Brexit news: Theresa May insists her EU exit plan is not dead before flying to Brussels for crucial meeting

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PMQs 171018

Theresa May insisted her Chequers blueprint for Brexit was not "dead" hours before she travelled to Brussels to address EU leaders at a crucial summit.

Tackling Ms May at the weekly session of prime minister's questions, Jeremy Corbyn noted she had not mentioned "Chequers" in either her conference speech or in a recent update to the Commons on the state of the negotiations.

But, in her reply, Ms May said: "He asked me if the Chequers plan was dead, the answer is no."

Arriving at the EU summit, the prime minister said she believes a deal on the UK's orderly withdrawal from the EU remains "achievable", despite the deadlock in negotiations.

Ms May was due to address leaders of the 27 remaining EU states before they discuss Brexit in her absence at the European Council on Wednesday evening.

But leaders were openly saying that there would be "no breakthrough" at the summit, which was long billed as the "moment of truth" when a deal must be done to give time for ratification by the date of Brexit on March 29.

To follow the events as they unfolded, see our liveblog below

Key Points

• Theresa May says Chequer's plan is not dead - ahead of EU summit
• Labour defeated in attempt to force government to publish universal credit analysis
• Michel Barnier ‘open to extending Brexit transition period by a year’
• 'No grounds for optimism' ahead of summit, EU's Donald Tusk says

[17 October 2018 16:49 · Ashley Cowburn]

[17 October 2018 17:04 · Lizzy Buchan]

[17 October 2018 17:11 · Lizzy Buchan]

Another breaking story - A Labour motion designed to force the government to publish its analysis of the impact of Universal Credit on people's incomes has been defeated in a Commons vote.

MPs voted 299 to 279, majority 20, against the opposition's proposal.

Here's our earlier piece on their stunt:

[17 October 2018 17:20 · Lizzy Buchan]

[17 October 2018 17:37 · Lizzy Buchan]

European leaders have started arriving for the summit in Brussels, where Theresa May will make a last-ditch attempt to agree a Brexit deal.

She told reporters that a Brexit deal is still possible and can be sealed “over the next days and weeks” as she arrives a moment-of-truth summit with EU leaders.

Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has sent this report:

[17 October 2018 18:02 · Lizzy Buchan]

That's it for The Independent's politics liveblog for the day. Thanks for following!

You can keep up with all the latest developments on our website and by following @indypolitics on Twitter.