Brexit vote key timings: how to watch the meaningful vote live on TV
Theresa May's EU withdrawal agreement is set to be debated on for the second time in Parliament this Tuesday evening
MPs are set to deliver their verdict on Theresa May's Brexit deal this Tuesday 12th March.
The second 'Meaningful Vote' on the prime minister's Withdrawal Agreement comes after May claimed to have secured new 'legally binding' changes to the deal following last minute negotiations with the EU in Brussels.
The prime minister is hoping that her latest changes to the deal will secure enough votes to pass the withdrawal agreement. However, Labour has said that May has secured nothing new from her Brussels visit and will vote against the deal.
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The latest proposal will be debated in the House of Commons this Tuesday, with a vote expected to take place later this evening.
The last time the Brexit deal was put to Parliament in January, May suffered a historic defeat, with the agreement rejected by 230 votes.
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Find out more about how to watch the key Brexit deal vote, and the expected timings for events in Parliament.
When is the Brexit deal vote expected to take place?
The House of Commons has published a timetable of business for this Tuesday 12th March, confirming that the Commons Brexit vote is expected to take place at 7pm, after a day of debating the latest proposals.
Shortly before 2pm, Theresa May will open the debate, followed by a response from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The debate will then continue until 7pm.
A number of amendments have also been tabled: Speaker John Bercow will announce which amendments he is accepting into the debate. In the evening these amendments will be voted on by MPs before turning to the main motion.
How to watch the Brexit vote live
News channels including BBC News and Sky News are both expected to follow proceedings in parliament live as they happen. The main news bulletins will also have key updates throughout the day.
Andrew Neil will present a BBC News special on BBC2 and the BBC News channel from 7pm.
This page will be updated with any other special programming throughout the day.
Why is this Brexit vote important?
If MPs vote against May's deal again, this could be the end of the government's withdrawal agreement – a deal that May has spent the past two years negotiating with the EU.
If the deal is voted down, the UK could leave the EU on 29th March without a deal in place, or the departure could be delayed.
May has said that if her deal is rejected, she will offer a vote on whether Parliament want to leave the EU without a deal on 13th March.
If No Deal is rejected, then another vote will take place on 14th March on whether to delay Brexit.
This is the timetable that the prime minister has outlined, although the situation could change following the vote this evening.
What other key events are set to take place ahead of the Brexit vote?
Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that the European Research Group (ERG) – a group of Tory Brexiteers – will meet at 5pm to discuss their approach to the Brexit vote.
"I wouldn't hold your breath for us to come out and say we're backing the deal," he told BBC News. "But we will discuss it and see what the various risks are because none of these decisions is risk free.
"The default position of Conservative MPs is that we want to support the prime minister and government policy. But Geoffrey Cox's legal opinion certainly didn't make that any easier."
At 12.30pm, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox delivered a statement in the House of Commons outlining his official legal opinion on the changes agreed by May.
Cox had already published his position on the latest deal in a letter which can be read here.
He has said that despite May's agreements with the EU, "the legal risk remains unchanged" when it comes to the so-called Irish 'backstop', and that the UK would not be able to leave the 'temporary' arrangement without the EU's consent.
ITV political editor Robert Peston said that Cox's legal opinion of the latest negotiations means that Brexiteers and DUP MPs "can only back PM's deal if they take back more or less everything they've said about it since November".
