Theresa May under fire as MPs move to block no-deal Brexit

It’s been a long day in Westminster, where lawmakers have voted by a majority of one to effectively rule out a no-deal Brexit in the near-term.

If Theresa May can’t salvage her Withdrawal Agreement in the coming days, Britain now looks to be headed for a longer delay to its departure from the EU.

We’re bringing our live coverage from London to a close. Read more about the bill’s passage and the events of the day here.

Responding to the passage of her bill, Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “The House has tonight voted again to make clear the real concern there would be about a chaotic and damaging no deal.”

“It’s really important to say how welcome it was this this has been a really considered and thoughtful debate,” she added. “I am sure that we will be very keen to work with the government to make sure that this legislation progresses in a way that is sensible.” The bill must still be passed by the House of Lords for it to become law.

Hardline Brexiteer Mark Francois then made a point of order. “It’s difficult to argue that you’ve had an extremely considered debate when you’ve rammed the bill through the house of Commons in barely four hours,” he said. “That is a constitutional outrage.”

“It went through in the end by one vote,” he added. “That to me does not represent the long-term settled will of the House of Commons.”

For the second time today, the bill to block a no-deal Brexit passed by one vote.

Its final reading passed by 313 votes to 312.

Earlier in the day, it also proceeded to a second reading by one vote.

Parliament has approved a bill that effectively rules out a no-deal Brexit by forcing the government to seek an extension from the EU if it cannot pass a divorce plan by April 12.

The passage of the bill will enrage hardline Brexiteers in the Conservative Party, and sets Britain on course for a long Brexit extension if May cannot salvage her Withdrawal Agreement in the coming days.

The full list of amendments to Yvette Cooper’s bill have been voted on, and lawmakers are now walking through the lobbies to cast their vote on the main bill.

A reminder: if it succeeds, the bill would take a no-deal Brexit off the table by forcing Theresa May to seek an extension to the process if she cannot pass her Withdrawal Agreement in the coming days.

Read why that’s a big deal here.

Thursday’s newspapers are predictably focused on Theresa May’s crunch talks with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Brexit-supporting Daily Telegraph claims Corbyn is now “in the Brexit driving seat” after May agreed to negotiations on a compromise deal with the opposition leader.

The Metro goes with the same picture of Corbyn, along with a photo of May in the back seat of a car. “It’s Good to Talk,” their headline reads.

The i, meanwhile, focuses on the growing calls for a second referendum, after Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry urged fellow MPs to back a second vote.

The Daily Express tabloid focuses on the fury coming from Conservative hardliners, following a day in which two ministers quit the government over May’s discussions with Corbyn.

Any further delay to Brexit will inevitably be long and the UK will have to prepare to hold European elections if it is sought, Theresa May’s Chancellor Philip Hammond has told ITV News’ Robert Peston.

But Hammond suggested that an extension – which Britain will have to request if Cooper’s bill succeeds and May cannot pass her deal by April 12 – could be cut short when Britain is ready to depart.

He said it was important “we have absolute clarity that as soon as we’ve done the deal, we are able to bring that extension to an end,” adding that “it’s less about the nominal time” of the extension and more about how easily Britain can halt it and exit the EU.

Any extension to Brexit, along with the terms of the extension, will have to be approved by the EU.

Hammond also repeated his suggestion that a second, confirmatory referendum is “credible.”

“It’s well known that this is one of the issues that’s been debated,” he said. “It’s a perfectly credible proposition. Some ideas have been put forward which are not deliverable, they’re not negotiable,” but a second vote “deserves” to be voted on, he added.

An amendment on Yvette Cooper’s bill, put down by the Government itself, has been crushed by lawmakers, as voting on amendments continues.

Theresa May’s government has already made a habit of suffering defeats in Parliament, but this huge loss – by 400 votes to 220 – suggests that Cooper’s main bill has a healthy chance of passing.

The amendment attempted to prevent Cooper’s bill from limiting the powers of a minister to seek or agree an extension of the Brexit process – essentially defeating the purpose of the bill itself. It had been tabled by Brexit Secretary, Stephen Barclay.

Lawmakers are voting on Labour MP Yvette Cooper’s bill to take a no deal Brexit off the table, and to force Theresa May to seek an extension to the process if she cannot pass her Withdrawal Agreement in the coming days.

Results of the main vote, as well as on a series of amendments, will be announced soon.

