Select Committee
Parliament

Stephen Barclay is asked whether the UK would be able to pull out of the backstop plan permanently.

"You would suspend initially, and then if that suspension was not remedied, then the outcome of that would then be able to terminate subsequent to that," he replies.

It's confirmed that Theresa May will open the Meaningful Vote debate, expected to start after lunch, and Brexit Secretary Steven Barclay will close it. We're expecting the vote to happen at about 1900 GMT.

The pound has abruptly changed direction after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the legal risks to the UK of the Brexit backstop remained unchanged despite assurances from the European Union.

In his legal advice on Theresa May's deal, Mr Cox said the new provisions "reduce the risk" of the UK being "indefinitely and involuntarily" held in the backstop.

"However, the legal risk remains unchanged that if through no such demonstrable failure of either party, but simply because of intractable differences, that situation does arise, the United Kingdom would have ... no internationally lawful means of exiting the Protocol's arrangements, save by agreement."

Against the dollar, the pound fell 0.7% to a day's low of $1.3041. It also fell 1% against the euro to €1.1625.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is first asked whether there is now an end date on the backstop plan as a result of the agreement last night.

Stephen Barclay replies that "there isn't a set date", but there is an "ability to terminate where the EU act in bad faith".

He is then pressed by Labour MP Hilary Benn on whether the UK will be able to "unilaterally" pull out of the backstop.

Mr Barclay says if the UK became "trapped" in the provisions of the backstop, the EU "would be acting in bad faith".

That would lead to arbitration under the terms of the withdrawal agreement, he says.

Shadow Brexit secretary says Mrs May's strategy is "in tatters".

One SNP MP tweets:

And the Green party co-leader says:

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox says that new provisions "reduce the risk" of the UK being "indefinitely and involuntarily" held in the Irish backstop.

But he says "the legal risk remains unchanged", saying the UK would have no legal means of exiting without EU agreement.

The final lines from Geoffrey Cox's letter of legal advice say:

The legal risk remains unchanged that if through no such demonstrable failure of either party, but simply because of intractable differences, that situation does arise, the UK would have, at least while the fundamental circumstances remained the same, no internationally lawful means of exiting the Protocol’s arrangements, save by agreement.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, AFP

Over in Parliament, Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay will shortly be giving evidence to MPs on the Exiting the EU select committee.

Reality Check

So has anything changed? Yes, and no.

The statement issued by the UK and the EU (known officially as a joint interpretive instrument) gives added legal reassurance that both sides intend that the backstop plan for the Irish border, if it ever needs to be used, will be only a temporary measure.

But the EU has said this before - notably in a letter sent to Theresa May in January by the President of the European Commission Jean Claude Juncker and the President of the European Council Donald Tusk.

On 14 January, Mrs May said the attorney general had confirmed that the letter meant that EU conclusions about the temporary nature of the backstop "would have legal force in international law".

So this new document is just another layer of reassurance.

Read more

The BBC's Nick Thorpe, who is in Bucharest for talks on the future of the EU under the Romanian presidency, says foreign and European affairs ministers appeared upbeat after Monday's late-night agreement.

Michael Roth, German minister for EU affairs, told him: "This is a far-reaching compromise.

"For the EU, it's of upmost importance, the integrity of the single market and no new border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. And I very much hope that the House of Commons will adopt the deal because I don't see further chances for negotiations."

Asked what would happen if the House of Commons rejected it, he said: "I don't want to speculate but everybody should take the responsibility which is necessary in the interests of the UK and the EU 27."

Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European Commission, said it was "great" there was an agreement and "great" that Mrs May was "in favour".

George Ciamba, Romanian minister delegate for European Affairs, said: "The backstop is temporary by political definition.

"I think this was language that would emphasise that. We hope this will be a game changer, so we cross our fingers because a disorderly withdrawal would be the worst scenario."

Image source, Reuters

This evening MPs will vote on a government motion, which, if they approve it, will mean they accept the Brexit deal negotiated with the EU.

The motion is amendable - and 10 amendments have been tabled so far. You can see them on today's order paper, external.

However we won't know which of these amendments are selected by the Speaker, John Bercow, until the debate starts this afternoon.

MPs who are behind the selected amendments will then decide this evening whether they want to put them to a vote.

Victoria Derbyshire

Conservative Brexiteer Daniel Kawczynski is asked about the panel of lawyers that is examining the documents agreed in Strasbourg last night for the European Research Group (ERG).

On whether their advice would trump that provided by the attorney general, he replies: "I don't think it's a question of one trumping the other."

Asked what should happen if the two sets of advice contradict one another, he says: "We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

He adds that the ERG will be "taking advice" from the DUP on the matter.

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live reporter Stephen Chittenden has been speaking to people in the cities of Cambridge and Peterborough - just an hour apart by road and rail.

In Cambridge, more than 70% of voters backed Remain in the 2016 referendum.

Olivia and Sam are students:

Sam says: “We have our whole lives and careers ahead of us and we’re not necessarily going to work in Britain. It’s very important that we have the opportunity to work in, say, France or Germany.

“Cambridge is a suburb of London in that a lot of the students maybe don’t feel as alienated from the political establishment - it’s a very privileged place, it’s a bit of a bubble.”

Olivia says: “My mum works in the health service, and I’ve seen and heard anecdotally how important free movement is for that.

“I am very dissatisfied with our political parties' stance – I think they’re handling it incredibly poorly.”

In Peterborough more than 60% of voters supported Leave in 2016.

Mark is a forklift truck driver: “My friend is a plumber. Been on an agency for three weeks but an Eastern European guy got a job ahead of him because he’d got better qualifications - and he’d only been in the country for three weeks which is not fair.

"Some MPs are looking after our interests, some are not.”

Listen to full coverage all day on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Have your say: Text 85058 @bbc5live, external

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox will make a Commons statement on his legal opinion on the Brexit deal at about 12:30 GMT.