No 10 is considering dropping the February recess in order to have enough Commons time to push through Brexit legislation.

It comes after the chief whip ruled out cancelling Christmas for fear of further angering already mutinous backbenchers.

Whips and ministers are quietly working on ways to ensure there is enough parliamentary time to approve the deal and pass the relevant legislation to implement it, amid growing expectations that it will be a European Council summit on 13 December when a Brexit deal would finally be agreed and signed off.

That leaves No 10 with very little time to get any deal ratified by Parliament leading to discussions over whether Christmas recess might be cancelled and MPs forced to sit in the House through "Brexmas" as it was dubbed by one insider.

A government source told Sky News ministers were also looking at whether to use Thursdays solely for Brexit legislation.


This is a sitting typically used for backbench debates rather than government business: debates tomorrow include a discussion on exploitation in supermarket supply chains and World Menopause Day.



Another source stressed that February recess dates were yet to be set - but recognised that "pressures on the parliamentary timetable are being taken into account".

Today's EU council in Brussels had been billed as the moment when a deal would be agreed but talks broke down over the weekend as the two sides hit an impasse over the thorny issue of the Irish backstop.

.

The backstop is in effect an insurance policy to prevent a hard border on the island or Ireland should the two sides fail to reach an agreement and the UK leaves the EU with a no deal.

Any deal agreed at the European Council will have to be ratified by both the UK and European parliaments, putting huge pressure on the parliamentary machinery.

The government needs to push through the withdrawal bill as well as other pieces of Brexit legislation before Britain leaves the EU on 29 March 2019.

The House of Commons is due to rise on 20 December and return on 7 January.

MPs typically have another recess in February. This year it ran from 8 February to 20 February but has yet to be set for 2019.