Brexit news: Jeremy Corbyn accuses Theresa May of 'blackmailing' MPs in fiery Commons clash

All the latest updates from Westminster as they happened

'We now all need to hold our nerve and deliver Brexit on time' Theresa May says Brexit talks are at 'cruicial stage'

Theresa May has been accused by Labour of "blackmailing" MPs to get her "botched Brexit deal" over the line after urging MPs to give her more time to secure a breakthrough.

In a fraught Commons clash, Jeremy Corbyn said her only tactic was to "run down the clock" after it emerged that the UK could be days from a no-deal Brexit before parliament votes on her blueprint.

MPs also reacted with anger after the prime minister revealed plans to rip up Commons rules to get a Brexit deal ratified in time for the UK to leave the EU on March 29.

Ms May told MPs that she would enable the Commons to lift a requirement for a 21-day delay before any vote to approve an international treaty.

But shadow Brexit minister Paul Blomfield vowed to oppose the move, adding: “This plan shows contempt for our democracy.

“The government is trying to avoid proper scrutiny and run down the clock in order to force through its bad Brexit deal.”

To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below

Key Points

• Anger as Theresa May sets out plans to rip up Commons rules to get Brexit deal through in time
• EU citizens' children could lose right to stay in the UK, senior MP warns
• UK could be days from crashing out of the EU before MPs vote again on May's deal
• Chris Grayling accused of misleading MPs about Brexit ferry deal costs
• EU unveils plan to keep Eurostar trains running for three months after no-deal Brexit

[12 February 2019 16:18 · Lizzy Buchan]

Chris Grayling is to face accusations in the Commons that he misled MPs over a botched government ferry contract, with Labour set to demand that the minister justify his claim that no money had been spent on the deal.

The transport secretary told MPs on Monday that the government had spent "no money" on the multi-million pound contract with Seaborne Freight, but it later the emerged that Department of Transport paid external consultants £800,000 to assess the deal and two other ferry contracts. 

The revelation piled further pressure on the beleaguered transport secretary, who is already facing calls to resign over the fiasco. 

Read more here:

[12 February 2019 16:39 · Lizzy Buchan]

The politicians pushing Brexit should be careful not follow in the footsteps of revolutionary leaders who “ended up on the guillotine”, the European Parliament’s Brexit chief has said.

At a press conference in Strasbourg Guy Verhofstadt compared Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg to Georges Danton and Maximilien Robespierre – leading figures in the French revolution who were ultimately executed by their former comrades. 

More here: 

[12 February 2019 17:08 · Lizzy Buchan]

Tommy Robinson could end up winning European elections if Brexit is delayed, Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned.

The leading Brexiteer told ConservativeHome: "I would be very concerned that, if there were a delay in our departure date, that that would be the way for Tommy Robinson to win the European elections.

"I think you would see - in an election people don’t really care about, they have never felt is very important in their lives, to an organisation we are still at least nominally leaving – that it would be a free hit to vote for an extremist

"Bear in mind that it wasn’t very long ago that the BNP won seats in the European parliament. It is an opportunity to protest – and I think the protest would be huge if the date had been delayed."

[12 February 2019 17:17 · Lizzy Buchan]

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