you're watching bbc newsroom live with me joanna gosling. the headlines. theresa may is continuing to try to gain support for her brexit deal. she's promised to quit as prime minister if the withdrawl agreement is approved. meanwhile, none of eight alternative brexit proposals brought by mps secured the backing of parliament after a series of commons votes last night. the british chamber of commerce says brexit is doing "real world damage" and they've warned mps to stop "chasing rainbows" when it comes to breaking the deadlock. fallout from the grefnell tower fire could have contiminated the soil surrounding it. a report highlights fears of an increased risk of cancer and respiratory problems. the clear—up continues two weeks since a devastating cyclone hit parts of southern africa. the death toll is still rising.

a 65—year—old british woman who doesn't feel pain is one ofjust two known cases in the world. she only found out recently when she didn't need painkillers after major surgery. good morning. i'm annita mcveigh at westminster where the government is intensifying efforts to rescue theresa may's brexit deal after a number of conservative backbenchers and the dup said they wouldn't support it. it comes despite the prime minister's pledge to tory mps that she'll quit if the withdrawal agreement is backed. into further disarray last night after mps rejected all eight alternatives to mrs may's deal. our political correspondent,

alex forsyth reports. once again, the prime minister was in parliament yesterday trying to sell her brexit plan and with so many of her mps set against it, she made one last big pitch to win them round. at a meeting inside parliament, she said she would quit if they backed her brexit deal, making way for someone else to take over the second stage of talks, which did convince some tories. with the prime minister saying what she said, the majority in that room see this now as the best way to get us out and to deal with it in the future. i am encouraged that she has accepted we should have a new leader for that second stage when it comes so i think i will now vote for the agreement. but with views on brexit so entrenched, will it be enough? other tories say they still won't back her deal and crucially it didn't get northern ireland's dup onboard. we wanted to get a deal. a deal that worked for the whole of the united kingdom, a deal that worked for northern ireland, but now we're in a situation

where we can't sign up to the withdrawal agreement and it's all because the prime minister decided to go for that backstop. meanwhile, mps were debating alternatives to theresa may's plan but on eight options, they could not agree on any one. 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. many don't agree with that and say other options did prove popular. they'll debate them again on monday. leaving with a customs union or referring this back to the people with the option to remain, those are really the two most popular options. you would think perhaps those are the ones that should go forward forjudgement on monday. for now, though, parliament is still deadlocked, struggling to agree any way forward. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. let's take a closer look at the results of all of last night's votes

which, remember, aren't binding on the government. and let's just focus on the couple of votes that were the closest. the fourth on the list is former conservative chanellor kenneth clarke's proposal for a customs union — which was nine votes short of securing a majority. and the penultimate vote was proposed by former cabinet minister margaret beckett for a confirmatory referendum on the government's withdawal bill. it was the most supported, attracting the support of 268 mps, but would have needed 28 more back it to secure a majority in the house of commons. so, following last night's votes in the commons and theresa may's offer to quit if her deal passes, what happens next? well, there is now a possibility that the prime minister will try to hold a third vote on her deal, potentially tomorrow, 29th march.

if she fails, parliament will come back on monday, april 1st, to debate further options, but it's worth remembering that no single option has yet drawn any majority support so far. if mrs may can't get her deal through, the uk has until april 12th to find a way forward for eu leaders to consider. if it does get support, britain will then leave the eu on may 22nd. if the prime minister keeps to her word this would lead to a leadership contest, with a new pm installed in number 10 by the summer. let's discuss this with our assistant political editor, norman smith. norman, where to begin? it start with theresa may's attempt to get mps to vote on her deal for a third time. is that going to happen, do

you calculate? i don't think it is, no. this morning i was saying to some people, it doesn't look like we will have the meaningful vote tomorrow. am i fair enough to speculate about that? they said, yes. i do get that meaningful vote three probably won't happen tomorrow because lets be realistic if it doesn't happen tomorrow, theresa may is looking at a defeat because the dup are probably not going to change their position in the space of 2a hours, never mind the principled opposition to the idea of a backstop. the hardliners have locked themselves in a room and chucked away the key so it's a never—never situation for the erg. and we have new voices coming in from dominic rab and his ilk. he seems to be taking a very hard line saying, we need to go back to the eu and get legally binding changes to the backstop and if we don't do that, there will be a no deal. this

is what he said. well, i thought the prime minister behaved with great dignity last night. obviously all the indicitive votes were voted down by mps and at the same time the speaker has made clear that nothing that has been presented to the house of commons that hasn't changed can come back again so i think this is a time for pragmatism, realism — and i know the discussions with the dup and others are proceeding at home. one thing i would like to see us do is go back to the eu, keep the arm of friendship open, explain that there is still a time for an exchange of letters providing a legally binding exit from the backstop and that the same time, and i know a lot of people will say the eu just won't move and that has been treated as a sort of fixture of these negotiations rather than being tested but if they still don't move i think we should still have sensible conversations over the two weeks we have left over the suite of arrangements that can be made to mitigate any potential damage on either side, to europeanjobs and livelihoods but also to uk jobs and livelihoods. if we can do this in the spirit of realism and pragmatism, we will find a way through. thanks.

dominic raab. if it is not so—called meaningful vote three tomorrow, is it going to happen at all? and also talk to us about what might happen with those indicative votes from last night. that is the alternative scenario, albeit it hardly begun in a great fa nfa re albeit it hardly begun in a great fanfare of triumph because we had deadlock in parliament last night. supporters of the indicative votes say, give us time and we will reach a consensus on monday. it is possible you may get a majority for a customs union option, onlyjust. if you are going to drive it through parliament you need real momentum and you need a solid block of enthusiasm and votes behind the option and there clearly isn't any in parliament. i suspect theresa may will think of hunkering down across the weekend, come back on monday and turn around to mps and say, at least we got a deal which is good to go which the eu is happy with and means

we can leave on april the 11th. and hope that is a sort of, i don't know, shock therapy to those who are stalling. we had that a bit from michael gove this morning, urging mps to come around to the deal. the single most important thing that every mp needs to concentrate on is making sure that we deliver on the mandate to leave the european union. 17.4 million people asked us to leave the european union. we now have a chance to make sure that we do. that's why everyone should support the prime minister's deal. should she go if she doesn't win it? would you consider running for leader? let's imagine a scenario where a meaningful three vote happens and it doesn't get passed and the commons perhaps whittles down a view favourites from last night's indicative votes and votes on them again that there is no charity. what sort of territory are we heading into there? are we heading into

general election, for example? i think first of all we are adding to it no deal. do not forget, april the 12th is a deadline and if we do not have a plan or a deal then we are living without an agreement. if mrs may can't get a deal through, we have to have a plan. what plan that we have? that is where a general election comes into sight because presumably if theresa may was to say i can't get the deal through, parliament can't make up its mind and we need to break the deadlock in and we need to break the deadlock in a general election, that would enable theresa may to get a longer extension. that is hugely problematic because she has repeatedly said i'm not going beyond may 22. presumably if we had a general election all that will come into play. it is so messy. yesterday we were talking a little bit about the tactics and strategy behind these indicative votes, and what is the thought that theresa may could go and potentially be replaced by a

conservative leader who is a more ardent brexiteer? what impact would that have on labour mps and how they