hello, you are watching bbc news, i am clive myrie. in the last few minutes, the prime minister has been speaking in downing street. she announced plans to seek a further extension to britain's departure from the european union and offered to sit down with the leader of the labour party to formulate a deal that both sides we are expecting a statement from in parliament could agree to. the british prime minister theresa she said if it wasn't possible to agree, may after her cabinet met for more they could choose a series than nine hours to decide what to do about brexit. they are deeply split of options to put to parliament. but so are mps who on monday lets hear that statement in full. themselves failed to negotiate an alternative plan. a cross—party i have come from chairing seven group are drawing up a draft law hours of cabinet meetings that would commit to asking the to find a way out of the impasse, one that can deliver the brexit european union for more time. as things stand, britain will leave the eu injust ten days, if nothing happens. that is a scenario that the eu chief negotiator for brexit is looking more and more likely. and if nothing changes, of course if there is no breakthrough coming out of

number ten, the is no breakthrough coming out of numberten, the uk is no breakthrough coming out of number ten, the uk will leave the eu in ten days' time. what are the possible options? naomi is still with us. ministers have been inside number ten downing st since 9am. it is 6pm uk time. that's an astonishing length of time. do you think they've been able to reach agreement? any indications yet? not so agreement? any indications yet? not so far but they have had their mobile phones taken away. the reason is that cabinet has become very lea ky over is that cabinet has become very leaky over the last few weeks. they've been meeting in the morning at more or less straightaway the details have appeared on twitter or newspaper websites. for that reason they've had mobile phones confiscated. rarely the moment of reckoning now is upon us because i don't think theresa may can carry on trying to keep both wings of her cabinet together. as you rightly

point out, the default is that britain leaves on the 12th of april. that means she's going to have to very soon make a decision about which path she wants to take or risk again that parliament ends up nudging her in the direction it wa nts to nudging her in the direction it wants to see britain going. important on the phone is question because it sort of means they can't call or text or get any indication from theirfactions. this place has broken into tribes, hasn't it? yes, not just broken into tribes, hasn't it? yes, notjust in the tory party but also the labour party. brexit has been described as being like a culture war in british politics, cutting across the normal tribal divides. it means we have to a after day of a failure to explain or present to the british people a plan forward because people have been gaming it, backing different options, hoping that there is will emerge as the best. it's been difficult for any

consensus to come out of this. we are watching the cameras in downing street because we are expecting a possible statement from the prime minister. we know that ministers have been in there since 9am. it is just gone 6pm here in london. the weather has been very mixed, very stormy, reflecting a huge array of opinions on brexit. it feels like a critical moment on the brexit question. because next week the uk is due to leave the eu with no deal. that is the default position, on april the 12th the uk will end up leaving if the government cannot come up with a plan. it can only get an extension to that date from the eu if it has a plan going forward. speculation about whether theresa may is going to put her vote

alongside the other softer brexit options, perhaps to a run—off vote to the commons in the next few days. speculation about whether she'd call a general election, whether she'd call a second referendum. nothing is clear at the moment but we know that cabinet ministers have been hold—up in there for a very long time. without phones they haven't been able to call their factions to ask whether you can support this or that. that's crucial because she's trying to bind in her cabinet and stop one side or another leaving because it could lead to the colla pse because it could lead to the collapse of the government. because it could lead to the collapse of the governmentm because it could lead to the collapse of the government. it would be very surprisingly she managed to get through this without some high—profile resignations of some kind because within cabinet you have the two different wings of the conservative party. she's done that intentionally since she became prime minister, to bind everyone into whatever decisions are made. but now we are coming to the crunch. we've

had people like amber rudd, david gauke, greg hands, philip hammond, suggesting that if they feel unhappy with the direction britain is taking, they may consider quitting and likewise there are brexiteers like penny mordaunt, liam fox, on the other when, who have indicated that they will get very impatient if she plumps for a second referendum, which they don't want to see. we are looking, people waiting at the podium set up in downing street. that is an indication that we are going to get a statement from the prime minister. it comes as one mp, nick boles, has given an interview to the bbc sewing the prime minister has mismanaged and misunderstood brexit by only trying to please the conservative party and never trying to co nstru ct conservative party and never trying to construct a plan for the whole country. he said that the party is gripped ina

country. he said that the party is gripped in a combination of cowardice from remainers and dogma from brexiteers. can theresa may come up with a plan that can unite the two factions without losing ministers? if she loses ministers does it spelt really a potential break—up of the conservatives?m depends whether she loses major ministers of state. if she loses her chancellor that would be very serious indeed. others she might be able to get by without them and have able to get by without them and have a reshuffle. she has lost 15 ministers in her premiership, so she has survived a lot to get to this point. the question is, the choices have to be made and the cabinet is going to be pulled one way or the other. here we go,. let's nestling. —— listen in. other. here we go,. let's nestling. -- listen in. i have come from chairing seven hours of cabinet meetings to find a way out of the impasse, one that can deliver the