Nick Boles, the former Conservative MP who dramatically quit his party on Monday after his plan for a softer Brexit was voted down in the Commons, is clearly feeling liberated after giving up the party whip.

Boles has claimed on Twitter that Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s director of communications, is set on undoing the prime minister’s efforts to find a Brexit compromise plan with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“I am no longer a member of the Conservative Party. So I can be blunt where previously I might have been discreet. The PM’s head of communications Robbie Gibb is a hard Brexiter who wants to destroy the PM’s new search for a cross party compromise.

“The Prime Minister would do well to tell Mr Gibb to get back in his box - or go back to the BBC,” Boles added, referring to Gibb’s former employer.

Tonight’s vote is important because if the so-called ‘Cooper Bill’ passes, it effectively takes a no-deal Brexit off of the table.

The bill being debated in the House of Commons right now would, if passed, force Theresa May to request an extension to article 50 of her choosing, but beyond the current date of April 12. While the Prime Minister has already announced that she intends to do this, the Cooper Bill would allow MPs to change that date.

Further to that, the bill – proposed by Labour MP Yvette Cooper –?also says that if the EU agrees to an extension but suggests a different date to that selected by either the Prime Minister or MPs, then May must immediately bring a fresh motion back to the Commons to reflect that.

It’s all a little fiddly, but with so little time left, it paves the way to an extension that would require the UK to remain in the EU for a long time. And, as we wrote earlier, that opens a whole new can of worms.

With everything else that is currently going on with Brexit – from May and Corbyn trying to reach compromise to the President of the EU Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, saying that without a fresh way forward, the UK would not be granted a short extension – it’s becoming clearer by the day that May is clinging onto Brexit by her fingernails.

A senior member of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet has urged lawmakers in the party to insist that any Brexit deal is put to the public in a confirmatory second referendum.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow Foreign Secretary, wrote to members of the shadow cabinet ahead of an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening, insisting they put the issue to a vote.

“If we look like reaching any other decision than confirmatory vote that would be in breach of the decision made unanimously by Conference in Liverpool and overwhelmingly supported by our members,” wrote Thornberry, who was unable to attend the session, in a letter obtained by CNN. “It needs to be put to a vote by the Shadow Cabinet.”

“The Tory Cabinet had that kind of vote yesterday after their eight-hour discussion yesterday so I think it is the least we should be doing after the one-hour discussion this evening,” she said.

Thornberry suggested that if the party voted to endorse a referendum, MPs who oppose the plan would still be given leeway to state their position publicly.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper’s bill to rule out no deal has moved forward to a third debate and vote, after lawmakers supported its progress by 315 votes to 310.

Its first reading scraped through by 311 votes to 310, but it has picked up four more backers to increase its majority.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hinted that Theresa May intends to put a Brexit deal to the House of Commons in a vote next week.

Speaking after his meeting with May, Corbyn said of a Brexit delay: “If it goes beyond the 22nd of May then clearly it does involve European elections, which the government absolutely does not want to be involved in. They made that very, very clear … and that is why she is very keen to get a vote through the House next week”

Corbyn also said he raised the possibility of a confirmatory referendum on a Brexit deal, but was unclear on how firmly he pursued the option.

“It was raised by me at the beginning of the meeting. I said, ‘Look, it is the policy of our party that we would want to pursue to option of a public vote to prevent crashing out or prevent leaving on a bad deal.’”

“There was no agreement reached on that, we just put it there as one of the issues that the Labour Party conference voted on last year,” he added.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has hinted his talks with Theresa May didn’t quite go as he had hoped, calling the meeting “useful but inconclusive.”

“We had a discussion and there hasn’t been as much change as I expected but we are continuing to have some discussions tomorrow morning to explore some of the technical issues,” Corbyn said, according to the Press Association.

“The meeting was useful but inconclusive,” he added.

Corbyn said he advocated Labour’s Brexit position during the talks. “We want to achieve a customs union with the European Union, we want to have access to the market and, in particular, we discussed the dynamic regulatory alignment that is guaranteeing European regulations as a minimum on the on the environment as well as consumer and employment rights,” he said.

Notably, that synopsis of the conversation doesn’t include any mention of a confirmatory referendum on any Brexit deal, for which many in his party have been pressing.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper is addressing the House, after lawmakers voted by a majority of one to move forward on her bill that would take no-deal off the table.

