to today's motion - which calls for the Brexit negotiations to be extended by at least three months - has been drafted to take into account the next elections to the European Parliament.

These will take place in May, with newly-elected MEPs due to reconvene in July.

He says he doesn't see "any prospect" that the PM's deal will be approved by MPs or the EU will agree to "significant changes" to it in the next month.

He says this makes not leaving on 29 March the "only defensible" solution, he adds.

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Conservative Ken Clarke says MPs "keep retreating" when given options to decide the future of Brexit. He asks for votes on motions that would bind ministers on the next steps.

"All we are doing is vetoing each other's propositions" for what should happen next, he states.

He says the amendment MPs approved last month calling for the PM to replace the backstop with 'alternative arrangements' is "meaningless".

He urges Parliament to take control of the negotiations, something which he says he "suspects" would be supported by some members of the government itself.

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Independent MP Sylvia Hermon asks Sir Keir Starmer to clarify "what exactly the position the position of the Labour party is" on the Irish border backstop plan.

In reply, Sir Keir says that whilst Labour has "concerns" about the plan, "we do accept there must be a backstop and it is inevitable".

Continuing, he says the "next step" for Parliament must be to put a "hard stop" on the government "running down the clock", by either voting or a deal or deciding what happens next by 27 February.

If a deal has not been approved by 13 March, he adds, then MPs will have to vote on "credible options" to prevent the UK leaving without a deal.

This includes either Labour's proposed economic relationship with the EU, or a "public vote on a deal or proposition that can command the support of the House", he says.

"There are no other credible options remaining", he adds.

"I don't mind standing up here and saying I will take whatever steps are necessary to avoid no deal, because I will never be persuaded [...] that it could possibly be good for our country", he says.

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Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer accuses Stephen Barclay of being "all over the place on all of the important issues" relating to the EU.

Theresa May, he says, is "pretending to make progress while running down the clock", and making a "non-update" every other week to buy more time.

"The prime minister has spent weeks and weeks and weeks trying to negotiate changes to the backstop [...] and she's got absolutely nowhere", he adds.

He adds that the PM has "lost a good deal of trust" by telling her MPs to support the 'Brady amendment' last month, which called for changes to the deal she herself negotiated.

He says ministers are not "serious" about the Malthouse Compromise, which he says is causing worry to European leaders.

As for Theresa May letting the UK leave the EU without a deal, "we'll see about that", he says.

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Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke intervenes to ask if the plan known as the 'Malthouse compromise' is government policy.

The plan, named after housing minister Kit Malthouse, includes proposals to extend the transition period for a year until the end of 2021 and protecting EU citizens' rights, instead of using the backstop.

Mr Barclay says he has "taken it forward to the European Union" and discussed it with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

He says Mr Barnier "raised some initial concerns" about the idea, but he adds: "we are making that case and discussing it with him".