The debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday illustrates the “fluidity” of Brexit, Ireland’s deputy premier has said.

As the debate on the no-deal Brexit emergency plans got under way in the Irish parliament (Dail), Simon Coveney said the events at Westminster showed the need to be prepared for “all eventualities”.

On Friday the Irish Government published the Brexit preparedness omnibus Bill which features a wide range of worst-case contingency laws that will be enacted if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

The Omnibus Bill, which will be fast-tracked through the Oireachtas parliament in Dublin, is designed to support businesses and jobs affected by a no-deal and secure ongoing access to essential services and products across the Irish border.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney introduced the debate on the Brexit Bill shortly after Prime Minister Theresa May offered MPs a chance to vote to delay Brexit if her deal is rejected again next month.

He told the Dail that a no-deal Brexit could only be prevented at Westminster.

“Westminster needs to make up its mind, collectively, about what it wants,” he said.

“Today’s debate at the House of Commons illustrates the fluidity of the situation and accordingly the need for us to be prepared for all eventualities.

“Our history with Britain is deep and complicated but it has arrived at a position of parity, trust and close friendship where we are co-guarantors of peace on our islands.

“The Irish and the British live together, study together, work together, marry each other and have families together. We understand each other’s sense of self and sense of humour.

“In politics we agree on a lot more than we disagree on. Brexit must not be allowed to take any of this away from us.”

He said the current position of the Brexit process poses “unique and unprecedented challenges” for Ireland.

Mr Coveney added that the Bill is a key part of the Irish government’s plans to ramp up the no-deal preparations.

The Omnibus Bill, known as the Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill, is made up of 15 parts and was prepared by nine ministers.

The proposed laws cover a wide range of areas and focus on protecting Irish citizens’ rights, supporting businesses and jobs, healthcare, transport, education and energy.

Fianna Fail’s Brexit spokeswoman Lisa Chambers said: “With 31 days to Brexit it is extremely disappointing and worrying that we find ourselves in this situation having to pass emergency legislation to try and minimise the damage to our country and our citizens because of the UK’s Government’s failure to ratify the withdrawal treaty which they negotiated and helped to craft.

“We are but onlookers to this entire mess, something which we did not ask for or create but which nevertheless impacts on us heavily.”

She went on to accuse the Irish Government of giving opposition parties insufficient time to scrutinise the Bill.

“It is in all of our interests to ensure that this Bill is as robust as it can possibly be and it is our opinion that greater time should have been given to this crucial piece of legislation,” she added.

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said: “Economic problems will very quickly lead to a sour political atmosphere and it is likely that Ireland will be blamed, especially by those Brexiteers who have lied to the British people about the EU for many years, and who have lied about their fantasy of unregulated trade after Brexit.”</s>Britain's Labour Party will support second Brexit referendum if Tories don't adopt EU deal proposals

Britain's opposition Labour Party says it would back calls for a second referendum on Brexit if Parliament rejects its alternative plan for leaving the European Union.

With just over a month until Britain is due to leave the bloc on March 29, Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking changes to her exit deal in order to break an impasse in Parliament.

Labour's decision could damage her hopes of winning support for a revised deal in a vote she has promised by March 12, by attracting those who would have backed her agreement to avoid a no-deal exit but who prefer a second referendum.

Parliament is due to debate and vote on Wednesday on the next steps in Britain's tortuous departure from the EU, and MPs are set to put down proposals, or amendments, which could include demanding the exit deal is put to a public vote.

On Monday (local time) Labour said it would put forward an amendment calling on the Government to adopt its Brexit proposals, which include a permanent customs union with the EU and close alignment with the bloc's single market.

"If Parliament rejects our plan, then Labour will deliver on the promise we made at our annual conference and support a public vote," Labour's Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said on Twitter.

Parliament is not expected to back Labour's Brexit plan.

Labour said it would support a bid by one of its MPs, Yvette Cooper, to give Parliament the legal power to force Mrs May to delay Brexit by seeking an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period.

"We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory (Conservative) Brexit being forced on the country," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was due to tell a meeting of his MPs on Monday, his office said.

"One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal."

That amendment may not come at this week's vote in Parliament however.

A proposal by Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson that Mrs May's deal be put to the public in another referendum will not be put forward for a vote in Parliament until the Prime Minister brings her agreement back for approval.

"There's no turning back for Jeremy now," Mr Kyle said.