brexit the british people voted for and also to move on and bring the divided country back together. i know some are so fed up with delay and arguments that they would like to leave with no deal next week. i've always been clear that we could make a success of no deal in the long—term, but leaving with a deal is the best solution. so we will need a further extension of article 50, one that is as short as possible, and which ends when we pass a deal. and we need to be clear what such an extension is for. to ensure that we leave in a timely and orderly way. this debate, this division, cannot drag on for much longer. it is putting members of parliament and everyone else under immense pressure, and it is doing damage to our politics. despite the best efforts of mps, the process that the house of commons has tried

to lead has not come up with an answer. so today i'm taking action to break the logjam. i'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try and agree a plan, that we would both stick to, to ensure that we leave the eu and that we do so with a deal. any plan would have to agree the current withdrawal agreement. it has already been negotiated with the 27 other members and the eu has repeatedly said it cannot and will not be reopened. what we need to focus on is our future relationship with the eu. the ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach on a future relationship that delivers on the result of the referendum, but both the leader of the opposition and i can put to the house for approval and which i could then take two next week's european council. however if we cannot agree oi'i council. however if we cannot agree ona council. however if we cannot agree on a single unified approach then we would instead agree a number of options for the future relationship

that we could put to the house in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue. crucially, the government stands ready to abide by the decision of the house, but to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too. the government would bring forward the withdrawal agreement bill. we would want to agree a timetable for the bill to ensure it is passed before the 22nd of may, so that the uk need not take part in european parliamentary elections. this is a difficult time for everyone. passions are running high oi'i everyone. passions are running high on all sides of the argument. but we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the british people voted for. this is a decisive moment in the story of these islands, and it requires national unity to deliver the national

interest. so, theresa may making a statement there that she is not going to go down the no deal route, and she's looking in fact at a further short extension, and sees reaching out to the leader of the opposition, the labour party, jeremy corbyn, to see if they can now agree a way forward. she said also crucially that the government would abide by the decision of the house of commons, if they can coalesce around something, as long as the opposition agrees also to abide by that. and that she will put the withdrawal agreement bill before the commons and it must pass before may the 22nd because the prime minister does not want the conservatives to go into the eu elections because they fear that they would lose votes and it could be a very divisive moment for the tories in particular. naomi grimley is with me. what did you think of that? she's been

talking tojeremy corbyn over the last few weeks but what she's trying to do now is make it a more formal arrangement whereby she can bind in the opposition. it's a recognition if you like that she must reach across the aisle to the opposition and not just try and across the aisle to the opposition and notjust try and keep her own conservative party and in particular the brexiteers happy. what it will rely on is labour agreeing to her withdrawal agreement. on friday when that was put through the commons in a vote, labour voted against it. she's trying to throw down the gau ntlet she's trying to throw down the ga u ntlet to she's trying to throw down the gauntlet to jeremy corbyn, saying that he's said that they withdrawal agreement isn't an issue, it is about the future relationship. let's sit down and focus on it and try to deliver brexit, which she keeps on saying the british people want to see. in broad terms this is theresa may moving towards a softer brexit

and away from a no—deal brexit? may moving towards a softer brexit and away from a no-deal brexit? yes. she's come in for criticism that over the last few months she's tried to keep her own party together and not enough to reach out beyond her party to the opposition to find common ground. this marks the moment where she is recognising that she has to do that. one person, stephen swinford, tweeting from the daily telegraph that he feels the government is effectively trying to ta ke government is effectively trying to take control, with labour's help come of that indicative votes process. yes, she made it clear that mps are going to continue to be offered a list of different options and they will have to come up with whichever one is the least repulsive to all of them. but as we've seen over the last week or so, that isn't necessarily as easy as you would think because different alliances are shifting all the time. she's basically making an appeal to the

opposition to put party politics aside and to join opposition to put party politics aside and tojoin her in opposition to put party politics aside and to join her in trying opposition to put party politics aside and tojoin her in trying to find some common ground. we are seeing cabinet ministers leaving. we saw sajid javid a moment ago, the home secretary. it's unclear whether all members of cabinet are going to sign up to it. we are going to find out very soon, when they get their telephones back. to repeat, what theresa may's new plan seems to be... more ministers walking out, gavin williamson, marching out there with his red folder under his arm. basically what seeing is theresa may saying she's going to continue talks with jeremy corbyn saying she's going to continue talks withjeremy corbyn to try saying she's going to continue talks with jeremy corbyn to try to saying she's going to continue talks withjeremy corbyn to try to agree a cross— party withjeremy corbyn to try to agree a cross—party joint withjeremy corbyn to try to agree a cross—partyjoint deal to put to the commons, and potentially if that fails the commons will vote on different brexit options. it must go through by may the 22nd to stop the uk having to have european