“We have put forward this bill … for fear of the damage that no-deal would do to all of our constituencies,” Cooper says.

She acknowledges that some people in Britain want a no-deal Brexit, and they want it as fast as possible. But she adds on the prospect: “It will hit other people’s lives, and it is not fair.”

Responding to a question on why the period for debate and votes on the bill has been compressed to just a few days, Cooper says such a timeline is necessary given the looming Brexit deadline. “This is a tight timetable for this bill because this is a tight timetable for this House, facing the deadline of 12th of April,” she says.

“I could never have imagined when we started these debates … that nine days from Brexit Day, nobody knows what’s going to happen,” she adds.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had a “constructive” meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit on Wednesday, a Labour Party spokesperson said, and further discussions between the two sides will take place over the coming days.

Here’s the moment that John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, dramatically cast his vote that blocked further indicative votes on the Brexit process, under a process controlled by lawmakers.

Bercow said it was the first time that a Speaker had cast a tiebreak since 1993 –?ironically, that was a matter related to the Maastricht treaty, another controversial European Union issue.

Lawmakers have approved a debate for Labour MP Yvette Cooper’s motion that forces the government to request an extension to the Brexit process if they cannot pass a deal by April 12. It outlaws a no-deal option.

The vote was 312-311 in favor – a majority of just one.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, has blocked another round of indicative votes planned by lawmakers for Monday. Lawmakers were tied 310-310, and the Speaker said important decisions should not be taken without a majority. He cast his tiebreaking vote with the noes. “It’s not for the chair to create a majority that doesn’t exist,” he said.

That doesn’t mean more indicative votes won’t happen – the government might offer them anyway.

It appears that lawmakers are tied on whether to hold another round on indicative votes on Brexit options on Monday. The Speaker did not deny that the vote was tied when he was asked by two lawmakers just now. The chief whips from both parties are conferring, he said.

MPs have just voted on whether to take control of the Commons order paper – again – and hold a third round of indicative votes on Monday.

But there’s a delay as we await confirmation, and plenty of commotion in the Commons, amid speculation that the vote could be very close.

Speaker John Bercow is locked in discussions from his chair.

The leaders of a group of smaller parties in Britain’s Parliament urged a second referendum, in a joint statement released while Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were meeting.

“The UK is in the midst of a Brexit crisis led by a government dictated by incompetence,” said the group, made up of the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, Independent Group spokesman Chuka Umunna, Green MP Caroline Lucas, and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts.

Time is fast running out and any compromise that is reached must be brought back to the people through a fresh referendum, and keep the option to revoke Article 50 on the table to avoid a no-deal Brexit.”

Amid the excitement of Prime Minister Theresa May suddenly being on speaking terms with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, something is happening in Parliament that could alter the course of Brexit.

A vote will take place tonight on something called the Cooper Bill. If successful, it will take a no-deal Brexit off the table for good, by making it illegal in British law. That could have the (probably unintended) consequence of making a second referendum inevitable.

Here’s how that might happen. If the May-Corbyn process does not produce a compromise that can be quickly ratified, the UK government would be forced to request an extension to the Brexit process beyond April 12, the current cut-off-date. And without the prospect of a deal being agreed before May 22, the day before elections to the European Parliament begin, the proponents of a second referendum will push for a long delay.

Here’s the logic.

First of all, any significant alteration to May’s Brexit deal ought to have proper parliamentary scrutiny. Many of the Brexit alternatives debated by the Commons earlier this week were fantasy options that were rife with legal problems or were without precedent.

As People’s Vote campaigner, Tom Brufatto, told me: “It’s very late in the day to vote on alternatives without adequate scrutiny. Parliament needs to be given the space to properly look at these options to avoid a blind Brexit and commit to putting any Brexit deal back to the people.”

Second, in those indicative votes, a second referendum has been more popular than anything else. And the Prime Minister has committed herself to respecting the will of parliament.

Campaigners for a second referendum march in central London earlier this month

Third, and most importantly, in the event of a long extension, the UK will still be an EU member state, with lawmakers in the European Parliament, and no fixed plan for leaving. At that point, it would be absurd that any public vote would not have the option of remaining in the EU.

Fourth, the EU has repeatedly said that it would need a good reason to grant a long extension. A referendum or general election would likely qualify as a good enough reason. And a referendum is far more likely to provide clarity than an election.