Mr Corbyn has been under pressure for some time to support a second referendum. Last week, eight referendum-supporting MPs quit the Labour Party, in part owing to frustration over his failure to back another vote.

The prospect of holding a second vote poses a dilemma for Mr Corbyn: while many of the party's members and supporters fervently back a so-called People's Vote, others simply want Britain to leave the EU as soon as possible.

Reaction from MPs in the meeting on Monday was split.

It remains unclear whether there is a majority in Parliament in favour of holding another public vote and Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said while he was pleased parliament would get a chance to express its view, he also had concerns.

"I still have deep reservations about the idea of having another referendum. I think it's going to be deeply divisive," he said.

Britons voted by 52-48 per cent in favour of leaving the EU in a referendum in 2016.

The Remain Labour campaign group, which wants to stop Brexit, said the announcement was "a significant step forward".

"A second referendum was only ever possible with the votes of Labour Members of Parliament and we are now on the verge of making this happen," founder Andrew Lewin said in a statement.

"We are not complacent, but we are closer tonight to a People's Vote than we have ever been."</s>Jeremy Corbyn told his MPs tonight that Labour will back a second EU referendum vote if its own proposed Brexit deal is rejected by MPs. The Labour leader told party lawmakers: "The Prime Minister is recklessly running down the clock, in an attempt to force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous no deal. We cannot and will not accept." Labour will first support a bid by Yvette Cooper to give Parliament the legal powers to force Prime Minister Theresa May to extend the Brexit exit date beyond March 29. The move comes after Mrs May said had delayed the “meaningful vote” until March 12.

Mr Corbyn has been under significant pressure to support a second Brexit referendum for some time. Does Corbyn REALLY believe in remaining in EU? Mr Corbyn is a well-known Eurosceptic who has criticised the European Union numerous times during his political career. As a backbench MP for Islington North, Mr Corbyn has frequently voted against pro-EU bills and referendums since 1983.

Prior to becoming MP he voted ‘No’ to Europe in a 1975 European referendum when he was still a local councillor in Haringey. The Labour leader backed Britain to leave the European Economic Community (EEC). He also opposed the creation of the EU, voting against the Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty on the European Union) in 1993. The hard-left democratic socialist went on to vote against the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, an update of the Maastricht Treaty.

Mr Corbyn also broke the Labour whip in 2011 to back a Conservative-led proposal to hold a referendum on the EU. During the 2016 referendum campaign, Mr Corbyn went on holiday and his office was accused of attacking the Remain campaign. However, he publicly supported the ‘Better In’ campaign. What has the reaction been? Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: "I welcome Jeremy Corbyn's move tonight to commit to putting forward, or supporting, an amendment in favour of a public vote.</s>Prime Minister Theresa May for the first time on Tuesday admitted that Brexit may be delayed, as the two main political parties and Parliament struggle over how — or even if — Britain should leave the European Union.

May told lawmakers that if Parliament next month rejects her Brexit deal again, they will be given a vote on whether to ask the European Union to allow Britain to remain a part of the trading bloc for several more months.

May said that if such an extension were triggered, it would likely be granted only once by the E.U. and that the delay should be “short and limited.” She suggested an extension until June would be best, so as not to collide with upcoming elections for the European parliament.

This was a major concession by May, who has faced a buzz saw of opposition from Brexit moderates and hard-liners in her own Conservative Party. The hardcore Tory Brexiteers, led by figures such as former foreign minister Boris Johnson, think May’s compromise Brexit proposals keep Britain tied too closely to Europe. May was also lashed by the resignations last week of three prominent Tory who want to remain in the European Union and fear May is about to drive Britain over a cliff-edge into a disastrous “no-deal” Brexit.

Until today, May has insisted that not only is her Brexit deal the best and only one on offer, but that it would be reckless to delay leaving the European Union beyond March 29.

But May has struggled to win approval for her withdrawal agreement. Parliament overwhelmingly rejected her deal in a landslide vote last month.

Now May is offering compromise in a series of possible votes, each one based upon the results of the one before.

The prime minister promised lawmakers they would have a “meaningful vote” on her Brexit deal by March 12 — just barely two weeks before the Brexit deadline.

[Jeremy Corbyn says Labour would back a second Brexit referendum]

If Parliament again rejects her deal, the lawmakers would be proceed with a vote over whether Britain can or cannot leave the European Union with no deal. The no-deal scenario is seen by many as too risky and too costly to the British — and European — economies, though many hard line Brexiteers now favor it.

