you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh, here at westminster. breaking news. in the last few moments, the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has just moments, the brexit secretary, dominic raab, hasjust resigned as theresa may prepares to address the commons over her brexit agreement. in brussels, eu leaders confirm they'll meet on 25th november to finalise terms for britain's departure. let me say this to our british friends. as much as i am sad to see you leave, i will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible both for you and for us. we'll be bringing you all the developments on this story here at westminster. many developments no doubt this morning as well as in europe and around the country. hello. good morning and welcome to

bbc news at nine. let me recap the breaking news of the last few moments for you. the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has resigned. this is seismic news for theresa may as she prepares to address the commons about that draft deal, draft agreement, which was signed off by her cabinet, including dominic raab only just signed off by her cabinet, including dominic raab onlyjust yesterday evening, less than 2a hours old. i think we can show you a couple of weeks from dominic raab now. —— tweets. he has been saying he can't support an indefinite backstop arrangements. we can talk to our political editor

laura kuenssberg now. shejoined me on the phone. this is seismic news for theresa may, isn't it? it is, absolutely. in the last 2a hours, there has been chatting about who might go if anybody and i have got to say from late last night there was complete silence from dominic raab‘s team about the deal and how the cabinet meeting went. there was going to be an announcement at ten o'clock and then it moved to 9am. he is not just one o'clock and then it moved to 9am. he is notjust one member of the cabinet unhappy with the deal but through the night he has been trying to make this work. dominic raab as being a person for the last few

months who has been trying to make this work month after month. what about other brexiteers? penny mordaunt, people unhappy about the deal yesterday, how can they stay on if the man who was in charge of the policy has decided he cannot in all conscience support the policy? this really changes things. the brexit secretary has now resigned because he didn't like the outcome of his own negotiations, effectively. do you think this is going to embolden the brexiteers or is it going to make other mps rally round the prime minister? i suspect that it will probably do both. people on the remain side of the argument will think actually this is a time to double down and protect the prime minister from what double down and protect the prime ministerfrom what some double down and protect the prime minister from what some people say is the behaviour of brexiteers. one former minister said to me that brexiteers are like moths in a flame. when they get too close to things they might get burned and they fly away. brexiteers doubting

what to do may take the judgment on this dealfrom dominic raab what to do may take the judgment on this deal from dominic raab as a sign that it is time to pull the plug. it is not clear how the date will unfold, but it is not impossible that this is the piece in the puzzle that actually causes everything to fall apart. tory brexiteers have been urging theresa may to resign. we don't know how long this can go on. for dominic raab to go, and one of the lesser—known ministers, it is a very serious danger. theresa may will be on herfeet in serious danger. theresa may will be on her feet in the serious danger. theresa may will be on herfeet in the house serious danger. theresa may will be on her feet in the house of commons at around on her feet in the house of commons ataround 10:30am. on her feet in the house of commons at around 10:30am. do we even know if that will still go ahead? we don't. i think if the prime minister was not to arrive for her statement, that would be quite something. theresa may's habit has always been to plough on regardless, to keep going. that is why her supporters

single her out for resilience and somebody deserving of our respect. but critics say she carries on and is not aware of how much unhappiness and mistrust that is around the place. if the prime minister was to renege on the promise of speaking to mps this morning, that would send a strong signal that even she thinks the game might be up. just to recap for any viewersjoining the game might be up. just to recap for any viewers joining us the game might be up. just to recap for any viewersjoining us right now. the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has just announced now. the brexit secretary, dominic raab, hasjust announced in now. the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has just announced in the last few minutes that he is resigning. do you have any sense as to why, if he was thinking about it, according to your sources, if you are thinking about going yesterday, why has he waited until this morning? what has shifted in those few hours? waited until this morning? what has shifted in those few hour57m waited until this morning? what has shifted in those few hours? it is a huge decision for any cabinet minister. they have got to weigh up not just the minister. they have got to weigh up notjust the policy but minister. they have got to weigh up not just the policy but also minister. they have got to weigh up notjust the policy but also their own political calculations and frankly dominic raab is somebody with ambition. he is somebody who put himself forward for the next

