Theresa May ‘disappointed’ that Labour refuse to accept Brexit talks invite unless no-deal is off the table

Theresa May said she was ‘disappointed’ that Labour refused her invitation to discuss Brexit just hours after she saw off a no-confidence vote.

The Prime Minister took to the steps of Downing Street in a late night address in an attempt to reassure the country following 24 hours of high drama in the Commons.

Mrs May and the Government won a vote of no confidence, tabled by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn after the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal was overwhelmingly rejected by Parliament on Tuesday.

She immediately announced that she would invite party leaders in the Commons and other MPs in for discussions to get a Parliamentary consensus on Brexit.

But she faced an uphill struggle after all the opposition party leaders demanded scrapping the possibility of no-deal as a condition of progress, while Labour refused to even sit down with the PM until the concession was guaranteed.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has now set the date for MPs to debate the Government’s Brexit plan B after the Prime Minister’s deal suffered a historic defeat on Tuesday.

Despite opposition parties calling on the Government to take a no-deal Brexit off the table in a bid to work cross-party on a way forward but Mrs Leadsom said that was ‘not possible’.

The Cabinet minister told MPs that removing no deal as an option would be ‘an incompetent thing to do’.

Mrs May held talks with Lib-Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, SMP Westminster leader Ian Blackford and Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville-Roberts late on Wednesday, following the no-confidence vote.

Downing Street also refused to rule out no deal, with the Prime Minister’s official spokesman saying: ‘Want to leave with a deal but she is determined to deliver on the verdict of the British public and that is to leave the EU on March 29 this year.’

Asked by a reporter if he was ‘taking no-deal off the table’ in response to the opposition leader’s demand, the spokesman replied: ‘I am not.’

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In her address to the nation shortly after 10pm on Wednesday, Mrs May said the talks had been constructive, adding: ‘I am disappointed that the leader of the Labour Party has not so far chosen to take part, but our door remains open.’

Mrs May also aimed remarks at Parliamentarians who voted against her Brexit plan on Tuesday, saying that ‘MPs have made clear what they don’t want, we must all work constructively together to set out what Parliament does want’.

She added: ‘It will not be an easy task, but MPs know they have a duty to act in the national interest, reach a consensus and get this done.’

Mrs May will hold further talks with other groups, including eurosceptics in her own party and the Democratic Unionist Party on Thursday.

They will take place the day after she survived an attempt to oust her as Prime Minister, as MPs rejected Mr Corbyn’s motion of no confidence in the Government by a margin of 325 to 306.

The Prime Minister’s 19-vote victory came less than 24 hours after the crushing defeat of her EU Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, and clears the way for her to start cross-party talks on a Brexit Plan B.

Conservative rebels and members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who consigned the PM to the worst defeat in parliamentary history on Wednesday rallied behind her to see off the threat of a general election.

Welcoming the result, Mrs May invited leaders of opposition parties to meetings.

She pledged to approach the talks ‘in a constructive spirit’ and urged other parties to do the same, adding: ‘I stand ready to work with any member of this House to deliver on Brexit and ensure that this House retains the confidence of the British people.’

But Mr Corbyn responded: ‘Before there can be any positive discussions about the way forward, the Government must remove clearly once and for all the prospect of the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit from the EU and all the chaos that would come as a result of that.’

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell later told ITV’s Peston that he believed there was currently a parliamentary majority for a ‘permanent customs union’ with the EU.

Mrs May is now due to set out her alternative plan for EU withdrawal to MPs on January 21.

But she risks losing control of the Brexit process, as she must table a motion which can be amended by MPs.

They are expected to use the opportunity to secure Commons support for a range of possible outcomes, from ruling out a no-deal departure or opting for Norway-style membership of the single market to a second referendum.

MPs on both the Remain and the Leave wings of the party warned she needed to make major changes to the deal if she is to get it through the Commons.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier firmly rejected calls from some Conservative MPs and the DUP to drop the Northern Ireland ‘backstop’, intended to ensure there is no hard border with the Republic.

Speaking in Strasbourg he said there would be a ‘favourable response’ from the EU side if Mrs May was prepared to re-think her negotiating ‘red lines’, but added: ‘The backstop which we agreed to with the UK must remain a backstop. It must remain a credible backstop.’