Finally, if Parliament rejects May’s deal and rejects leaving with no deal, then they will be asked if they want to seek a months-long delay.

“If we have to I believe we will ultimately make a success of no-deal,” May told the lawmakers on Tuesday, to a chorus of hoots and boos. But she was clear that the best way forward was to approve her still-to-be-amended deal.

After her statement, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, told the House of Commons, “I’ve lost count of the number of times the prime minister has come to this house to explain a further delay.”

He said, “This is not dithering. It is a deliberate strategy to run down the clock.”

Corbyn said that May’s handling of Brexit is already having real-life consequences. “Factories relocating abroad, jobs being lost, investment being canceled, thousands of workers at sites across Britain’s towns and cities are hearing rumors and fearing for the worst,” he said.

On Monday, Corbyn also gave ground, announcing that the Labour Party would support a second referendum to stop what he called “a damaging Tory Brexit.”

While Labour Party activists have been pushing their leader for months to back another public vote on Brexit, Corbyn had been cold to the idea. Many Labour voters — especially in Wales and the north of England — want Britain to leave the European Union.

Corbyn’s shift comes after he was battered by the abrupt resignations of nine Labour lawmakers last week. The defectors, who support remaining in the European Union, complained Corbyn lacked leadership on the greatest issue facing Britain in a generation, and they urged more Labour members to quit.

In her remarks, May offered no support for a second referendum.

Several lawmakers on Tuesday asked May how she would vote if, on March 13, there was indeed a vote on whether Parliament supported a “no deal” Brexit, a scenario that some say could be disastrous for the economy. Not that they were any the wiser.

“Will the prime minister do a brave thing and do once what is best for the country, not what is best for any of us,” said Jess Phillips, a Labour lawmaker, as she gestured to other lawmakers in the chamber. “Will she at least vote herself against no deal?”

May responded by saying that she would proceed with trying to leave the European Union.

Hardcore Brexiteers push to leave European Union with no deal ahead of key vote

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news</s>Brexit supporter Kate Hoey ripped into Emily Thornberry after the shadow foreign secretary claimed Labour would back another referendum and she would support Remain in that campaign. On Monday, Ms Thornberry said the Labour Party would support another Brexit vote to avoid a no deal and a “disastrous Tory Brexit”. Speaking on LBC, Ms Hoey claimed the shadow foreign secretary’s remarks were “shocking”.

She said: “More and more people are feeling more confirmed in their views that politicians say one thing in their manifestos and then change their views. “The position has not changed, people voted to leave, they didn’t vote for a deal of any kind. “They voted to leave all the institutions, what Labour is now asking for is not only would we stay in the customs union and be very close in the single market. We would still have the European court overruling us and not only all of that, but if we don’t get that we are going to go for a second referendum. What on earth would you put on that ballot paper?” She added: "I thought our shadow foreign secretary saying she would be campaigning for Remain is quite shocking and goes 100 percent against our manifesto".

Speaking on Monday, Ms Thornberry said: “What Theresa May wants to do is just get herself into a position whereby she says 'it's my deal or no deal'. “We think both of those are disastrous and so we will see what it is at the end of the parliamentary process, whether we're facing no deal or a disastrous Tory Brexit, but either should go before the people and we need to have the people to break the logjam because this isn't supported in Parliament.” Asked on Channel 4 News which side of the referendum would she personally campaign for, Ms Thornberry replied: “It’s no secret. I think it is in Britain’s interest to remain in the European Union. “I always thought so and I continue to think so and so if there is a vote of that sort I certainly would be campaigning for us to remain.” She later tweeted: “I've seen some nonsense that I "misspoke" earlier on a public vote.

“Pretty hard to misspeak identically in 10 interviews, but for clarity: if Theresa May won't accept our deal, then the public must decide: do we accept whatever deal she gets through, or do we Remain? Got it?” Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer confirmed that if Mrs May's deal got through Parliament, Labour's policy was for it to be put to a referendum - with remaining in the EU as the alternative option. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “We specifically agreed yesterday, as the Labour Party, that if the Prime Minister's deal gets through, that deal should be subject to the lock, if you like, of a public vote in the way that Jeremy Corbyn spelt out yesterday.” On Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that if her Brexit deal is rejected, MPs will be offered two separate votes by March 13 on whether the UK leaves with no deal or delays Brexit beyond March 29.</s>LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday will propose formally ruling out a no-deal Brexit in a bid to avoid a rebellion by lawmakers, who are threatening to grab control of the divorce process, The Sun and Daily Mail newspapers reported.