tory leadership contest as and when it might happen. and there was the things that emerged late last night from the european commission and numberio, so from the european commission and number 10, so maybe he hadn't made up number 10, so maybe he hadn't made up his mind, maybe they wanted to talk to each other and perhaps the brexiteers will be acting as a group this morning. it is not impossible that we will see two or three others following in a coordinated way out the door. i have no confirmation that that will happen but it is not impossible and it wouldn't be surprising, particularly esther mcvey and penny mordaunt, the international development secretary. we know they have been deeply unhappy with the proposal and we know both of them made the claim in cabinet yesterday. how can they stay on and stand for this deal in public after dominic raab has ripped the

plaster off? laura kuenssberg, how political editor, thank you very much for that and with us is our visited political editor, norman smith. this changes everything, doesn't it? i have just got off the blower from one of the key figures on hard brexit side and he believes it isa on hard brexit side and he believes it is a game changer and they are now texting other ministers, penny mordaunt, esther mcvey, saying that dominic raab has gone so what are you going to do now? the pressure being massively cranked up on other cabinet ministers to try and force them to follow dominic raab. there are two things about dominic raab's resignation. firstly, who he is, the brexit secretary, the man who has got to do the deal saying he can't put up with it. but secondly whether his decision leads to a domino effect and we now get a cavalcade of resignations? which means a temporary victory mrs may seems to have won last night when she by and large held it altogether and nobody walked out the door, yes there was

unhappiness, but everybody was on board, whether that now falls apart and maybe dominic raab's departure triggers the break—up of the cabinet. that would be colossal. we are not there yet. we have got to see how they respond. maybe they still hunker on down. the fact that dominic raab, the man who has been going to and fro with michel barnier, says it is not good enough, and that puts massive pressure on the other brexiteers in the cabinet and we now know that leading members of the erg run to them saying you must quit. we will be talking to the leader of the erg, and marie morris, injusta leader of the erg, and marie morris, injust a moment. leader of the erg, and marie morris, injusta moment. dominic leader of the erg, and marie morris, injust a moment. dominic raab saying the backstop amounted to customs union obligations and he can't reconcile the terms of the deal with the promises made in the conservative manifesto. of all the members of the cabinet who could have gone, his departure is undoubtedly the most significant,

isn't it? i think it is. to lose one brexit secretary was clearly bad, when david davis webb. to two suggests that mrs may is charting her own course on brexit. —— when david davis went, and now two, it suggests that mrs may starting their own course on brexit. the civil servant ollie morris is putting together a package which the brexit secretary cannot sign up to. why dominic raab matters is because he isa dominic raab matters is because he is a eurosceptic brexiteer and he had the confidence of the slightly suspicious brexiteer backbenchers, if you like. losing him sends a signal to them that this deal is really not something they can or should accept. and it is interesting. again and again we have come back to this issue of the northern ireland backstop. when you look at their withdrawal, the text of the agreement published last

night, yes, there is no separate northern ireland backstop but still there is no clear exit mechanism and we are still dependent on an agreement with the eu and no time limit on staying within the customs arrangement. dominic raab has resigned over a deal he has been intimately involved with negotiating himself. does this say more about himself. does this say more about him and the people who really want britain to leave the eu or does it say more about the prime minister?” think it probably says the bit about both, to be honest. i don't think in any way dominic raab would have taken this step lightly. yes, he is a very committed brexiteer, but he has plugged away at trying to sell the package to mps. again and again in the commons he has had a tough time but he had stuck at it. he knows that quite possibly he is opening up a political crisis for

the prime minister. if the deal now begins to shudder and free, you begins to shudder and free, you begin to move more towards an ideal outcome, and there are many people who think that would have profound consequences for the british economy. “— consequences for the british economy. —— no deal outcome. this is not a casual step. it is a momentous decision from dominic raab and he will know the damage he is doing to the prime minister, just an hour before she has got to make that statement to mps. i think her team thought she would be going into the commons on the front foot. she kept the cabinets together. there was a sense of momentum building up and that has been brought to a shuddering halt. she goes into the commons now without the brexit secretary sitting beside her. it will be mightily interesting the next time we hear from the likes of esther mcvey and penny mordaunt and other key brexiteers in the cabinet. we are going to hearfrom iain duncan smith who joined me we are going to hearfrom iain duncan smith whojoined me on we are going to hearfrom iain duncan smith who joined me on the phone now. thank you for your time this morning. norman smithjust

