House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Jim McMahon says: "Isn’t it wrong that the risk assessments have been incomplete?"

Mr Corbyn replies: "My friend is absolutely right."

Then, referring to the amount of time MPs have had to read and scrutinise the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, he says: "17 hours isn’t very much to deal with 40 clauses and 110 pages of legislation.

"This prime minister is trying to blindside this Parliament to force deal through."

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour MP Gloria De Piero - whose Ashfield constituency voted strongly for Brexit - tells MPs she is in favour of voting for the second reading of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill so she can "improve the deal so it reflects the manifesto I stood on".

She wants to "leave with a deal that protects jobs and trade", she says.

Jeremy Corbyn says he "fully understands" her concerns and her constituents' concerns.

The Labour leader says he hopes she understands why he believes the bill should not get its second reading and he hopes she will join him in voting against the proposed three-day timetable for the legislation.

House of Commons
Parliament

Responding to the PM's speech, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls the government's Brexit deal a "charter for deregulation" that fails to protect workers' rights or the UK economy.

He confirms that Labour will vote against the Brexit deal bill's at second reading stage tonight, and will also oppose the government's proposed timetable for the bill.

House of Commons
Parliament

Boris Johnson concludes his speech by telling MPs: "the prize is visible before us."

He says the Brexit deal he struck with the EU represents a "new beginning for an outward looking country".

"The deal is here on the table, the legislation is here before us.

"A clear majority in the country is imploring us to get Brexit done.

"Let us do it now and tonight."

House of Commons
Parliament

Boris Johnson confirms the news we broke earlier - that if the government loses the vote on the timetable, the legislation will have to be “pulled" and "we will have to go forward to a general election.”

House of Commons
Parliament

Boris Johnson says MPs who vote against the timetable for the Brexit deal bill later will be voting to "hand over control over what happens next" to the EU.

This would increase the likelihood of a no-deal exit, he says, and would continue the "creeping paralysis" affecting parts of the UK economy.

He adds that MPs should not be "daunted" by the three-day timetable he has proposed for scrutinising the legislation.

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

Boris Johnson has upped the stakes absolutely massively, in effect saying to MPs: "You either do it my way or we're going to have a general election". In terms of triggering a general election, we know he's tried before and failed before.

His strategy now seems to be to go to Brussels, to seek that extension - which he has already asked for in the letter - and, in that time, to try and force a general election initially under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, which would require him to secure a two-thirds majority of MPs.

Failing that, he has left open the option of Tory MPs voting no confidence in their own government, in the hope, I imagine, that the SNP, maybe others, would join them to secure the necessary simple majority paving the way for a general election. I rather suspect Boris Johnson will keep doing that until he triggers a general election.

We have now reached a make-or-break Brexit moment, where either Boris Johnson is going to push ahead for his 31 October deadline with his unaltered Brexit deal, or we seem to be heading towards a winter general election.

House of Commons
Parliament

MP Jo Johnson, who quit the government earlier this year over his older brother's no-deal Brexit threat, congratulates the prime minister on securing a deal.

"Never doubted it for a minute," he says and asks if the government will "ensure the closest possible relationship to EU science and research funding programmes".

"We will protect, preserve and enhance it," replies Mr Johnson.

Image source, Getty

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is not commenting on whether the PM told the Cabinet what he would do if his programme motion for the Brexit bill is defeated.

Downing Street sources have said the government will pull the Withdrawal Agreement Bill and push for a general election if MPs vote down the three-day timetable for its debate and the EU confirms a delay.

Mr Williamson said: "I used to be a chief whip and what I always said was it is for the chief whip to decide and for others not to comment."

House of Commons
Parliament

Labour's Jim Fitzpatrick, one of five Labour rebels who voted for Theresa May's deal in March, says he is grateful for reassurances the PM has given over protecting workers' rights after Brexit.

He says an assurance to write into the bill that there will not be a "race to to the bottom" in this area is a "huge issue" for MPs in his party.

He asks for an assurance the same approach will be followed for consumer protection standards.

Boris Johnson replies that he "can indeed" give him that pledge.

House of Commons
Parliament

DUP MP Gavin Robinson asks how the PM can "square the pledge he has given that says Northern Ireland can fully benefit from free trade agreements" with the provisions in his deal.

Mr Johnson says the deal "allows us to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland and respect the Good Friday arrangement".

He adds that the arrangements relating to Northern Ireland "are automatically terminated unless the Northern Ireland Assembly votes to retain all of them".

BBC News Channel

BBC chief political correspondent Vicki Young says the government is "really upping the stakes" by saying it will abandon the Brexit bill and push for a general election if MPs vote down the three-day timetable for its debate later on Tuesday and the EU confirms a delay.

"That is a Downing Street source really threatening MPs there," she says.

"I think that will be seen as a threat to independent MPs. [It is] very very hard for an MP to win a seat as an independent. It does happen, but it's quite rare."

She says it is interesting the government has communicated the information via a Number 10 source rather than a statement by the prime minister.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Image source, PA Wire

Provisions for the transition period are "particularly" worrying, says Labour MP Hilary Benn.

"At the moment the transition ends... in December 2020. What's in the bill is it's for the government to decide whether it's going to be extended by one or two years," he says.

"If the government fails to propose more time - and that's what the bill says: it's entirely down the government - then if no new agreement has been reached with the EU in 14 months' time we crash out with no deal in December of next year."