If May does rule out a no-deal, it would mark one of the biggest turning points in the United Kingdom’s labyrinthine Brexit crisis since the shocking 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union.

After the British Parliament voted 432-202 against her divorce deal in January, the worst defeat for a government in modern British history, May has tried to use the threat of a potentially disorderly no-deal Brexit to get concessions out of the EU.

But British lawmakers worried that May risks thrusting the world’s fifth-largest economy into an economic crisis have threatened to usurp control of Brexit from the government in a series of votes Wednesday.

May on Tuesday will propose to her cabinet of senior ministers that she formally rule out a no-deal Brexit, opening the door to a delay of weeks or months to the March 29 exit date, The Sun newspaper reported.

The Daily Mail newspaper said May is ready to rule out a no-deal Brexit after as many as 15 ministers said they were ready to resign. A spokesman for her Downing Street office declined to comment on the reports.

Reuters reported Monday that May’s government was looking at different options, including a possible delay.

Sterling, which has lost about 20 cents against the dollar since the 2016 Brexit referendum, rallied to a 21-month high against the euro and against the dollar rose 1 percent to $1.3225, the highest level since October 2018.

A delay would increase the chances of a reversal of Brexit, especially as the opposition Labour Party is tilting toward supporting another referendum, though much would depend on the extent of the delay.

While businesses have increasingly warned of the risk of a chaotic EU exit and its impact on trade and investment, any delay would be anathema to hardline pro-Brexit members of May’s Conservative Party.

It was not immediately clear how explicitly May would rule out a no-deal. She is due to chair a cabinet meeting and then update Parliament at around 12:30 GMT.

Her de facto deputy, David Lidington, told BBC Radio he would not disclose what the cabinet would be discussing. When asked repeatedly if May was going to delay, Lidington did not address the questions directly.

The 2016 referendum, in which 17.4 million voters backed leaving and 16.1 million supported staying, showed a country divided about much more than the EU, and has fueled soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to capitalism and modern Britishness.

The crisis has left allies and investors puzzled by a country that was for decades touted as a confident pillar of Western economic and political stability.

With just a month to go until Brexit, the ultimate outcome is unclear, with scenarios ranging from a last-minute deal to another referendum that May has warned would reopen the divisions of the referendum or even scupper Brexit.

Both of Britain’s main parties are under intense pressure to change course on Brexit, though both are officially committed to implementing the result of the referendum.

The opposition Labour Party said Monday it would back calls for a second referendum on Brexit if Parliament rejects its alternative plan for leaving the EU.

But the tilt toward another referendum raises problems for Labour, many of whose traditional voters supported leaving the EU.

“Voters in very, very large numbers will not accept that. I call on (Labour leader) Jeremy Corbyn to reverse this absurd decision,” Brexit-supporting Labour lawmaker John Mann said.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer added an additional twist to the political chaos in London by saying that even if May’s deal was passed by March 12, it should face a public vote.

May wants to negotiate changes to the exit deal she agreed on with the EU last year and has promised to bring it back for approval in Parliament by March 12 at the latest.

The British government’s top lawyer, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, will travel to Brussels later on Tuesday.</s>LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Theresa May returned from a seemingly unproductive meeting with European Union leaders Monday to a growing attempt by British lawmakers to stop her from taking Britain out of the EU on March 29 without a divorce deal.

With May and the EU at odds over not just how, but when Brexit should happen, her political opponents were getting increasingly desperate to take control of Britain's muddled departure from the bloc.

At an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt, the EU warned Britain it faces the prospect of delaying its planned March 29 departure or the consequences of a chaotic exit. European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs meetings of EU nation leaders, said Monday it would be "rational" to postpone Brexit day.

May insisted she intends for Britain to leave as planned in a little more than a month. But her often divided opponents may be coalescing around a plan to prevent Britain crashing out of the EU with no agreement in place.

The main opposition Labour Party took a big step Monday toward backing a new referendum on the country's EU membership.

The party has previously said it would support a referendum as a last resort if it could not secure a new election or make changes to May's EU divorce deal. Britain's Parliament has so far rejected the deal struck between May's government and the bloc, and is due to hold a series of votes Wednesday on next steps in the Brexit process.

Labour has proposed its own withdrawal plan as an alternative to the government's deal with the EU. The party said Monday it would back a second public vote if the House of Commons rejects its plan this week, as is widely expected.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party is committed to "putting forward or supporting an amendment in favor of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country."

