European Union leaders have insisted there will be no renegotiation of the Irish border backstop, snubbing Theresa May as she embarked on her whistlestop tour of EU capitals in a bid to seek fresh Brexit concessions.

Angela Merkel told the Prime Minister at their Berlin meeting there was “no way” the Withdrawal Agreement would be reopened. Rubbing salt in the wounds, the German Chancellor told Mrs May that any Brexit negotiations had to be handled through the European Commission and not through bilateral talks with national governments.

The snub came as the European Commission, France and other EU nations prepared to step up their no-deal Brexit emergency planning to heap yet more pressure on MPs in Westminster to accept the hated agreement.

After Mrs May pulled today’s ‘meaningful vote’ in the Commons, the race is now on to secure concessions from Europe that might convince opponents of the deal to change their minds, particularly on the question of the Irish backstop.

It has emerged that Mrs May, who was briefly locked in her car as she met Mrs Merkel, had warned EU leaders she was thinking of cancelling the vote on Sunday, before telling her Cabinet on Monday.