Good morning. It has become customary at this point on a Monday for me to type out some spiel about how this is the decisive week for Brexit. But, frankly, you must all be getting fed up of those by now, so let’s just move on.
This morning Theresa May is chairing cabinet, before addressing MPs this afternoon ahead of a vote that may well see MPs voting to “take control” of the Brexit process. Quite how the rest of the week is going to pan out remains to be seen, but here are some of the things that may (or may not) get resolved before the end of the week.
1) Will MPs get indicative votes on the way forward? Almost certainly, yes, is the answer, but we don’t know if that will be under a process directed by the government, or under a process directed by the House of Commons following the passing of a backbench amendment tonight. And we don’t know how long that process will take, and whether it will produce a majority for anything.
2) Will May bring her own deal back to the Commons for a vote? At the end of last week her colleagues were assuming the vote would be on Tuesday, but that plan seems to have been shelved and now it is not clear whether the vote will even happen at all.
3) Will May back plans to move towards a softer Brexit, assuming MPs push for this, or will she firm up planning for a no deal? If she chooses the former option, Brexiters in her party will erupt. If the latter, pro-European ministers may resign en masse. Given May’s history of zig-zagging between the two strategies, it is hard to know where she will go. Almost two weeks ago she seemed to take no deal off the table. A week later, she did a U-turn and ruled out a long article 50 extension instead.
4) Will she announce plans to stand down – possibly in return of Tory Brexiters agreeing to back her deal, or possibly in a more chaotic manner if her position becomes unsustainable?
Certainly, the pressure on her is not easying up. Here is today’s Sun splash.
Andy Silvester
(@silvesterldn)The PM has shown courage. But to seal her deal and deliver Brexit, she needs to resign
Tomorrow’s @TheSun front page editorial
The Sun Says: Time’s Up, Theresa pic.twitter.com/mLszhysLtl
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Theresa May chairs a cabinet meeting.
12.30pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
After 3.30pm: May gives a statement to MPs about Brexit and last week’s EU summit.
After 5pm: MPs begin the latest Brexit debate. At 10pm they are due to vote on an amendment calling for parliament to take control of the Brexit process.
Today I will be focusing exclusively on Brexit and, as usual, I will be covering the breaking news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply ATL, although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