The party did not specify what voters might be asked to consider in any future vote, though it has previously said the option of Britain remaining an EU member would be included.

Labour has previously said it would only support a second referendum as a last resort if it could not secure a new general election or make changes to May's divorce deal.

The change in approach follows the resignations of nine Labour lawmakers last week, partly over the party's failure to back another Brexit referendum. It is likely to cheer many party members, who have backed calls for a so-called "people's vote."

While there is little chance of a second referendum taking place without the support of Labour, the path to another Brexit vote is far from clear. It would require the support of numerous lawmakers from the governing Conservative Party, for example.

Since lawmakers rejected May's deal with the EU last month, the prime minister has sought to get changes from Brussels on a provision for the border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks along the Irish border until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

May wants to revise the deal to reassure opponents from her Conservative Party, as well as from a Northern Ireland party that props up her minority government, the backstop would only apply temporarily.

But EU leaders insist that the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement, which took a year and a half to negotiate, can't be reopened.

The impasse has raised concerns that Britain will leave the EU without a deal, a scenario that would likely mean new tariffs on British exports and serious disruption to trade between the two sides. The Bank of England has warned that the British economy could shrink by 8 percent in the months after a disorderly Brexit.

May has said a new vote on any revised Brexit deal won't be held this week and could come as late as March 12.

A number of British lawmakers are seeking to wrest control of the process from the government and are looking to get support for an amendment that would require May to seek an extension to the Brexit date if Parliament fails to back her deal.

"I don't see how businesses can plan. I don't see how public services can plan, and I think it's just deeply damaging," Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper, one of those behind the move, told the BBC.

On Monday, the EU's Tusk warned that the chances of a withdrawal agreement being concluded in time are receding, and that sticking by the planned Brexit date would be too risky.

"I believe that in the situation we are in, an extension would be a rational solution," Tusk told reporters at an EU-Arab League summit in Egypt after talks with May that he said included discussions over extending the Brexit process.

May insisted a deal in time was still possible.

"It is within our grasp to leave with a deal on 29th of March and I think that that is where all of our energies should be focused," May said.

She said that "any delay is a delay. It doesn't address the issue."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned her against "sleepwalking" into a chaotic Brexit next month.

"It's absolutely unacceptable. And I think your best friends have to warn you for that," Rutte told the BBC. "Wake up. This is real."

Raf Casert in Brussels and Pan Pylas in London contributed.

This story has been corrected to show nine Labour Party lawmakers, not eight, resigned last week.</s>Labour have announced they will back a second referendum on Brexit.

Jeremy Corbyn will tell a meeting of Labour MPs the party will support or put forward an amendment in favour of a public vote.

He will claim the move has been prompted in a bid to "prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will tell his MPs: "The Prime Minister is recklessly running down the clock, in an attempt to force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous No Deal. We cannot and will not accept.

"Last week, after our visit to talk to EU officials and leaders in Brussels and Madrid, no one can be in any doubt Labour's alternative Brexit plan is serious and credible.

"We are convinced our alternative, which puts jobs and living standards first, could command support in the House of Commons, bring people who voted Leave and Remain together, and be negotiated with the EU.

"That's why we will be putting down an amendment in parliament this week setting out Labour's plan: for a comprehensive customs union with a UK say; close alignment with the single market; guarantees on rights and standards; protection for Britain's role in EU agencies; and a security agreement which guarantees access to the European arrest warrant and vital shared databases.

"And we will be calling for legislation to underpin this mandate.

"We will also be backing the Cooper-Letwin amendment to rule out a No Deal outcome. One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent No Deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa May's overwhelmingly rejected deal.

"That's why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country."

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are.</s>'This is the real deal,' one MP said

They were the words that many Labour MPs had been waiting a long time to hear.

"We are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country," the Labour leader told a meeting of party MPs.

The first clear backing for another Brexit referendum though not until after another go, perhaps one last go, at getting Parliament to back the Labour "comprehensive customs union" plan.

That will be the amendment discussed and voted on this Wednesday.

But the plan then explained at the Parliamentary Labour Party meeting involved backing some version of the Kyle-Wilson amendment to the next meaningful vote, which would attach a public vote to the ratification of Theresa May's Brexit deal.

The PM announced this week the next meaningful vote will be held by 12 March.

"This is the real deal," MP Peter Kyle said. "There is no going back from this for the party now".

