Government defeated in key Brexit vote - here's how the day unfolded

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PMQs: Corbyn calls on May to pledge a reduction in homelessness in 2018

The Government has been defeated by Conservative rebels and Labour MPs in a critical vote on its key piece of Brexit legislation.

MPs amended the EU Withdrawal Bill against Theresa May's will, so guaranteeing Parliament a "meaningful" vote on any Brexit deal she agrees with Brussels.

Ms May's whips applied heavy pressure on Conservative rebels who remained defiant in the Commons throughout the day and in the end the Government was defeated by 309 votes to 305, a margin of just four votes.

Here is how the day unfolded.

Key Points

• Government suffers defeat by 309 votes to 305, meaning any Brexit deal will have to be approved by Parliament
• Rebel Stephen Hammond sacked as Vice Chair of party 
• Result 'reveals Commons majority for soft Brexit' 
• Why is tonight's Brexit vote so important?

[13 December 2017 10:35 · Ashley Cowburn]

[13 December 2017 10:39 · Ashley Cowburn]

On MPs' salaries, the Press Association have just published this. They will receive a 1.8 per cent pay rise in April 2018.

MPs are set to receive a 1.8% pay rise in April 2018, taking their basic salary to £77,379 a year.

The increase is set automatically in line with the annual change in average weekly earnings across the public sector in October, calculated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) at 1.8%.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority said the final figure would depend on whether the ONS revises its calculation in a review due to take place in February.

If confirmed, the increase would be well above the 1% annual cap imposed on most public sector workers during the past seven years, which ministers have indicated they are now willing to relax.

But it would still lag behind inflation, currently running at a six-year high of 3.1%.

MPs enjoyed a 1.4% rise in their basic salary in 2017 to the current £76,011 and a 1.3% rise in 2016.

[13 December 2017 11:05 · Ashley Cowburn]

[13 December 2017 11:07 · Ashley Cowburn]

This is from Jon Stone, The Independent's Europe Correspondent 

Over in the European Parliament the impact of David Davis’s comments is still being felt. MEPs are debating the progress in Brexit negotiations so far, and group leader after group leader has stood up to criticise the Brexit Secretary for saying the deal was “more of a statement of intent” at the weekend.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the Liberal group and the Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, says he believes the joint text agreed by the UK and EU should be turned into a legal document in a matter of weeks rather than months before talks on the second phase can begin.

“I take note of that and I think the best way to secure this is that in the coming weeks we transpose all these commitments into the legal text,” he said.

“That’s the best way to do it, and to do it not in the coming months, but in the coming weeks, when we start the next phase of the negotiations."

The Green group leader Ska Keller perhaps put the problem of David Davis’s remarks most succinctly.

“If we can’t trust one another, if you’re not sure that whatever you agree is actually going to hold, then this is going to put a major strain on any future relations,” she warned.

“I would also add that not just to the European Union – because if the UK wants to be a global player and find their new friends elsewhere, then that’s going to be just as tricky, or even more tricky – because we’re used to it, we have a long relationship, but others might find it even more bewildering if there’s this untrustworthiness on the other side.”

[13 December 2017 11:49 · Ashley Cowburn]

Prime Minister's Questions will be starting in 10 mins.

[13 December 2017 11:55 · Lizzy Buchan]

Live updates: Theresa May faces PMQs and potential Tory backbench revolt in crucial Brexit vote independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…

[13 December 2017 11:57 · Ashley Cowburn]

[13 December 2017 12:05 · Ashley Cowburn]

PMQs has now started. PM says Parliament will get a vote on the final deal before the UK leaves the EU.

She's speaking ahead of an anticipated rebellion this evening from her own backbenchers. 

[13 December 2017 12:07 · Joe Watts]

Doesn't feel like Theresa May gave much ground to Tory rebels there #pmqs

[13 December 2017 12:08 · Ashley Cowburn]

Jeremy Corbyn kicks off his question by asking whether the PM will pledge that 2018 will be the year that homelessness starts to go down - after rising every year since 2010. 

May says the Government has provided £500m to tackle homelessness. She did not give the pledge Corbyn was asking for.