saying that this departure, this resignation by dominic raab, has opened up a political crisis for theresa may. that is undoubtedly the case, isn't it? yes, i have major misgivings about this and i am ploughing through these 500 pages, but the very man who is the negotiator, for him to resign and say he doesn't think it is a good deal, i think it's devastating. it is devastated because he has been aware of all of these things and he has been raising these alarm bells with the prime minister, but it sounds like he has been ignored, because otherwise i suspect we would not be in this place. the biggest problem with this deal, which ijust can't see how the government will get over, is that we are locking ourselves into a perpetual customs union in the hands of the eu in a

way where we can get out of nato and out of the un but apparently we can't get out of the customs union agreement unless the eu agrees that we shall leave, and it is therefore at their behest. i think this is the single biggest stumbling block for the prime minister. we have given away the power to beat the sovereign nation that we said we were leaving for. —— be the sovereign nation. dominic raab is the seventh minister to resign over brexit sincejune last year, i believe i am correct in saying. how many more do you think will go today? i don't know. shailesh vara, the other minister, went this morning, i don't know if you saw that. a junior minister. but he is very mainstream, not a hard and brexiteer or hardened remainer, he isa and brexiteer or hardened remainer, he is a classic member of the middle ground of people who look at this. we recognise the difficulties of

making a deal, but the problem is that we have given away the most critical part of our ability to negotiate a trade deal. what we are now left with is the european union will be in no hurry whatsoever to do a deal with us for the very simple reason that they have is captive in the customs union for as long as they wish to have us there. that means they will let the negotiations go on and on and on and we will find ourselves in the worst of all worlds, which is in the customs union but with no say about its rules and regulations or what happens in terms of its interpretation. the details of the future relationship have still got to be worked out, don't they? yes, but the future relationship is about the trade deal. what we have said in this deal, and i havejust seen it in the 500 pages, what this deal says that until we arrive at that trade deal, we will stay in the customs union, and northern ireland will have to stay in the customs

union and the single market, which causes real problems in the union. and we don't have the abilityjust to leave, which is bizarre really for a sovereign nation that we can't leave of our own accord. that is where the problem arises. if you are brussels, you are rubbing your hands saying, you know what? we can make the uk suffer by keeping them in the customs union as long as possible until they realise this is actually a disaster. that is what they are playing at the moment. i think that is why dominic raab has gone. norman is why dominic raab has gone. norman is absolutely right. the reality is that i am afraid this deal looks very dodgy. you think dominic raab has gone because he must have been ignored in cabinet. would you now support a leadership challenge against theresa may and do you think she should go? i have personally never agreed about the leadership challenge because i have always felt we needed to make the changes to the agreement, not to the leadership,

and it is very complicated. others however, i have got to say, take a very different view, so are not really the person to tell you what should happen to her. i wanted to change her mind but many other collea g u es change her mind but many other colleagues have decided, i understand it, that that may be no longer viable. iain duncan smith, former conservative leader, thank you for your time. well with me now is anne marie morris, conservative mp for newton abbot and a member of the european research group. thank you for coming to talk to me. you said last night that you believed you had the 48 letters that would allow a vote of no confidence in theresa may to be triggered. can you serve that up this morning? do you serve that up this morning? do you have a 48? i said that i believe that graham brady has the 48. of course, the chair of the 1922 backbench committee. he is a man of

great confidentiality so my basis is what i hear in the tearoom and what people tell me about the letters that have gone in. the one thing that have gone in. the one thing that will be a bit of a challenge if some of those letters have gone in ona some of those letters have gone in on a conditional basis. mps have said you can use this letter but only when i say so. they key is what has happened yesterday and the deal which has now gone through cabinet enough to trigger the letters or will it be when we go to parliament, if it lasts that long? then when the deal doesn't go through parliament, because i don't believe it will, is that the time that there will be a trigger? or the actions of dominic raab this morning? indeed. i must admiti raab this morning? indeed. i must admit i am impressed with dominic and he is a man of conscience who i have known for some time. i can't say i am surprised. it was right for him to sleep on it. some might say why did he go the whole mile? i think it is important to sleep on these things and think

