The government has been accused of breaking its promises after it emerged that key trade deals would not be ready by Brexit day in a no-deal scenario.
Whitehall documents reveal agreements with Japan, Algeria and Turkey will not be rubber-stamped by March 29 – despite Liam Fox’s assurance that deals would be ready at “one second after midnight”.
Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: “Brexiters promised that voting Leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.
“Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members.”
The news emerged as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “not very optimistic” that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided after meeting Theresa May.
Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay travelled to Brussels with attorney general Geoffrey Cox as the government scrambles to secure a deal, while Jeremy Corbyn and his top team were also in the Belgian capital for crunch talks.
Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives were both braced for fresh walkouts after 11 MPs formed a breakaway group in protest at the direction of their parties.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
The big story of the day - and the week - is the dramatic defections of 8 Labour MPs on Monday and Tuesday, followed by 3 Tory MPs on Wednesday.
Westminster is absolutely fizzing with gossip about who could be next to join the Independent Group (TIG), with plenty of MPs on 'resignation watch'.
Ex-Tory MP Sarah Wollaston suggested that the Conservative party was "destroying itself".
"I know that there are many colleagues on my side who will be watching carefully and expecting Theresa May to be certain that she is not going to take us out on a no-deal Brexit," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"Certainly I think that a third of the cabinet, I'm pretty clear, would walk if they were looking at a no-deal Brexit."
Two Conservatives have signalled they could quit their party over unless it changes tack on Brexit.
Former education secretary Justine Greening said she was staying in the Conservative Party "for the moment" but warned that the Tories would no longer be credible if they simply became "a Brexit party".
She said: "Right now, I have to say, I don't think I see enough ambition in the party that matches mine on this agenda."
Asked if she would quit, she told Today: "It is something that I have considered, but I have reached a different conclusion for the moment."
She added: "I don't think I would be able to stay part of a party that was simply a Brexit party that had crashed us out of the European Union."
Speaking on Wednesday, ex-attorney general Dominic Grieve also said: “The government which I am supporting implementing a no-deal Brexit – what would I do?
"I would not be able to maintain my support of the government. I would have to leave the party.”
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I hope that, over time, they will feel able to rejoin the party and help to maintain it as that broad church, that coalition of views that has been so successful over so many decades."
Mr Hammond said the European Research Group consisted of a "relatively small hardcore" within the parliamentary party and a "wider group of MPs who are sympathetic to some of the objectives of ERG but who recognise that, in this broad church that is the Conservative Party, compromises are necessary".
He said that while he respected the views of the breakaway three, "I don't think all of what they have said is justified".
Chancellor Philip Hammond has rebuked his cabinet colleague Gavin Williamson over his plans to send the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier to the Pacific.
In a thinly-veiled criticism of the Defence Secretary, Mr Hammond said decisions about HMS Queen Elizabeth's deployment should be a matter for the National Security Council, which would also consider the economic considerations.
Beijing reportedly pulled out of trade talks with Mr Hammond following Mr Williamson's announcement that the carrier, laden with F-35 Lightning stealth jets, would deploy to the region on its maiden operational voyage.
Mr Hammond said he was "disappointed" by China's reaction and insisted that no decision had actually been taken on the carrier's deployment.
Asked if the relationship with Beijing had been damaged by Mr Williamson's actions, the Chancellor said: "It's a complex relationship and it hasn't been made simpler by Chinese concerns about Royal Navy deployments in the South China Sea."
Mr Hammond said he was "disappointed that the Chinese have reacted in the way that they have".
MPs could be given a second vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal as early as next week, Philip Hammond has said.
In comments likely to fuel speculation that a revised agreement with the EU is close, the chancellor said another "meaningful vote" could take place before the end of February if progress is made in talks this week.
Theresa May has promised to give MPs some form of vote on Brexit by 27 February but is under heavy pressure from pro-EU ministers to put a revised deal before the Commons and rule out a no-deal Brexit.
Mr Juncker, who held talks with Theresa May on Wednesday in Brussels, said he had "Brexit fatigue" and regarded the issue as a "disaster".
Speaking to the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, Mr Juncker said: "Brexit is deconstruction, it is not construction. Brexit is the past, it is not the future.
"We are trying to deliver our best efforts in order to have this Brexit being organised in a proper, civilised, well-thought-out way.
"But we are not there, because in the British Parliament there is, every time they are voting, a majority against something, there is never a majority in favour of something.
"If a no-deal would happen - and I can't exclude this - this would have terrible economic and social consequences, both in Britain and on the continent, and so my efforts orient in a way that the worst can be avoided.
"But I am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue."
