Brexit news: UK's exit from EU has 30% chance of being cancelled, Donald Tusk says
Follow live updates of today's events in Westminster
There is a 30 per cent chance Brexit will be cancelled according to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council.
Meanwhile work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd has warned a no-deal prime minister “would not be able to command a majority” in the House of Commons.
Esther McVey became the third Tory to announce she would stand for the Conservative leadership when Theresa May steps down.
The former work and pensions secretary became the third Tory openly to declare her ambition to be prime minister, after Andrea Leadsom and Rory Stewart.
Follow how the news from Westminster unfolded throughout the day:
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Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of today's events in Westminster.
Amber Rudd has warned a no-deal prime minister "would not be able to command a majority" in the House of Commons, as Esther McVey became the third Tory to announce she would stand for the Conservative leadership when Theresa May steps down, following Andrea Leadsom and Rory Stewart.
"Parliament is a hung Parliament at the moment," Ms Rudd told BBC Two's Newsnight. "We know that it is an incredibly difficult group of MPs to influence and to control and to get a majority at the moment.
"So whoever makes the pitch in the future is going to have to convince everybody that they can hold that majority together."
Ms Rudd said she believed Theresa May should be given the time to meet her commitment to complete the first stage of Brexit before standing down as prime minister.
"We need to hold our nerve and allow her to do that. Brexit is a complicated procedure and the numbers in the House of Commons make that even harder," she said.
"But I believe that she has a plan now, hopefully to do a deal with Labour, if not to bring forward indicative votes. We need to back her on that."
Jeremy Corbyn has said a second referendum could be a "healing process" to bring the Brexit process to a conclusion, as the Labour leader launched his party's manifesto for the European election. My colleague Ashley Cowburn has the full story:
Yesterday, Theresa May held a meeting with senior members of the Democratic Unionist Party at her Chequers country residence.
The DUP, which props up the prime minister's Conservative Party in parliament, opposes her Brexit deal with Brussels and has helped defeat it three times.
Ms May's spokeswoman described the talks between MS May and DUP leader Arlene Foster, deputy leader Nigel Dodds and chief enforcer in parliament Jeffrey Donaldson as a "private political meeting".
Ireland's deputy prime minister Simon Coveney has said a new prime minister would not change the "realities" that a no-deal Brexit would mean border checks between the UK and Ireland.
"Realities do not change," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "This is not a personality based issue."
Britain's failure to leave the EU almost three years after the referendum is "utterly unacceptable", a Cabinet minister said after she confirmed a week-long recess for MPs.
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom made no mention of key Brexit legislation as she announced the business for next week, adding that the government hoped cross-party agreement could be achieved to implement the Withdrawal Agreement.
Ms Leadsom added it was "absolutely essential" Brexit was delivered although failed to say if the Withdrawal Agreement would come back to Parliament for a fourth time next week after being pressed by Labour.
Britain's chief negotiator jokingly asked if he could have Belgian citizenship after Brexit, his EU counterpart has claimed. Read Jon Stone's article for the full story:
France will not tolerate repeated extensions of the Brexit deadline, a French presidential adviser has said.
The adviser expressed hope the European parliament elections in Britain would jolt parties into reaching a deal on leaving the European Union.
"We won't get into repeated extensions, that's for sure," the adviser said. "Our message is clear: a solution must have been found by 31 October."
European parliament Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt has joined Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable on the campaign trail in London.
Mr Verhofstadt insisted his presence was not foreign interference in the UK's European Parliament elections as he was "a Lib Dem" and was backing the party because it opposed Brexit.
Sir Vince said he was campaigning to combat "ugly populism".
Sir Vince Cable and Guy Verhofstadt in London (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
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