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"Does this bill do the business?," asks leading Conservative Brexiteer and former environment secretary Owen Paterson.

"it is a very good start," he says, in reply to his own question.

There are "numerous things in it which I do not like", he adds, such as "the transition period could be used to take advantage of our fishing industry."

He also says he is worried about "antagonising the Unionist community" in Northern Ireland.

But echoing other prominent Brexit-supporting Tories in this debate, he says he will vote for the bill, albeit "without any real enthusiasm".

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"This bill is ultimately about sovereignty," Conservative - and long-term pro-Brexit campaigner - Sir Bill Cash tells MPs.

"These matters go to the marrow of our body politic, which is the birthright of our citizens forged over centuries in war and peace through our history.

"I will simply say we had a referendum, we had a decision of the British people.

"Anyone who opposes this bill is effectively undermining our democracy and our self government."

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If the timetable motion fails, then European Council President Donald Tusk is going to have very intense talks with the leaders of the other 27 member states. They are going to have to come up with a plan.

The feeling is that if things were going through Parliament, and there was a need for a short extension, you might be able to do that with a meeting of EU ambassadors here in Brussels, or with an exchange of emails among the leaders.

If the legislation at Westminster fails, then they're going to see that as a political problem that requires a political fix. That means the leaders - rather reluctantly, they're all pretty fatigued with all of this - will have to gather in Brussels face-to-face, and work out what sort of extension to offer.

I think that would be a matter of weeks or months - the end of January is a popular date.

Some people think it should be longer, that includes people like the French who are exasperated by the thought of another extension but want to make sure that if they are forced to give one, that it's long enough to allow some kind of political solution to emerge on the British side of the Channel.

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"I will compromise if they do," says Green MP Caroline Lucas.

She promises not to oppose the Withdrawal Agreement Bill as long as the government includes a "confirmatory ballot" in the legislation.

"Three and a half years after the 2016 referendum so much has changed," she says "including, I believe, the will of the British people".

She adds: "If they are so certain that this Brexit is what the British people want, why are they so afraid to put it back to the people?"

Image source, PA Wire

It is "next to impossible" for people with a day job to follow the latest Brexit updates, says former prime minister Tony Blair.

"The trouble with Brexit is that at a certain level it is rocket science. I am constantly re-impressed by the madness of thinking we could ever take a decision of such import and complexity through a simple 'yes/no', 'in/out' one-off vote on one day," he writes in an op-ed for HuffPost., external

He adds: "Just 'get it done' has turned into a highly effective but utterly false mantra. The Remain side is in danger of winning the process battle but losing the battle for public opinion, such is the fatigue."

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"This is a hell of a big document," says former Tory, now independent MP Rory Stewart as he waves the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.

"We cannot pretend two and a half days is long enough to scrutinise it," he says.

He warns the government that, unless more time for debate is offered, the bill will be "poisoned with the stain of illegitimacy".

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Anna Soubry, leader of the Independent Group for Change, says she will not be voting for the bill.

The former Tory MP and leading Remain supporter says the "reality" is the "new backstop is an arrangement that will be there in perpetuity".

She says she disagrees with the DUP MP for East Antrim, Sammy Wilson, "over many things" but "on this issue we are absolutely as one".

Ms Soubry says it is "incredible" that Tory MPs could support "in perpetuity a separate arrangement for Northern Ireland".

"We were promised that Northern Ireland would not be treated any differently."

She calls for a further referendum.

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Tory MP John Baron - a longstanding Eurosceptic - tells MPs that there are "aspects" of the PM's deal he does not like.

However, he adds: "Although I have qualms, these are manageable."

"For me the elephant in the room was always the backstop - it alone could have trapped the UK indefinitely in the structure of the EU's making."

Last week, Mr Baron said the UK would be able to leave the EU "on no-deal terms" if trade talks failed come December 2020 - the so-called transition period, prompting Labour to say he had "let the cat out of the bag" over the government's true intentions.

This is what the timetable could look like if MPs back the programme motion tonight.

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Dominic Grieve, one of the 21 MPs who were expelled from the Conservative Party for rebelling over Brexit, says he will vote against the bill and the programme motion.

"It is really treating the House in an insulting way," he says. "And it says something about this government which worries me.

"I am a Conservative. Even if I've lost the whip I remain a Conservative.

"And to see a government with a constitutional measure playing really bully boy tactics with this House, it can only be counter productive to the very aims the government itself would like to achieve."

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Sammy Wilson, a Democratic Unionist Party MP, criticises the customs checks that would be imposed on Northern Ireland if the PM's deal becomes law.

He tells MPs that "despite the promise of unfettered access, the checks will occur in the same in the opposite direction for thousands of firms in Northern Ireland".

"Northern Ireland will be left as a semi-detached part of the UK," he says.

"Attention will move from Westminster to Dublin...

"Who will we have to speak for us ion Europe when customs rules are affecting us?"

Here's more on the proposed customs checks issue he is referring to: NI firms must declare goods heading to rest of the UK

Image source, Getty Images

Following on from our earlier post on how Boris Johnson could get a general election, let's look at how when it could take place.

Once a general election is called, there has to be a gap of at least five weeks before polling day.

That's because the law requires Parliament to dissolve 25 working days before the election.

At this point, politicians stop being MPs and campaign for re-election, if they choose to stand again.

Traditionally, UK elections are held on a Thursday. So, if an election were triggered before Thursday 24 October, the earliest date the poll could take place is Thursday 28 November.

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Conservative former cabinet minister John Whittingdale says Labour MP for Cardiff West, Kevin Brennan, postponed his 60th birthday party as a result of the Commons sitting on a Saturday.

He says they share the same birthday, "and that, as a result of the programme motion, I have postponed my own 60th birthday party".

"However, I suspect unlike the honorable gentleman opposite, I regard it as a small price to pay... if the result is we get Brexit done."

He goes on to say he believes the bill to be "an improvement on what we were offered before".

The Brexiteer says he is "not happy by the idea that for 15 months we will essentially be a vassal state", referring to the transition period.

"I am willing to pay that price as long as there is a clearly defined end point," he adds.

Image source, AFP

Earlier, Boris Johnson said he intends to move to a general election if the timetable for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is rejected and the EU confirms a delay to the 31 October exit date.

But how could he make an election happen?

Because of the 2011 Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, the PM can no longer call an election when he wants and must instead get two-thirds of MPs to vote for a motion supporting one.

If the government doesn't think it has the votes for this, it could instead put forward a short law proposing an election date "notwithstanding the Fixed-term Parliaments Act".

This route would only require a majority of one, but it would need to go through several stages in both the Commons and Lords, where there would be a risk of it being changed.

As a last-ditch measure, the PM could call a no-confidence motion in himself - a move which would also only require a simple majority.

This would trigger an automatic early election - as long as opposition parties failed to form an alternative government within a 14-day period afterwards.

Read more.

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Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson says her MPs will vote against the bill later.

"This Brexit deal will be bad for our security," she says, adding that it will "rob our police of the ability to use the European arrest warrant".

She says it will be bad for the UK.

"It beggars belief that this Conservative prime minister has agreed to a deal that has a border down the Irish Sea," she adds.

She questions whether Labour MPs will "throw the PM a lifeline" by voting for "his bad Brexit deal".