about the right thing to do because the consequences of what he has done are the consequences of what he has done a re clearly the consequences of what he has done are clearly significant. he did the right thing. a man of principle. iain duncan smith thinks only to be changes to the agreement and not the leadership of the conservative party. when you look at a government in difficulty it is usually about leadership, which is the most fundamental thing for any organisation, public or private, to succeed. my view is that theresa has many qualities and determination is definitely one of them but now is not the time for her as leader. we know that every leader has her cell by date. maggie thatcher, great leader, but there was a time when everybody realised she was not great. winston churchill, great for war, not for peacetime. but if she goes, there are many scenarios that could be chaotic for this country. at the end of the day, you have got to balance up as an mp what you think will be in the best interests of the country based on all the evidence that you have. i believe the consequence, which i agree will bea bumpy the consequence, which i agree will be a bumpy ride while a leader is

chosen, and it is very close, i would agree, to brexit, but if we ta ke would agree, to brexit, but if we take the view that this deal is the wrong one and it will not go through, then we need a leader who can geta through, then we need a leader who can get a good result. and no deal, which is realistically the only deal left and there is no time for canada,is left and there is no time for canada, is going to be something thatis canada, is going to be something that is the right way forward. i sit on the public accounts committee and i have listened to report on different departments about their readiness, and while there are many things that are not ready, as we said in our report, but i am convinced that we would survive no deal. thank you very much. we are just hearing that the prime minister's 10:30am address to the commons is going ahead. in the wake of this news breaking this morning that the brexit secretary dominic raab has resigned. let's go to brussels now and get reaction from there from our reporter adam fleming. any response to this news?

no, not yet. i think people will be keeping an eye on what happens in westminster quite intensely, because they know that the next big hurdle this dealfaces is they know that the next big hurdle this deal faces is that meaningful vote in parliament. if mps don't back the withdrawal agreement and political declaration, there is no brexit deal, although nobody will acknowledge that publicly. michel barnier, the chief negotiator, was asked about it last night and he just called on all sides at both levels to act responsibly. we'll dominic raab be missed? it is interesting to chart his reputation in brussels. when he took overfrom david davis, people said, wow, a former lawyer who likes to get into the detail and he wants to go to long meetings where they go through the actual text of what has been negotiated, but over time that image faded and he became a very rare visitor here. the last time he came to brussels was that sunday when eu

negotiators thought they had a deal that was saleable and dominic raab was sent here to say sorry, go back to the drawing board, it will not wash in westminster. his last visit to brussels was not particularly auspicious. the truth is that the superstar of the british negotiating tea m superstar of the british negotiating team was never david davis and it was never dominic raab. it was a civil servant called poly robins, the prime minister's chief europe adviser, her sherpa, who has spent hundreds of hours in that building negotiating this document. what is interesting is that dominic raab must have known a lot of the stuff in there and must have lived with it for a while, but now it is in black and white and government policy and it will be voted on in parliament, he can't live with it. thank you. adam fleming in brussels. the value of the pound is reacting badly to

this news. with me now is sir keir starmer, the shadow brexit secretary. good morning to you. there were rumours that this might happen but nonetheless, does it come as any politician as a bit of a shock to learn that the brexit secretary has gone? it is a shocking development. it is clear the prime minister did not have the backing of the cabinet yesterday. this is the second brexit secretary who has now resigned so i cannot overstate the seriousness of the situation the prime minister now finds itself in. i don't think that she should now simply carry on saying nothing has changed. she has got to reflect on this. she hasn't got the backing of her party or the cabinet and he needs to do what we have been saying she should have done all along which is to reach to the majority in parliament. parliamentarians now need to take ownership of this. as we try to get our heads around this news, what do you think the possible

implications are for the process, the process that we thought might be happening yesterday, which may be affected by this? it will be affected by this? it will be affected by this? it will be affected by this. if you lose one of your cabinet members, that is bad enough. you lose your brexit secretary, the person who has been pa rt secretary, the person who has been part of negotiations at this critical point, that is really serious. it means you do have to reflect long and hard because the likelihood now of this deal being presented to parliament and going through has gone down again, and therefore i do think the prime minister needs to reflect on this. her responding by saying nothing has changed is really not going to watch. what about the line yesterday that it watch. what about the line yesterday thatitis watch. what about the line yesterday that it is heard deal or no deal or no brexit? what changes with that? labour and the lib dems and others have been saying there are other ways apart from the choices that theresa may is setting out. that has a lwa ys theresa may is setting out. that has always been a false choice. as we see are developing this morning, is the prime minister really saying