Finally, even if the Withdrawal Agreement does pass swiftly, MPs might insist that May’s deal is put to the public anyway. “A referendum on the deal is looking more likely than ever, which in itself is a remarkable achievement,” Labour MP Wes Streeting told me It’s very clear that it provides a route, perhaps the only route, to breaking the deadlock in Parliament and restoring some democratic legitimacy to a deeply discredited process.”

So there you go. Brexit, it seems, is unlikely to go away any time soon.?

The fallout from Theresa May’s change of approach on Brexit continues.

Chris Heaton-Harris has quit May’s government, becoming the second minister to resign on Wednesday.

Heaton-Harris has served as an Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union since last year, but says his position is irrelevant if May will not leave the EU without a deal.

“I completely understand you do not want to leave the European Union without?a negotiated deal and that obviously makes my job in Government irrelevant,” he wrote in his resignation letter.

Corbyn leaves his home on Wednesday morning.

Jeremy Corbyn, currently locked in crunch Brexit talks with Theresa May, has long been an enigmatic political figure when it comes to the defining issue of the generation.

A long-time skeptic of the European Union who then – albeit mildly – supported the Remain campaign, Corbyn’s position on Brexit has been a source of confusion and frustration for some inside his own party. But Wednesday’s meeting with May, and with it the opportunity to help shape Brexit, will force him to set out a position – whether it be a softer Brexit, Single Market membership, or a second referendum.

So which path will he take – and why the confusion over Corbyn’s stance? His previous positions on the EU provide a clue:

Before the referendum: Corbyn has long criticized the European Union, and said he voted to leave the European Economic Community in a 1975 British referendum. He opposed the 1993 Maastricht Treaty that bonded members states closer politically, and frequently denounced aspects of the bloc before being elected Labour leader.

During the referendum: While Corbyn insisted he was a Remainer, his critics pointed out that he wasn’t much of a campaigner. He repeatedly ruled out sharing a platform with then-prime minister David Cameron on the campaign trail, and when asked on Channel 4 how passionately, out of 10, he wanted to stay, Corbyn put the figure at “about seven, or seven and a half.”

After the vote: Corbyn said he was disappointed by the result of the vote – but told the BBC just hours after the outcome became clear that Article 50, which started the clock on Britain’s departure, should be triggered immediately. Corbyn received heavy criticism for his lackluster role in the Remain campaign, which eventually led to pro-EU backbencher Owen Smith challenging him for the Labour leadership.

2017 general election: During the snap election, Corbyn took a catch-all stance on Brexit – repeating that Labour would respect the result of the referendum, but urging a closer economic union than Theresa May was pursuing. That approach allowed Labour to pick up voters in both Leave and Remain areas, and helped the party secure a stunning upset and deny May a majority government.

In recent months, Corbyn has followed a similar tactic. He’s pressed for a customs union and alignment with the Single Market, an insistence May has until now ruled out. But more recently, and after much wrangling from pro-EU backbenchers, Corbyn has also embraced a confirmatory referendum to avoid what he calls a “damaging Tory Brexit.”

Now, it’s time for clarity. The line Corbyn pursues in his meetings with May will be closely watched by those inside and outside his party – and could provide a hint as to what Corbyn wants.

Guy Verhofstadt criticized the figures behind the Brexit project.

The European Parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, has delivered a damning indictment on Britain’s departure in Brussels – but says he hopes this week’s cross-party talks will pave a way forward.

“I can tell you, the sessions of the House of Commons have become more popular even than the matches in the Premier League in Europe,” Verhofstadt joked. “The only difference is, I can tell you it’s always a draw there in the House of Commons.

“Let’s hope that these cross-party negotiations that start today give us a solution in the coming days,” he went on.

“We are open to change the Political Declaration to make that possible – a customs union, a free trade arrangement, a Common Market 2.0, maybe something else – we are open to do so.”

But he said that such a plan must be voted on in the House of Commons before Britain’s current departure date of April 12. “We need also a road map, so that we are sure that everything is implemented,” he added.

Verhofstadt then criticized some key architects of the Brexit project, warning that a long delay could see one of those figures take the reins.

He concluded: “With Brexit, the people of Europe can now see for themselves that the projects of nationalists and populists always end in disaster, a mess in which everyone loses.”

Conservatives have been cutting up their party membership cards in protest at Theresa May’s invitation to opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to help break the Brexit deadlock by winning parliament over in favor of her deal.