And the shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry suggested the party would campaign for Remain if this was against a "disastrous Tory Brexit".

That issue of what might be on the ballot paper required some explanation at the Labour MPs' meeting.

Trust levels are not high in the Labour Party or in politics generally at this tumultuous time.

And it is pretty clear that there is a TIG (The Independent Group) effect being felt in both main parties, wary of further defections.

The biggest impact of last week's drama has been in the leaders' offices of both main parties.

Labour has shifted on a second referendum, and the government will shift on a path to delaying Brexit this week too.

But Labour's path to this point was not caused by those defections.

Leading figures close to Jeremy Corbyn have been on side with the idea of a public vote on the Brexit deal - from union bosses to the shadow chancellor.

Key referendum sceptics have been cut out of internal leadership meetings in recent days.

Needless to say that this is a massive political risk, but one the Labour leadership could not afford not to make.

The shadow frontbench calculates that enough of its Leave voters will see that a vote is a last resort to prevent a crisis caused by the government.

Some Labour MPs such as Caroline Flint, John Mann and perhaps Stephen Kinnock, are deeply sceptical.

The upside here is to staunch the divide, and to gain the votes of millions of metropolitan Remainers who might otherwise be attracted TIG.

For the Kyle amendment on a referendum or something similar actually to pass though will require movement in the Conservative Party.

It is designed to create a coalition of Referendum-backers, Labour whipped votes and then Conservatives seeking a way to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

Labour's backing does not guarantee it passes. But it would have been impossible to pass without it.</s>Labour has said it is prepared to back another EU referendum to prevent a "damaging Tory Brexit".

Jeremy Corbyn is to tell Labour MPs later that the party will move to back another vote if their own proposed Brexit deal is rejected on Wednesday.

The BBC's Vicky Young said it was a highly "significant" development as Mr Corbyn has previously been "lukewarm" about the idea of another vote.

Theresa May is under growing pressure to delay the 29 March Brexit date.

Labour are not yet making clear what their proposed referendum would be on.

When asked to clarify this, a spokesman for the leader's office said: "We've just said we'd back a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit."

But the prime minister, who will update MPs on the latest negotiations on Tuesday, has insisted the UK can still leave next month as planned.
• Theresa May 'focused' on leaving on time, despite calls for delay
• Which amendments will be tabled this week?

Mr Corbyn will tell his MPs later that Mrs May was "recklessly running down the clock" in an attempt to "force MPs to choose between her botched deal and a disastrous no deal".

"We cannot and will not accept," he will say.

He will say Labour will also put down an amendment this week setting out its plan for a "comprehensive customs union" and "close alignment" with the single market.

The amendment also sets out guarantees on rights and standards, protection for Britain's role in EU agencies and a security agreement which guarantees access to the European arrest warrant and "vital" shared databases, he will say.

Ahead of a series of votes on Brexit on Wednesday, Labour has also said the party will support a cross-party amendment, proposed by Labour's Yvette Cooper and Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin, designed to rule out the prospect of a no-deal exit.

Mr Corbyn will say: "One way or another, we will do everything in our power to prevent no deal and oppose a damaging Tory Brexit based on Theresa May's overwhelmingly rejected deal.

"That's why, in line with our conference policy, we are committed to also putting forward or supporting an amendment in favour of a public vote to prevent a damaging Tory Brexit being forced on the country."

At their conference last autumn, Labour members backed a policy of keeping all options on the table, including holding another referendum, if it could not force a general election.

However, many Labour MPs believe the party has been slowly distancing itself from that commitment after it failed to win a vote of no confidence against the government last month.

Nine Labour MPs have quit the party in the past week, partly in protest at its stance on Brexit.

Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer insisted the party would "deliver" on its promises.

Labour MP David Lammy, who backs a "People's Vote" on the terms of the UK's exit, welcomed the move by his party to "back the principle" of a referendum.

"Even if MPs can agree some sort of deal, it would be wrong to force it on the British people when we now know so many of the promises made in 2016 have been broken, and any deal will be worse than the one we've already got inside the EU," he said.

Labour's Hilary Benn, who chairs the Commons Brexit committee, said talk of a referendum was still some way off as MPs would have another opportunity to vote on Theresa May's deal by 12 March.

But if the deal was rejected, he said it would "open up" a range of other possibilities, one of which would be to put the final decision "in the people's hands".
The Labour Party announces it will support a second referendum on the end of the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union unless Wednesday sees Labour's proposed Brexit deal supported by Parliament.