that we, labour, orany the prime minister really saying that we, labour, or any mp, the prime minister really saying that we, labour, orany mp, must vote for the deal notwithstanding that the brexit secretary will presumably vote against it and other ex—members of the cabinet will vote against it and she hasn't got support for it? to say i know it is a deal that does not command support and confidence on my own side, but please vote for it because the alternative is even worse. to arrive at this point at the end of negotiations is about as bad as it could possibly get. to recap on what dominic raab was saying, you cannot reconcile the terms of the deal with promises made in the conservative ma nifesto promises made in the conservative manifesto and he can't support an indefinite backstop. those other key lines from him this morning. what do you think that means for the prospect of no deal emerging from all of this? i think no deal would bea all of this? i think no deal would be a catastrophic ending and it certainly wouldn't deal with the situation in northern ireland, because if you have no deal, you have no arrangements for the board in northern ireland, which means we can't have this false choice between

a bad deal and even worse. that is why what needs to happen now is that the prime minister needs to listen to parliament. in parliament there has always been a consensus for a strong economic relationship with a customs union and single market arrangement, and the prime minister has always put that away and said i will do it my way and she needs to reflect a nd will do it my way and she needs to reflect and listen now. does it galvanise ministers who would accept the no deal option or doesn't galvanise the opposite, those that would avoid no deal at all costs and another way needs to be found?” think it galvanises the second group, which is that there will be a growing majority in parliament who will be prepared to say we will not countenance no deal. there has got to bea countenance no deal. there has got to be a third alternative to this and it has got to be found in parliament. we can't be presented with a false choice and we cannot leave with no deal. what are the other alternatives? rumours about theresa may's future as well and

members of the erg group saying that they've thought there were 48 letters with the 1922 conservative backbench committee which would allow a vote of no—confidence to be triggered, and some of those were conditional letters. anne—marie morris from erg was just me that. what do you think is the best thing for this country now? for theresa may to go or for her to for this country now? for theresa may to go orfor her to be for this country now? for theresa may to go or for her to be allowed to continue? in a sense the difficulty is this. whether it is theresa may or is another leader of the conservative party, the numbers don't change. the divisions are there in the conservative party and they are very deep. even if you replaced theresa may with another individual, that doesn't affect the numbers because there is no majority for the approaches they are putting forward. the division of weakness is because they have been divided on europe for 30 years and the snap election last year meant they have not got a working majority, and whoever comes in at

whatever stage has got to inherit the same problem. other divisions narrowing in your own party? we know there are a lot of different views in labouras there are a lot of different views in labour as well. do you think that jeremy corbyn is now prepared more overtly to support another vote? jeremy corbyn is now prepared more overtly to support another vote 7m the labour party there are different views, and in every family there are different views. what we try to do in our party conference was agree a position that we could all support, and we did that, which was to look at the deal when we got it, which was yesterday and today, and vote against it if it is not good enough, and it is not. if it goes down, there really ought to be a general election but that doesn't happen, all options need to be the table, including preparing for a public vote. you are preparing for a public vote. you are preparing for the election possibility? that is our road map and we are all signed up to it, jeremy corbyn, myself, and the labour party, because that is what we reached at

the labour party conference. thank you. the pound is down 1% against the dollar and the euro, as i was mentioning. now some reaction to that news this morning of the brexit secretary's resignation. this tweet: we have heard that the dup do not support the draft withdrawal deal and nigel dodds, the party leader at westminster has said: dominic raab is the seventh minister to resign over brexit since june. is the seventh minister to resign over brexit sincejune. it is possible departure was talked about yesterday. —— his possible departure was talked about yesterday but he stuck with the cabinet and he came out with theresa may yesterday, as you may have seen, and she said her cabinet was backing her and this morning much of that has changed. it is time now for the victoria derbyshire programme. more here soon. hello it's thursday, it's 9.30am, i'm victoria derbyshire.

good morning. the brexit secretary dominic raab has just resigned — the first cabinet casualty since theresa may announced her draft withdrawal agreement last night and said the cabinet had backed it. i believe that what i ow to this country is to take decisions that are in the national interest, and i firmly believe, with my head and my heart, that this is a decision which is in the best interests of our entire united kingdom. after dominic raab quits, will other cabinet ministers follow? and all that spell disaster for mrs may's brexit deal? we've brought together voters from all over the country — to see what they think of mrs may's deal.