“Jeremy Corbyn has no right to be involved after his behaviour over the last two years,” one member wrote. “Theresa May you just killed [the] Conservatives party.”

Many others responded on Twitter, also posting pictures of their cut-up membership cards.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon met Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, has met Jeremy Corbyn ahead of his talks with Theresa May.

She appeared optimistic that the Labour leader would resist May’s Brexit position, in response to speculation he could accept much of her strategy.

“I’d be surprised and very disappointed if Labour sold out,” she wrote on Twitter.

Downing Street has confirmed that Theresa May is meeting Jeremy Corbyn at the House of Commons – but it wouldn’t reveal who will be sitting down alongside the two leaders.

There’s been speculation that other key opposition figures, such as Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer, would be joining the meeting.

Downing Street has confirmed that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will meet Theresa May at 2:30 p.m. local time (09:30 a.m. ET).

The pair are meeting after the Prime Minister invited the opposition leader to break the political deadlock and find a way to find a majority in Parliament for Britain’s exit from the European Union.

According to Britain’s Press Association news agency, May will then meet Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, at 4:15 p.m. (11:15 a.m. ET) and Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of Wales at 5 p.m. (12 p.m. ET).

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday that if the UK cannot agree on a Brexit position by April 12, no short term extension will be possible.

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

“If the UK is in a position of approving the Withdrawal Deal with a viable majority by the 12th April then the UK in that case the European Union would also accept an extension until the 22nd May,” Juncker said.

“If the House of Commons does not adopt a stance before that date, no short-term extension will be possible,” he added – to resounding applause.

Prime Minister Theresa May has wrapped up PMQs in the House of Commons after answering questions from MPs for 55 minutes.

According to Britain’s Press Association news agency, it was the second longest Prime Minister’s Questions on record. The longest, it says, took place on April 26 in 2017 which lasted 56 minutes.

Conservative lawmaker Nigel Evans has asked Theresa May if she’ll emphatically rule out the UK’s participation in European elections, which is due to take place on May 23.

May responded by telling the House of Commons that she wants lawmakers to agree upon her deal which will enable the UK to leave the EU on May 22 – which means it will not have to hold those elections.

“But we can only do that if we can find a way forward,” she added.

Conservative lawmaker Caroline Johnson has asked Prime Minister Theresa May about the risks of a no-deal, compared to a Labour “marxist, anti-Semite government.”

May responded by telling Johnson that she wants to see that Brexit is delivered “as soon as possible” and that the Conservative Party delivers on the result of the 2016 referendum.

Theresa May is being battered with questions from MPs from her own party during Wednesday’s PMQs. They are questioning the Prime Minister’s decision to involve Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Brexit talks.

“The biggest threat to our standing in the world, our defense and to our economy is the leader of the opposition. In her judgement, what now qualifies him for involvement in Brexit,” Tory MP Lee Rowley asked.

While Julian Lewis asked: “Why is a conservative prime minister who repeatedly told us that no deal is better than a bad deal, now approaching Labour MPs to bloackade WTO Brexit when most conservative MPs want us to leave the European Union with a clean break in nine days time?”

May responded to Lewis by telling him that she still believes no deal is better than bad deal, but “we’ve got a good deal.”

MPs in the House of Commons for PMQs.

“Does it remain the position of the Prime Minister that the leader of the opposition is not fit to govern?” former Brexit minister David Jones asked Theresa May in the House of Commons.

She was quick to reply that “It is the Conservatives that are delivering for the people and the leader for the opposition and I have different opinions on a number of issues.”

May went on to highlight the way Jeremy Corbyn responded to the the 2018 Salisbury poisonings where a former Russian spy and his daughter were found slumped on a bench after being exposed to the nerve agent, novichok. She added that Corbyn chose to believe Vladimir Putin over British security services.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said while she intends to discuss Brexit with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to find a way out of the deadlock, the offer is also open to other members across Parliament.

She added that Wednesday’s meeting with Corbyn will focus on looking at the areas that they both agree on.

“I think we both want to deliver leaving the EU with a deal. I think we both want to protect jobs. I think we both want to ensure that we end free movement. I think we both recognize the importance of the Withdrawal Agreement,” May told lawmakers.

She added that both the Labour and Conservative parties need to find a way forward “that can command the support of this House and can deliver on Brexit, deliver on the result of the referendum and ensure that people can continue to have trust in their politicians in doing what they ask us to do.”

