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Jeremy Corbyn withdrew a threat of a no confidence vote in the Prime Minister today at the eleventh hour.

Minutes before the Prime Minister stood up to make a Commons statement on Brexit negotiations, Labour’s leader dropped a bombshell by announcing he would stage a vote of confidence in her leadership.

He said that unless she gave a date for a Commons vote on her Brexit deal he would begin to initiate proceedings in Parliament.

However when Mrs May confirmed that the vote would be held in the week beginning January 14 – a date widely reported already – Mr Corbyn backed away from his threat.

She said: “Mr Speaker when we have the vote, members will need to reflect carefully on what is in the best interests in our country.”

Mrs May told the Commons: "It is now only just over 14 weeks until the UK leaves the EU and I know many members of this House are concerned that we need to take a decision soon."

She added: "I can confirm today that we intend to return to the meaningful vote debate in the week commencing January 7 and hold the vote the following week."

Threatening the no confidence vote the labour leader said it should have been held before Christmas, accusing Mrs May of "dither and delay".

He told her: "A responsible prime minister would for the good of this country put this deal before the House this week so we could move on from this Government's disastrous negotiation.

"This is a constitutional crisis and the Prime Minister is the architect of it. She is leading the most shambolic and chaotic government in modern British history."

The Prime Minister cancelled the initial date for the vote – December 11 - last week after it emerged that it would not be supported by enough MPs.

Her trip to Brussels, in which she intended to gain legally binding assurances on the deal from EU heads of state, did not yield any significant changes to the deal.

Follow the latest developments LIVE here

Within minutes of Mr Corbyn’s announcement this afternoon, critics rounded on the Labour leader over how powerful such a move would be.

It is not thought that it would have been legally binding or require the Prime Minister to resign if passed.

Constitutional expert Dr Catherine Haddon also raised the likelihood that Mr Corbyn could only table the confidence motion during official opposition time which means the Government would not be obliged to find for him for it.

Furthermore, votes of no confidence in other ministers, such as Transport Secretary, have not been successful and they remain in post.

Labour MP Owen Smith, who challenged Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership in the summer of 2016, Tweeted: “Can’t see that there’s much point in a vote of no confidence in the PM – and not the Government (are we saying we have got faith in Grayling, Hunt and the rest of them?).

“Government will simply ignore it – they can’t ignore a motion of no confidence in the Government.”

Mr Corbyn tore into the Prime Minister during his statement saying she had lost authority.

“The Prime Minister’s shoddy deal no longer even has the backing of Cabinet,” he said.

“The Prime Minister has cynically run down the clock, trying to manoeuvre parliament into a choice between two unacceptable outcomes, her deal or no deal.”

However despite his furious speech he failed to mention a confidence vote signalling he had back-tracked from his threat.