news at nine for today. i will bbc news at nine for today. i will be back with you at westminster from 11 o'clock and that is where victoria derbyshire is now for her programme. good morning. we're live from westminster. frantic efforts are being made by the government to save the prime minister's brexit deal — after she promised to resign if her own mps helped her to pass it. but even this ‘back me then sack me' offer seems to have failed as the northern irish dup said they still won't give the deal their crucial support. are we in the deadlock zone? mrs may's deal seems doomed to defeat, parliament doomed to disagree. has anyone got an idea of how we get out of the brexit fix? by by the way, if you have an answer please let me know! so what now? not one of the alternative brexit options mps voted on last night got

a majority in favour either. so the noes have it. so the noes have it! laughter. i think you might get the picture. theresa may might still bring her own plan back to the commons tomorrow. and mps might get a chance to vote on three most popular alternative plans next week — two would mean a softer brexit, one would lead to another referendum. it is of course a very great disappointment that the house has not chosen to find a majority for any proposition. however, those of us who put this proposal forward as a way of proceeding predicted that we would not this evening reach a majority. and indeed for that very reason put forward a business of the house motion designed to allow the house to reconsider these matters on monday.

commotion. we might be back for round two on monday. the government says the fact mps haven't been able to agree on an alternative means they should now vote for the prime minister's deal. the house has today considered a wide variety of options as a way forward, and it demonstrates there are no easy options here. there is no simple way forward. the results of the process this house has gone through today strengthens our view that the deal the government has negotiated is the best option. three years on, and we still don't know what kind of brexit we'll have — how did we get here? music. the british people want

this to be settled. hello. it's thursday morning, grey cloud at westminster, a few protesters are here already. we need your reaction to what happened in westminster last night. your reaction to everything, where ever you are. we've got so many guests to talk to and voters. we'll be interested to hear what people think. kim on twitter: "i'm a normal middle—aged women doing a minimum wagejob. i don't pretend to understand politics or have much interest but brexit is driving me nuts. we pay these politicians wages, us the tax payers. we get one vote and they get to vote on voting. most politicians are over paid and under worked. millions walked and signed

the petition for a second vote, what gives them the right to decide. we as a country have become a laughing stock not only in europe but the world. stop ruining ourfuture and our country! " david on twitter: "as no changes commanded a majority, then why aren't our mps saying stay as we are, ie in the eu? they daren't say it because the party system of politics prevents it. party before country for far too many mps. leadership ambition before country for the worst of them, perhaps?" bruce on twitter: "omg this is a total farcical pantomime just rip it up and let's leave, surely scepticism over falling off a cliff is dying with reports now that we wouldn't all starve and planes wouldn't fall from the skies". ductas on twitter: "may is so bad and incompetent at negotiating that she managed to screw up her own resignation!" morning! some of the protesters are engaging in conversation. please get in touch —

use the hashtag #victorialive. if you're emailing and are happy for us to contact you — and maybe want to take part in the programme — please include your phone number in your message. so, theresa may has told her mps she won't stick around as prime minister to oversee the next phase of brexit talks. lots of mps had demanded that she make this move and she finally agreed in the hope would give her brexit deal the final push it needed to get over the line. some people have called it a "back me then sack me" strategy. last night, it seemed the plan might be working because a number of mps who have up to now been bitterly opposed to her deal changed their minds and said they would back it after all. boris johnson and jacob rees—mogg were among them. but theresa may still really needs the backing of the northern irish dup — and last night their leader, arlene foster, said they were still adamant they would not back the plan. meanwhile — parliament has failed to come up with an alternative. the most popular alternative options were to hold a second referendum, and to negotiate some form of softer brexit — but there's no clear majority for any form of action. so what next? mps voted on eight potential routes

out of the brexit gridlock — here's a reminder of what happened. order! last night, something very unusual happened in westminster. a group of mps tried to break the brexit deadlock — by wresting control of the house of commons' timetable away from the government so that votes could be held to test which of the options for how brexit should now proceed has the most support. mps put forward their ideas, ranging from cancelling brexit altogether to leaving the eu without a deal, and the speaker of the house picked eight of them to put to the vote. maybe, predictably, none of the options got an overall majority. but which ones had the most support? the top spot goes to a proposal put forward by labour backbenchers which says that any deal with the eu would have to go back to the public in another referendum. it doesn't say exactly what the question on the ballot

