Labour's priority today is to make sure that no-deal is taken completely off the table, that Theresa May cannot be under any sense of ambiguity that she can use the tactic of saying 'It is my deal or no deal'. No-deal must disappear.

He said the shadow cabinet would meet ahead of the debate to decide whether to back an amendment by Labour MP Yvette Cooper and Tory Nick Boles to delay Brexit if there is no deal by the end of February, although he suggested there was a "lot of sympathy" for the plan.

We have got to be sure that the amendments we are supporting will take no-deal off the table.

There are other ways of achieving that. Labour has its own official amendment down."