Theresa May is to call-off Tuesday’s crucial vote on her Brexit deal in the face of what was expected to be a significant defeat by Tory rebels.
Government sources have said the prime minister is set to tell MPs about the delay in a statement at 15:30 GMT.
Downing Street had been insisting the vote would go ahead.
The pound fell sharply in response, shedding 0.5% versus the US dollar to stand at $1.26. Against the euro, the pound was 0.8% down at 1.10 euros.
Mrs May’s Commons statement will be followed by a statement from Commons leader Andrea Leadsom – and then a statement from the Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay on Article 50 – the legal mechanism taking the UK out of the EU on 29 March.
The deal has been agreed with the EU – but it needs to be backed by the UK Parliament if it is to become law ahead of the UK’s departure.
Mrs May is thought to be trying to convince MPs to back her deal by suggesting the Northern Ireland backstop – the main item they object to – could be modified.
She has also been speaking to EU leaders about re-opening the withdrawal agreement, something both sides have previously ruled out.
It comes as the European Court of Justice ruled the UK could cancel Brexit without the permission of the other 27 EU members.
But European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said the EU would not renegotiate the Withdrawal Agreement.
In a press briefing, she said: “We take note of the Court of Justice judgment today on the irrevocability of Article 50.
“We have an agreement on the table which was endorsed by the European Council in its Article 50 format on 25 November.
“As President Juncker said, this deal is the best and only deal possible. We will not renegotiate – our position has therefore not changed and as far as we are concerned the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union on 29 March, 2019.”
Dozens of Conservative MPs had been planning to join forces with Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and the DUP to vote down Mrs May’s deal.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was hoping to use a defeat for Mrs May on Tuesday to force a general election, said: “The government has decided Theresa May’s Brexit deal is so disastrous that it has taken the desperate step of delaying its own vote at the eleventh hour.”
He said the prime minister should have “have gone back to Brussels to renegotiate or called an election” when it became clear she would not get her deal through Parliament.
“We don’t have a functioning government,” he added.
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Source: BBC
