We take no pleasure from this position. We want an orderly exit from the European Union and we want stable government for the United Kingdom. Yesterday, however, summed up the chaos which has been the hallmark of this Prime Minister.

Despite our warnings, she trundled along towards an historic defeat on the Withdrawal Agreement. Then at the last minute she backed away from a vote.

Wednesday 14 November was arguably the high-water mark for the Withdrawal Agreement when the Prime Minister received the backing of Cabinet for the deal. That support, however, only came after a five-hour marathon meeting.

Since then there have been Cabinet resignations and an almost daily series of MPs announcing that they cannot back the deal. It has been clear for several weeks now that the Withdrawal Agreement did not have the support of the House of Commons and clear for many days that it was facing heavy defeat.

Some of us used the last two weeks to argue that the Prime Minister needed to look beyond the current Withdrawal Agreement and seek a better deal. We were ignored by Downing Street.