Jeremy Corbyn is expected to meet Theresa May on Wednesday afternoon to discuss Brexit, with 58 days remaining until the UK leaves the EU.

The meeting was confirmed by Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary. It comes two weeks after Corbyn rejected the prime minister’s invitation on the grounds that she should first rule out a no-deal Brexit.

After a morning of negotiations, Corbyn will meet May in the relative privacy of her office in the Commons at 3pm, according to Whitehall sources. The location means that Corbyn will not be walking up Downing Street, a location that would have given him the opportunity to make a statement outside No 10 afterwards.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Barclay said: “The vote was last night, the PM will be meeting with the leader of the opposition later today, there is an ongoing process … We are working hard in the national interest.”

After parliament voted on Tuesday for a renegotiation of the Irish backstop and rejected the idea of leaving without an agreement, Corbyn said he would meet May to hold talks on how to move forward.

Q&A What is the Brady amendment? Show The Brady amendment demands that the backstop arrangement in the EU withdrawal agreement to prevent a hard border in Northern Ireland should be replaced with 'alternative arrangements'. The backstop is hated by many Tory Brexiters because it would keep the UK in an effective customs union until an alternative solution could be found to prevent the need for infrastructure at the border. The backstop has no time limit and exit can be only by joint agreement between the UK and the EU. Brexiters would like to see the backstop replaced either by an as-yet-unknown technological solution to ensure a smooth border or at least an end date or a unilateral exit mechanism.



In order to seek this from Brussels, Theresa May decided the government should back an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, a Tory backbencher, which said the backstop should be replaced. She also pledged to reopen the withdrawal agreement and change the text.

The European Union has been adamant that both things cannot happen, but Downing Street believes that gaining a majority in the House of Commons for the change would demonstrate the crucial breakthrough needed to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

After initial scepticism, members of the hard-Brexit European Research Group swung behind the government, though Tory remainers rebelled against it, and the amendment passed by 16 votes. However, the group has made it clear it will not necessarily back whichever compromise she may come back with.

The Labour leader told the House of Commons he would have talks with the prime minister because “parliament has voted to remove the immediate threat of crashing out without a deal on 29 March”.

The decision to hold the meeting follows internal pressure on Corbyn from some of his closest aides. One senior party source said: “If we want to avoid a no-deal Brexit, there has to be some level of negotiations between the parties. We have to be involved.”

At the meeting, a Labour source said confirming rejection of a no-deal Brexit would remain a key issue. “Jeremy will insist that the will of parliament is respected and that no deal is now off the table,” he said.

Corbyn will also push Labour’s Brexit plan, which envisages a customs union, a strong single-market relationship and a guarantee on workers’ rights, consumer standards and environmental protections.

“That now must be the focus for negotiations,” the source said.

Two weeks ago, May wrote to Corbyn urging him to take part in meetings with her and other ministers following the rejection of her negotiated deal on the withdrawal bill.

Corbyn dismissed the invitation as a stunt. In a speech in Hastings, he said: “With no deal on the table, the prime minister will enter into phoney talks just to run down the clock and try to blackmail MPs to vote through her botched deal on a second attempt, by threatening the country with the chaos that no deal would bring.”

They previously met to discuss the Brexit process in November.