paper would be or whether there would be an option to remain in the eu, but it got 268 votes in its favour. that's more support than mrs may's deal got when it was last put to the vote. with 295 mps voting against, it was shy of an overall majority. next on the list was a proposal that the uk should seek to stay inside the eu's customs union. the customs union is an agreement between countries in the eu to charge the same tariffs or taxes on goods coming in from outside the bloc and to apply no taxes on goods moving between them. last night it too was backed by more mps than the prime minister's deal, with 261! mps voting in its favour and 272 voting against. in third place was labour's plan for an alternative to the government's deal. jeremy corbyn ordered his mps to back the plan, which would commit the uk to a much closer economic relationship with the eu after we leave and to keeping

in step with eu laws on workers' rights and environmental regulation. and back it they did, but it wasn't enough to win a majority, with 237 mps voting in favour and 307 voting against. if last night proved nothing else, it showed that no one plan for what to do next seems able to get a majority of mps on side — and that means that there may yet be everything to play for. we can speak now to caroline flint, a labour mp who is backing chuka umunna, the independent group mp, who wants a second referendum — mark francois, a conservative mp and member of the pro—brexit european research group. was last night a success or failure?

it was a shambles. the exercise has been put together by mps who are determined we will never leave the eu. light success or failure?” think it moved us forward. we were never going to get a result that would determine what we were going to do next but this is the first pa rt of to do next but this is the first part of a process where the house of commons expressed a view, we were saying what her favourite option was. the second part is on monday and i'm happy because the people's vote option of referring this back to your viewers polled the highest. we don't eat macro need to whittle down the options further on monday and then make a decision —— we now need to whittle down the options. monday is the knockout stages. the fa ct monday is the knockout stages. the fact there wasn't a majority for any of the eight options is good news for theresa may, isn't it?” of the eight options is good news for theresa may, isn't it? i don't think so because theresa may's deal means we don't leave the eu which is why in the erg we've been so

adamantly against it. not any you're crumbling. what do you make of your collea g u es crumbling. what do you make of your colleagues in this group who have changed their mind since she announced she would down? jacob rees—mogg is the chairman... protester shouts. that he will not vote for the deal if the dup don't vote for the deal if the dup don't vote for the deal if the dup don't vote for it. steve baker isn't voting for it. he gave an emotional speech last night. on the vice chairman and i'm not voting for it. we are solid, not voting for the deal. steve baker called colleagues who are going to vote for it now falls, knaves and cowards. which one is boris johnson? falls, knaves and cowards. which one is boris johnson? i'm sure he can speakfor is boris johnson? i'm sure he can speak for himself. i personally think he has made a strategic error in doing this but that ultimately is a matter for in doing this but that ultimately is a matterfor him. in doing this but that ultimately is a matter for him. why do you think he's done it? you better ask boris that. does he want the topjob? if

he does i'm not sure this is the way to get it. is pretty grotesque and unprincipled. i can't speak for boris, victoria. let him speak for himself. i can speak for me and let me speak plainly. the withdrawal agreement means we do not leave the eu. it's worse than that. the telegraph went through all 585 pages and called it a surrender document. i will never surrender my country to anybody and with respect, what bit of that don't you understand? all of it. you don't understand any of that. let me read you some messages from voters who are frustrated and anxious amongst other things. the house of commons is not fit for purpose. i... off with the whole brexit situation, i've throw my polling away, i'm never going to

vote away. i'm sick to death of the lot of them. i'm now in the position of realising our parliament isn't fit for purpose. you could get five—year—olds to agree on something more easily. i'm just really disappointed in all of them. fair enough? i don't disagree with much of that. our politics is broken. it's built around the two main establishment parties but have completely fractured, they are dysfunctional, divided, not providing leadership and as all the people you've just cited... they aren't impressed with what they saw last night. i don't blame them but that's why... last night. i don't blame them but that's why. .. having last night. i don't blame them but that's why... having these two big parties which are supposed to represent the whole of modern britain is not sustainable, that's why the members of the independent group left because we wanted to create an alternative. i don't give

a monkeys about boris. this shouldn't be about the soap opera in the conservative party, arguments between public schoolboys as to who becomes leader. we've got to make a decision and a good thing is we are beginning to move in that direction. leaving with no deal scored very badly yesterday. the common market option scored badly, customs union did well, people's vote did well, so we can did well, people's vote did well, so we can actually move forward. as a comprehensive schoolboy, can i respond? i'm getting similar e—mails andi respond? i'm getting similar e—mails and i think the reason the country is angry is quite simple. we had a vote, we put it to the people, that leaflet that went through everybody‘s door said this is a once ina everybody‘s door said this is a once in a generation decision. critically, it said, this is your decision. the government will implement what you decide. they decided to leave. some mps will

