Theresa May has told MPs attempting to delay Brexit that it would not “solve the situation”.
“The decision remains the same – the deal, no-deal or no Brexit,” she said at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused her of having a “closed mind” to other Brexit options, such as Labour’s plan for a customs union with the EU.
But the PM attacked him for refusing to meet her and said he did not “have a clue” what his own policy meant.
MPs are proposing alternative plans to the PM’s deal with the EU, including seeking an extension to the UK’s exit date – which is currently scheduled to happen at 23:00 GMT on 29 March.
But the prime minister has said the “right way” to rule out no-deal Brexit is to approve her withdrawal agreement.
Under current law, the UK will exit the EU on 29 March, whether or not a deal has been struck. The decision to leave was taken by 52% to 48% in a referendum in June 2016.
Corbyn and May trade barbs over Brexit
Jeremy Corbyn used Prime Minister’s Questions to repeat his call for Mrs May to rule out a no-deal Brexit.
Mrs May attacked the Labour leader for refusing to take part in cross-party talks with her on the way forward.
“The Right Honourable Gentleman has been willing to sit down with Hamas, Hezbollah and the IRA without preconditions, yet he won’t meet me to talk about Brexit,” she told MPs.
Mr Corbyn said: “The door to her office may be open but the minds inside are completely closed.”
He said there could be a majority in the Commons for staying in a customs union, and it was also backed by business and the trade unions and some Tory MPs, so why not get behind it?
Mrs May said a customs union meant that business can export without facing red tape, and her proposed deal would deliver that, while allowing the UK to have its own trade policy.
And she suggested the Labour leader did not know what his policy meant and what the “implications” of it would be for UK trade.
Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg will tell a meeting later he is encouraged by “outbreaks of realism” over the Northern Ireland backstop.
The Conservative MP is expected to say he believes “commons sense and practicality will prevail” in order to reach “a feasible deal”.
After leaving Downing Street after a meeting with the government’s chief whip, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “I think that there is every chance that if the UK now negotiates with conviction and if we really mean it this time we can secure the changes that we need.”
The prime minister’s supporters say they believe some opponents of Mrs May’s deal are now willing to consider backing it because of the moves by other MPs to delay Brexit.
Are there signs of movement from the EU?
Not on the Irish backstop – chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the EU would not be willing to put a time limit on it.
But he said the backstop was not the “central issue” and the debate was now about the future shape of the UK’s relationship with the EU, after it leaves with a deal.
“We’re cooperating with the British government. Things could start moving rapidly,” Mr Barnier told The Luxembourg Times.
“We are ready to be more ambitious if the British decide to shift their red lines, for example by remaining in a customs union, or participating in the single market.
“I believe there is a readiness in London for that.”
What is going to happen next?
Next Tuesday MPs will get to vote on Theresa May’s way forward on Brexit, after rejecting her initial plan by a record-breaking 230 votes last Tuesday.
Mrs May is hoping to tweak the deal to address concerns about the Northern Irish “backstop” among her own backbenchers and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which she relies on to keep her in power.
But MPs are attempting to take control of the Brexit process by tabling amendments to Mrs May’s plans.