Theresa May speaking in the House of Commons.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in the House of Commons.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says in the House of Commons that he is looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Theresa May later on Wednesday.

He added that he welcomed May’s “willingness to compromise to resolve the Brexit deadlock.”

Corbyn then went on to question the Prime Minister on domestic issues such as poverty, appearing to avoid any clashes over Brexit before talks take place.

The Conservative Party civil war is heating up. While hard Brexiteers are talking about voting against the government in a confidence vote and accusing Prime Minister Theresa May of trying to form a “coalition” with the opposition, there is another side to this story. A Conservative source on Wednesday morning writes:

Yikes.

Prime Minister Theresa May is in the House of Commons, answering questions from MPs.

She opens PMQs by telling parliament that she had held meetings with ministerial colleagues on Wednesday morning and that those meetings continue for the rest of the day.

The European Parliament and Council have reached the agreement that after Brexit, British citizens entering the Schengen area (which includes most EU member states) for a short stay should be granted visa-free travel.

It was confirmed Tuesday, but the text now needs to be formally adopt by the European Parliament and Council. A vote is expected to take place Thursday.

It means that any UK citizens traveling for less than 90 days during a period of 180 days will not have to apply for a visa.

British tourists board a ferry from northern Spanish city of Santander.

However, the EU Council added that it was on the condition that the UK upholds its intention to not require a visa from EU citizens traveling to the UK for short stays.

“The Commission would monitor the respect of the principle of reciprocity on a continuous basis and immediately inform the European Parliament and the Council of any developments which could endanger the respect of this principle,” the Council of the EU said.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay is currently providing evidence to the House of Commons Brexit select committee.

He says Theresa May does not intent to ask the EU for a long extension, but that failure to prepare for European Parliament elections would make that option impossible.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay at the Commons Brexit Committee meeting.

Barclay added that the elections may take place on May 23, but reiterated that it wasn’t the government’s intention.

?“If we don’t hold the European parliamentary elections, we would not be able to take a longer extension to the end of the year,” he told the committee.

The Brexit Secretary also said that in the “undesirable” event of a confirmatory vote on various Brexit options, it could take the UK “back to square one.”

He said that a confirmatory vote “means a second referendum as they want to have a Remain option” and that it would take about 12 months to organize the legislation for such a vote.

The?British Army has opened an investigation into a video circulating on social media that appears to show serving soldiers shooting at a picture of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party.

The 25-second video, initially shared on Snapchat with the caption “Happy with that,” appears to show four men in military uniform firing handguns at a large image of Corbyn during target practice.?

It is not clear whether the video has been manipulated.

Screengrabs from the video which the British Army are investigating.

“We are aware of a video circulating on social media, this behaviour is totally unacceptable and falls well below the high standards the Army expects, a full investigation has been launched,” an Army spokesman told CNN in a statement.

The UK’s Press Association news agency said the footage was captured in Kabul, Afghanistan in recent days and showed the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment engaged in target practice on a simulation range.

PA added that a Labour Party spokesman said the “behaviour is alarming and unacceptable.”

Theresa May will meet Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon today, the UK’s Press Association news agency is reporting.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed that the meeting will take place, but did not say what time or where.

It comes after Sturgeon tweeted after May’s speech yesterday, saying that it seems that she was “kicking the can and, yet again, delaying making any decision that could break her Cabinet.”

“What is missing is an answer from her to the question that many MPs faced up to last night – what is the compromise she is willing to make?”

A junior government minister has resigned in protest at the Prime Minister’s decision to hold talks with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Nigel Adams, minister for Wales and assistant government whip, told Theresa May that her decision to hold talks with the Labour leader was a “grave error.”

“At Cabinet yesterday, there was an opportunity to get onto the front foot for once,” he wrote to the Prime Minister. “However, by legitimizing and turning to Jeremy Corbyn to assist you at this crucial stage, rather than being bold, is a grave error.”

“It is clear that we will now end up in the Customs Union. That is not the Brexit my constituents were promised, and it is contrary to the pledge we made in our manifesto,” the Adams said.

The UK is now at risk of “simultaneously failing” the British public on its Brexit vote, he wrote, potentially leading to the “calamity of a Corbyn government.”

“It now seems that you and your Cabinet have decided that a deal – cooked up with a Marxist who has never once in his political life, put British interests first – is better than no deal.”

Theresa May has finally made a decision. And it’s not one her hard-Brexit allies will like.