Commons leader Andrea Leadsom has failed to guarantee the Easter break for parliament, amid claims that some civil servants have been told their leave is cancelled.
In an alarming turn of events for MPs (and political journalists, Ms Leadsom said recesses are always "subject to the progress of business" when asked by Labour if the House will rise on April 4 and return on April 23.
With Brexit due to take place on March 29, doubts remain on whether parliament's two-week break will go ahead.
Responding to a question from Labour's Valerie Vaz, Ms Leadsom said: "She asks about Easter recess and what I can say is we always announce recesses subject to the progress of business and that remains the case for the time being."
Jeremy Corbyn is meeting European leaders in Brussels today to run through options for breaking the Brexit deadlock. Accompanied by shadow cabinet members Sir Keir Starmer, Shami Chakrabati and Rebecca Long-Bailey, he will hold talks over Labour's plans for a softer Brexit.
In words briefed overnight, the Labour leader said: “The Conservative government is running down the clock in an attempt to blackmail parliament into accepting Theresa May’s bad deal over a chaotic no deal.
“We are saying loud and clear that there is no majority for no deal, and Labour will be working with politicians across the house to prevent a no deal outcome which would be so damaging to our economy and communities.
"Labour respects the result of the referendum, but we do not support the PM’s damaging approach which is focused more on appeasing factions of her party than finding a sensible solution that works for the whole country.
“With just 37 days until Brexit, Theresa May must accept that her historic defeats in Parliament and complete failure to reach a new deal mean her approach has failed. She should abandon her damaging red lines and finally work with Labour to reach a deal which works for our country.”
Former Tory minister Anna Soubry - who quit her party on Wednesday - has revealed that David Cameron had reached out to the Conservatives MPs as they prepared to join the Independent Group (TIG).
She told The Times Red Box podcast that Mr Cameron sent them a text saying: "Is it too late to persuade you to stay?"
The ex-PM also tweeted on the issue yesterday, in a rare foray into politics.
Our political editor Joe Watts has been to the morning lobby briefing and sent over this quick run-down of the mood in No10.
Theresa May sent a not-so-coded message to members of her cabinet at Lobby today, after claims that some of its members had sympathy for the three Tories who have joined the new Independent Group.
In particular home secretary Amber Rudd perhaps, who notably tweeted what a “great shame” it was that the MPs had resigned, and pledged to continue to work with them.
The PM sought to remind ministers that while some MPs are flirting with a new party, this is also a week in which she held a meeting with the European Commission President - in which the Brexit secretary and attorney general are holding meetings today and during which she will speak to EU heads of government at a summit on Sunday, before critical votes in the commons next Wednesday – i.e. not the time loyal ministers would rock the boat.
“What she’s focussed on,” her spokesman said, “what the cabinet is working hard with her to achieve, is a deal.
“The PM will hope that will remain the focus as we move into a highly important part of this process on getting a deal.”
There was also a little riposte to Anna Soubry’s claims on BBC Newsnight that the prime minister has a personal problem with immigration.
The spokesman said the new system after Brexit would see the UK “take back control” of borders, whilst also seeking the “brightest and the best” workers from abroad.
“Immigrants make a huge contribution to both our public services and to our economy and that’s going to continue after Brexit,” he said.
One to watch - Tory MP Phillip Lee, who quit as a justice minister over Brexit and was named by Ms Allen as a potential future defector, was seen visiting Downing Street today.
Ms May's spokesman was unable to give any information about his visit, saying only that the PM often met with MPs.
Left-wing campaign group Momentum has launched a major canvassing drive against MPs who have splintered away from the Labour Party to the newly-formed Independent Group.
The combative response from the Jeremy Corbyn-backing organisation comes as both Labour and the Conservatives remain braced for further walkouts with the turbulence at Westminster showing no sign of abating.
Jeremy Corbyn has finished his meeting with EU officials. Speaking to reporters outside the EU Commission building in Brussels, he said Labour has put forward a "credible" process and made clear his party will "not countenance" a no-deal Brexit.
"The problem is the PM is insisting on her deal which has already been defeated," he says.
Asked about a possible extension - and whether such an issue was discussed with Michel Barnier, he said: "It is obviously a difficult and complex question. The issue is that the British government should be serious about taking a no deal off the table."
He adds the threat of a no-deal Brexit is deeply worrying, and was conveyed to him during the meeting with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator.
Corbyn says he has no other planned or arranged meetings with Ms May, but says he is prepared to do so.
Keir Starmer - the shadow Brexit secretary - standing next to the Labour leader, also accuses the PM of "running down the clock" over Brexit.
