BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

"I don't blame Boris Johnson for doing and saying the things he's done," Labour MP Jess Phillips says.

"I just wish he had acted like a statesman.

"I just wish.. he had sought to find some sort of consensus in Parliament [on Brexit].

"Nobody has tried to do that everybody has behaved badly."

She says she is scared of the consequences of a no-deal Brexit for her Birmingham Yardley constituents.

Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith has tweeted, external that any attempt to withdraw security co-operation from Ireland would be "unacceptable".

It comes after a report in the Spectator magazine quoted a No 10 official warning that security co-operation with the EU would "inevitably be affected" if EU governments approved a further Brexit delay, contrary to the desire of Downing Street to leave by 31 October.

In his tweet, Mr Smith says such a move would not be "in the interest" of either "Northern Ireland or the Union".

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

"There is of course a blame game going on we've seen that in the last 10 days," our political editor Laura Kuenssberg says.

"It doesn't look like it's viable to think anybody will move enough now to make a deal next week possible and that means we are heading for a delay but with an absolutely supersonic political screaming match around that."

BBC Politics Live
BBC2's lunchtime political programme

Tory MP Nigel Evans says: "Why I believe there is a change in the music coming from Germany and Ireland it is because of the Benn Act."

This is the legislation - spearheaded by Labour MP Hilary Benn - that aims to avoid a no-deal Brexit and will force the PM to seek an extension if a deal has not been agreed by 19 October.

Mr Evans says the EU will wait until 19 October to "see what rabbit is pulled out of the hat".

"If we have to seek an extension it plays right into their hands," he says.

To stay in a customs union and single market is not what people voted for, he adds.

Image source, Google

Donald Tusk's use of a Latin term (see our earlier entry) has sent people scurrying for their search engines, according to Google trends statistics.

Perhaps the European Council president was trying to appeal to the classical scholar in Boris Johnson.

He told the PM: "You don't want a deal, you don't want an extension, you don't want to revoke, quo vadis?"

The Collins English Dictionary defines 'quo vadis' as meaning "where are you going?"

Image source, Getty Images

In the preface to his latest "no-deal readiness" document, Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, adds: "Significant preparations have been under way for the last three years and these have been accelerated under the prime minister's leadership.

"At every point, the government will be candid about any further challenges ahead as well as clear-eyed about the opportunities."

"Together, government, businesses and citizens are working so that we will be ready for Brexit on October 31 - and can look forward to the future with certainty and confidence."

Michael Gove, the cabinet minister in charge of no-deal Brexit planning, has published an update on the government's preparations.

Concerns the medical sector could be hit in a no deal situation have been addressed in the document, external.

It says the government is establishing a support unit for suppliers of medical goods "to ensure that companies have the necessary customs paperwork in place for border arrangements ahead of a no-deal Brexit".

Mr Gove says: "It is the top priority of this government, and principal focus of my job, to get ready for Brexit on 31 October with or without a deal. We would prefer to leave with a deal, and continue to work in an energetic and determined way to achieve one, but we must be prepared for all eventualities."

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Labour MP Hilary Benn, Commons Brexit committee chairman, tells BBC News: "The moment he (Boris Johnson) said there will be customs checks in Northern Ireland, he must have known this would not be acceptable.

"Up until this point the understanding was there will not be checks (on the island of Ireland)."

He says it would be "always difficult to agree to that".

Number 10 "has made a mess of this", he says.

"The challenge falls back to Parliament."

He says his view and a growing view among other MPs is that "we have to go back to the British people in a referendum".

Meanwhile in Brussels, a spokeswoman for the European Commission has declined to comment on reports of the PM's conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The EU position has not changed, we want a deal, we are working for a deal with the United Kingdom," she told reporters.

"Under no circumstances will we accept that the EU wants to do harm the Good Friday Agreement. The purpose of our work is to protect it".

The spokesman for Angela Merkel has told the BBC: "I can confirm that the chancellor and the prime minister spoke on the phone today.

"As usual we don’t make the contents of confidential conversations public."

Hello and welcome to our live coverage today, as a No 10 source has said a Brexit deal is "essentially impossible" after a call between the PM and Angela Merkel this morning.

You can read more on this developing story here.

In Westminster, it’s the final working day in Parliament before it is due to be prorogued – or suspended – later for five days.

This afternoon, Michael Gove will be in the Commons to update MPs on the government’s latest document on preparations for a possible no-deal Brexit.

Before that, there will also be an urgent question on President Trump’s decision to withdraw forces from Northern Syria.