The Prime Minister has recognized what many have been saying for weeks – that there’s no majority for her deal in Parliament.

In offering?talks with the opposition Labour Party?– and, crucially, offering to accept the result of any vote in Parliament for an alternative Brexit plan – May has also recognized that she will never be able to persuade her supposed allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, nor a hard core of Brexiteers in her own Conservative Party.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May giving a statement inside 10 Downing Street in London.

May has picked a side, and in agreeing to a cross-party approach, it’s the side of a “soft” Brexit – one that envisages a closer relationship with the EU than she previously could countenance.

“This is a difficult time for everyone. Passions are running high on all sides of the argument. But we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the British people voted for,” May said.

That’s a sign that she’s about to rub out at least some of her infamous “red lines” which shaped the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated with the EU – out of the Customs Union, which stops the UK signing independent trade deals, and out of the Single Market, which requires the UK to accept unlimited immigration from the EU.

Read more of Luke McGee’s analysis here

British Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group.

Hardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg says Brexit has been taken over by Remainers and that Leave voters are being “disenfranchised,” according to Britain’s Press Association news agency.

Here’s what the chairman of the European Research Group (ERG) said:

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has told the BBC that the “remorseless logic” of the House of Commons meant that the UK is heading for “either a soft Brexit or no Brexit at all.”

Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Stephen Barclay arriving in Downing Street on Tuesday.

Barclay blamed members of the European Research Group (ERG) – a Brexiteer grouping of Conservative MPs – for refusing to support Theresa May’s deal.

“It’s regrettable that what we have been saying for several months now is coming to pass but that is the remorseless logic of not backing the Prime Minister’s deal because the alternative then is to have to seek votes from the opposition benches because 35 of my own colleagues would not support the Prime Minister’s deal,” he said.

Theresa May’s statement on Tuesday evening represented a significant shift in her Brexit approach, moving away from the prospect of a no-deal split and bringing opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn into the equation.

Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, and leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The plan will dismay the hardline Brexiteers in her own party, who for so long have opposed her Withdrawal Agreement – and may now, as a result, lose the hard Brexit they crave.

All eyes now shift to Corbyn, the Labour leader whose next move could shape the future of Brexit. The Prime Minister said she would attempt to forge an agreement with Corbyn that would then be put to the House of Commons.

Corbyn said his guiding principle would be to “avoid the dangers of crashing out” of the EU without a deal. Labour would “hold in reserve” the option of calling a no-confidence motion in May’s government, which could trigger a general election if it were successful. He said he would make the move if the government “proves it is incapable of commanding a majority in the House of Commons.”

But, what will Corbyn demand in his talks with May?

A customs union: Labour party policy favors a customs union with the EU and “close alignment” to the single market. A motion to add a customs union to May’s Brexit deal came the closest to achieving a majority in the Commons during the first two rounds of indicative votes this week. If Labour compromised its demand for single market alignment, her deal could get over the line.

Common Market 2.0: This so-called “Norway Plus” model was also backed by Labour in Monday’s indicative votes, and comes closest to Labour’s own alternative Brexit plan. But it calls for the UK to stay in the Single Market, which would likely be unpalatable to May.

A second referendum: Corbyn took a long time to come around to the prospect of a second vote, but ultimately supported a plan from one of his backbenchers for a confirmatory vote on any deal May gets through Parliament. Could May accept a combination of a customs union plus a confirmatory referendum? It would be a huge move for her.

After holding a Cabinet meeting that lasted most of Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May tore up her Brexit strategy in a momentous statement and declared the UK would need to see another delay to Brexit to give her time to hold negotiations with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in Downing Street on Tuesday.

“This is a decisive moment in the story of these islands and it requires national unity to deliver the national interest,” she said in Downing Street.

By offering to accept a compromise, May seemed to recognize Tuesday that she will never be able to win round her supposed allies in the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, nor a hard core of Brexiteers in her own Conservative Party. However, the decision is certain to sow deep divisions on her own side.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative Member of Parliament who favors a clean break from the EU, said he was resolutely opposed to May’s offer of talks with the opposition.

“I think getting the support of a known Marxist is not likely to instill confidence in Conservatives,” he said, referring to Corbyn’s left-wing politics.

If Corbyn and May could not agree a deal, the Prime Minister said last night, the government would give Parliament a series of votes on Brexit options.

Read more about what happened yesterday here.