never accept that and they are trying to use parliamentary tricks to prevent us leaving, and because of that the public who voted to leave are getting more and more angry and will get more angry still. two more men but there are plenty of women on the programme this morning. peter kyle, backing a second vote and wants to see any deal approved by mps put to you. and rob halford, conservative mp who wants the uk to leave the eu but once a closer relationship with the eu. the proposal that you were behind, a softer brexit, common market 2.0, it crashed and burned. it got 188 votes but there was another similar proposal that got 60 odd votes. it's

gone. this is going to happen again on monday. it wasn't in the top three. there were eight options on the table but the most important thing is common market 2.0 delivers the result, keeps us out of the political union and courts of justice and fisheries policy but at the same time gives us access to the single market. many sceptics in the past have supported it. it's a way of uniting moderate eurosceptics and moderate remainers. is it going to get around to? there isn't a majority for a second referendum either. a week ago parliament voted against a second referendum which i am passionately against. 268 votes for a referendum to ratify the deal, putting that deal back to the people. you must be pretty pleased with that. i was encouraged with that because it's still the proposition in parliament that has the most amount of votes. there is

i'io the most amount of votes. there is no other brexit plan, including the prime minister's, that has more votes than what we achieved yesterday. i'm saying that with humility because i think humility has been lacking across the board. i'm trying to figure out and speak to who abstained and who voted against a try and understand what their concerns are. if we'd had some of those people who abstained we would have got over the line. there are lots of people still thinking about this. the basic proposition is the prime minister has a plan, signed off by the eu and british government, but not good enough for the british parliament. that's the problem. what we want to attach is a confirmatory ballot which is binding on parliament. we go back to the public... this was binding. we go back to the public and say it's stuck in parliament, let you have the final say. if the first one

wasn't binding what was the point of it? it wasn't legislatively binding. don't be ridiculous! we will implement what you decide, that went through the door of every person in the uk. this is the problem we have. the minority... 17.4 million is a minority? we are in a parliamentary democracy. the people decided. parliament is sovereign. the people elect a parliament, we don't elect the people. the problem with got... we've got a clash of mandates. people do not want a second referendum. they are very angry, they want us to get brexit over the line. this deadlock which we saw last night, it's time for a general election. a general election doesn't necessarily solve the problem. there

isn't enough votes for anything in parliament right now, that's why we have to find two minorities in parliament, bring them together to form a majority. mark is in a real minority because... elected by the people who voted to leave. do you shout people down. every constituency has the right to be heard equally. i was re—elected since the referendum they talk over each other. is it going to come back for a third time? if we vote for the prime minister's deal, we get the deal over the line. it will get brexit over the line and that's the important thing. this is the final

question because there are so many guests this morning. do you believe the dup when they said last night, we are still not going to vote for it? why would they fold so early? who knows? this is the problem. i'm pa rt who knows? this is the problem. i'm part of a group of ii mps, they are ten. we have to get something that can command a majority. mark, to be honest, what you are ignoring is the 2017 general election. theresa may and your party wouldn't be in this mess if they had a majority for the ha rd mess if they had a majority for the hard brexit they were proposing then, and they lost their majority. we had a clash between the general election and referendum. that's why you're in this mess that you are in now. they talk over each other. no one around the country can hear what you are saying so one around the country can hear what ou are sa in so i'm one around the country can hear what you are saying so i'm going to say thank you.

a final word from steve! thank you, steve. good morning! one viewer says, what base political parties wa nt says, what base political parties want is not us getting anywhere near a polling booth. in a general election all three major parties can expect to be punished for giving full sessions is over the brexit referendum. i've been talking to the labour shadow business secretary rebecca long—bailey this morning. the british chamber of commerce are holding a conference at where they are going to say how cross they are with how westminster is dealing with brexit. here is rebecca long—bailey. here is rebecca long-bailey. what we saw last night was unprecedented in terms of the way parliament deals with its business. we've got a deal

the prime minister can't get through parliament. she tried twice, we don't know whether she's going to be given the opportunity to do it at that time. how will we make sure we don't fall out without a deal? the process started last night is in two stages to try to whittle down a number of options into a few options. what's important is working across parliament to find the areas of commonality. our amendment the customs union, ken clarke's amendment for a customs union are very similar so i think there is scope to find a cross—party consensus. scope to find a cross—party consensus. so, scope to find a cross—party consensus. so, you scope to find a cross—party consensus. so, you need a majority for one of those and then are you saying attach that to the withdrawal agreement? i think there can be twea ks agreement? i think there can be tweaks made to the withdrawal agreement, and i'm certain if theresa may went back to the eu and said this is what parliament wants,

