Brexit: Corbyn compares Theresa May's deal to 'Frankenstein's monster' amid ridicule over lorry test
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Jeremy Corbyn has compared Theresa May's Brexit deal to "Frankenstein's monster" as the prime minister faced pressure on all sides ahead of a crunch Commons vote.
As MPs returned to Westminster after the Christmas break, rival Brexit factions turned up the heat on Ms May over her blueprint, which is expected to be voted down in a parliamentary showdown on January 15.
The Labour leader said there could be "no more hiding and no more running away" from holding the long-promised meaningful vote on Ms May's deal, with only three months left until exit day.
He accused ministers of pushing a "Frankenstein's monster of a deal" and criticised "shambolic" no-deal Brexit preparations by transport secretary Chris Grayling.
His comments came as the government faced ridicule over its first major tests of plans for no-deal chaos at UK borders, when scores of lorries travelled from Manston Airport, near Ramsgate, in Kent, to Dover, to trial contingency plans to ease congestion on the roads and at ports.
To follows events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below
Welcome to The Independent's politics liveblog, where we will be bringing you the latest updates throughout the day.
One of the big stories of the morning is a live trial of no-deal lorry tests taking place in Kent. More than 150 lorries are being dispatched from Manston airfield near Ramsgate, Kent, which officials are planning to use as an “HGV holding facility” if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal.
Read our write-up on the plans:
My colleague Tom Peck has been in Kent, watching the lorry tests unfold.
Pro-EU campaigners are furious at the lorry tests underway in Kent this morning, describing the move as a "taxpayer-funded farce".
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who backs the Best for Britain campaign, said: "No deal doesn't need to be a real prospect but the government are just throwing money down the drain for effect.
"Chris Grayling and his department have spent tens of thousands to create the spectacle of vehicles in a traffic jam to get into a disused airport , who then wait on the site for the green light to then create a traffic jam by snaking their way, interested in convoy, to Dover.
"The idea that creating a fake traffic jam will show the EU we are ready for no deal is just plain stupid. On days like this you have to think the UK has made a wrong turn somewhere."
Tory grandee Lord Patten has told the Today programme that the live lorry trials are "enough to make one weep".
He said that the Commons must reject as "snake oil" the option of a "managed no-deal" plan and instead vote to extend or revoke Article 50 to allow more time to work out a "sensible" future relationship with the EU.
"If we can't do that by getting a majority for staying within the single market and customs union, then I think we have no alternative but to go back to the people for another vote," he said.
He added: "I don't like referendums, but we got into this miserable shambles because of a referendum, and it may be the only way we can get out of it."
MPs are returning to Westminster today after the Christmas break - and they've had plenty of time for plotting.
One group has written to the PM calling for her to officially rule out a no-deal Brexit. More than 200 MPs - both Leavers and Remainers - have signed the letter.
Read our take here:
On the other side, Boris Johnson has insisted that a no-deal Brexit was closest to what people voted for in the referendum.
He used his Daily Telegraph column to dismiss "downright apocalyptic" messages about a Brexit on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms, arguing that people could "sort fact for nonsense".
Mr Johnson said: "They didn't vote for anything like Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement. They voted to come out.
"It is no deal or WTO terms that actually corresponds to their idea of coming out, and they view that option with a confidence that is now directly proportional to the growing strength of the government's warnings against it."
Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng brushed aside suggestions that the government had accepted it would lose next week's 'meaningful vote' on Theresa May's Brexit deal and was seeking fresh concessions from Europe.
"The plan is to win the vote on Tuesday, or whenever it comes," Mr Kwarteng told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "The plan, the focus, the objective is to win the vote."
Asked whether the government was heading for defeat, he said: "I don't accept that at all. A week is a very long time in politics. We don't know what the numbers are.
"We have got a week. I think the situation - as it always does - has developed, it evolves. I am very hopeful that the deal will be voted through next week."
Lorries are beginning to arrive back at Manston Airport ready for the second trial run due to take place at around 11.
Up to 150 lorries were expected to take part in the first run but a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman on Monday morning confirmed 89 had attended.
Our sketchwriter Tom Peck is in Kent this morning and has sent this dispatch from the front line of the government's no-deal planning.
In the darkness before dawn, more than a hundred lorry drivers had been paid by the government to meet at a disused airport in Kent. Well, it was meant to be more than a hundred, but in the end only 89 turned up.
Their task was to then drive in convoy the thirty miles to Dover, to show the European Union that Britain is serious about no deal Brexit.
Because, in the event of no deal Brexit, this disused airfield is where up to 6,000 lorries are currently scheduled to wait, to east congestion on the M20 motorway, which will itself resemble a car park.
Independent analysis that is not seriously disputed by either side, shows that even short inspection delays at the port of Dover will threaten just-in-time supply chains that are crucial to British manufacturing.
These lorries, which represent around a sixtieth of those that will be held there in the event of no deal, were not being checked for anything.
Nevertheless, they set off about fifteen minutes late.
If this was a PR exercise for the benefit of the European Union, it did absolutely everything it was always going to do, which was to solidify yet further the image of a once proud nation that has absolutely lost its mind.
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