these are the changes we need to see, that she would be able to secure support. the problem we've got is that she keeps going backwards and forwards to the eu saying she's got a problem but with no option or answer as to how it will be sorted out. i don't know what needs to be changed or what the direction of the british parliament is going to be. you can't tweak the withdrawal agreement because have said no. you can only tweak the political declaration step yellow they said they can't tweak it without any notification as to what needs to change. i make the point theresa may can't keep going to the eu and expecting them to sort out their political problems. she said these are the changes that need to be made, they would need to have a discussion about that. she would have to go for a longer extension. some of the discussions we've been having suggest that, for example, if the labour pa rty‘s having suggest that, for example, if the labour party's plan was adopted it could be turned around quickly and there would be quite a lot of

support for that option. by may the 22nd? are you being realistic?m terms of the conversations we've been having, the changes we need to see could be turned around within a short period of time. by may the 22nd? we might know that until we have an agreed deal. isn't that a fa ntasy? have an agreed deal. isn't that a fantasy? i don't think so. we are at a critical stage where we have to find compromises within parliament to show the eu we can agree around a particular form of to show the eu we can agree around a particularform of deal. to show the eu we can agree around a particular form of deal. if not, a general election to the deadlock? we've got to have buy in from the government, they have to agree to work towards a compromise and we aren't seeing that. a general election? unfortunately, that might be the only way to break the deadlock. where the labour party campaignfora deadlock. where the labour party campaign for a second referendum or we re campaign for a second referendum or were to campaign for a brexit deal but a different deal to mrs may? certainly, we would have a manifesto

process. we would have a meeting with all of our stakeholders, trade unions and various members to determine what goes in the ma nifesto. determine what goes in the manifesto. based on our current position, our priority is to get a deal that provides economic... that would disappoint a lot of... and to keep all options on the table to avoid a damaging no—deal brexit which includes campaigning for a public vote if required. businesses are tearing out their hair, the british chambers of commerce will say today, westminster, we are frustrated and angry, have let british business down. do you take some responsibility?” british business down. do you take some responsibility? i really wish we we re some responsibility? i really wish we were having the about what form of brexit parliament would like to see two years ago. do you take some responsibility? i think what needs to happen now, and this is when the spotlight is on politicians, is

we've got to make compromises and work pragmatically to find a deal. there is no way around this. people can't be big headed, we are going to have to find compromises we can work around. definitely not mrs may's deal if it comes back for a third time? we know that the prime minister's party doesn't agree with her deal so that is dead in the water in el. thank you. i've had an e—mail that says, does borisjohnson think i've had an e—mail that says, does boris johnson think we i've had an e—mail that says, does borisjohnson think we are all stupid? now he sees the potential to become leader he is prepared to back her deal. revoke article 50 now but put it back to the people. another viewer says, the purpose of parliament is to reconcile differing views, we are divided. that does not mean the 48% should be ignored. rather, it means parliament must square the circle and currently they are failing us and the country and i despair. another viewer says, parliament is a house of hypocrisy,

this argument about those not old enough to vote to have their future affected is ridiculous. i wasn't old enough to vote to join the common market. the deadlock is simply about those who want to remain trying to scupper the outcome of a democratic vote. they should be ashamed. the conservative mp steve brine — who resigned as health minister on monday night, although it seems like weeks ago — so that he could vote in favour of parliament getting to choose other potential brexit options. according to our viewer, you should be ashamed of yourself. ok. you're clearly not. its not about me. some people across the country think that about you and your colleagues. some of those comments i agree with. the 48% comment, yes, i regret the result of the referendum but i respect it. respecting the result doesn't mean the winner takes it all, especially when it's that close. when we went wrong from the

start wasn't recognising that and also trying to defy political gravity after the 2017 general election. this place works when you've got a majority. when you've got a strong executive this place works, when you don't, you have to do things differently. the reason i left government was because i wanted to do things differently. we can't keep doing the same thing. mrs thatcher brought down over the issue of europe of course. mrs may took a gamble offering her head on a plate. and it's failed. we'll see about that. it's a curious thing. boris johnson, i mean, you have this heartfelt deep held belief that the deal is wrong but then because someone says they will resign and create a someone says they will resign and create a vacancy someone says they will resign and create a vacancy that you want, it's all 0k. create a vacancy that you want, it's all ok. a create a vacancy that you want, it's all 0k. a strange set of priorities to me. it's sad the prime minister has had to offer herjob to the erg

but the way she did it yesterday was very dignified and as usual with her she's putting the country first. how did she sing? emotional. she doesn't really cry, did she? she didn't cry but she said she didn't come into politics to talk about europe. it's not the thing that gets me