elections. that front door, all eyes on it. more ministers leaving. we don't know yet whether we were going to get the full support of cabinet for the plan. the remainers in cabinet will no doubt be backing it. the question is whether any of the brexiteers will be unhappy, now, that theresa may is saying she wants to hold cross—party talks. that inevitably will sound like she's going to move towards a softer brexit because the labour party have talked about wanting a much closer alliance with europe. indeed, the labour party have put forward the suggestion that britain stays within the orbit of the customs union, with some extra alignment with the single market. that crosses over some of the red lines theresa may has set in the red lines theresa may has set in the past. so it is a crucial moment

of pivoting for theresa may. chris grayling, the transport minister, leaving number ten. a brexiteer. ben wright is outside downing street. what did you make of that statement, and any ministers saying anything? no, they aren't. they are getting into theircars and no, they aren't. they are getting into their cars and swiftly disappearing. a big contrast to theresa may's last statement a fortnight ago where she aggressively blamed parliament. david gauke, are you happy with the statement? not a word from him. he's one of the cabinet ministers who has been warning the prime minister about the risks of a no—deal brexit and has been public about his concerns at making it clear that he would potentially walk out of the cabinet if it embarked on a no—deal brexit. he is presumably quite pleased with how the prior minister is going to tackle the next couple of weeks. in contrast to her statement two weeks ago where she blamed parliament for

this gridlock, saying they needed to pass the deal and get on with it, today she sounded more conciliatory, saying that labour and the government had to come up with a solution together, offering the promise of more talks with jeremy corbyn soon and if they didn't produce an outcome that both sides agreed on, the government would swing behind the indicative votes process and try and use it to provide a solution that would bind the government in terms of how it approached the changes to the political declaration that are attached to the withdrawal agreement. stay there, ben. we're going over to damian grammaticas in brussels. any initial reaction to this announcement by the prime minister? amber rudd, a remainer, and damian hinds and others leaving cabinet. any reaction yet in brussels? not that i've seen. i think we'll see brussels and the eu taking time to digestive. i think

it's a very difficult thing for them to agree to, to consider because he seems to be saying she wants an extension up until the 22nd of may, but the eu leaders, we know, offered that in their last summit conditional on the current withdrawal agreement being passed, and it hasn't been passed, so the option lapsed and they've given until the end of next week. they say that she must present them with a credible plan at their summit on wednesday of next week, on the tenth april. president macron was reiterating that today saying there should be a credible plan backed by a majority. if mr macron sticks to that, and there's no reason to think he wouldn't, mrs may literally has a couple of days, until the end of the week, to try and sit down with jeremy corbyn to try and come up with something but the eu will have a difficult issue i think here which

is that their problem has been all along that if they allow an extension beyond the end of next week the extension beyond the end of next weekthe uk extension beyond the end of next week the uk must commit to taking pa rt week the uk must commit to taking part in european elections. that was the clear request from the eu. the issue that mrs may has put on the table is that she doesn't want to ta ke table is that she doesn't want to take part in european elections but once the extra extension. will they agree? not on the basis of their la st agree? not on the basis of their last summit. they'd have to seriously change their position. that sounds like a difficult moment of decision for everyone concerned. and of course for the conservatives in particular it is difficult as they see it to go into the eu elections because they are worried about nigel farage and that they may lose support to a new brexiteer party that may spring up. they don't wa nt to party that may spring up. they don't want to have to go into elections and field candidates. the eu must recognise that is politically difficult for the british government. is there any flexibility on that? i think it is very

difficult to see that because the eu leaders put that in black—and—white in their legal conclusions after... they had hours of meetings at the summit they've just had, they wrote it down clearly that the eu will have to take part in european elections if they want an extension beyond the end of next week. whether that's politically difficult for the uk government, the conservative party or not, isn't the issue for emmanuel macron. for him the issue is the integrity of the legality of the european election process, that it cannot be challenged, cannot be unpicked in anyway. again what it points to is huge pressure now in the uk. mrs may has put forward the idea of reaching agreement with the opposition but there is huge pressure for them to come up with something, for parliament to come up

with a vote on a way forward. the eu will still say that they want to see that clarity of the way forward. that's the first hurdle to be crossed. thanks for that update from brussels. we saw brandon lewis, the tory party chairman, leaving downing street. let's get that theresa may statement from the last 20 minutes. i have come from chairing seven hours of cabinet meetings to find a way out of the impasse, one that can deliver the brexit the british people voted for and also to move on and bring the divided country back together. i know some are so fed up with delay and arguments that they would like to leave with no deal next week. i've always been clear that we could make a success of no deal in the long—term, but leaving with a deal is the best solution. so we will need a further extension of article

50, one that is as short as possible, and which ends when we pass a deal. and we need to be clear what such an extension is for. to ensure that we leave in a timely and orderly way. this debate, this division, cannot drag on for much longer. it is putting members of parliament and everyone else under immense pressure, and it is doing damage to our politics. despite the best efforts of mps, the process that the house of commons has tried to lead has not come up with an answer. so today i'm taking action to break the logjam. i'm offering to sit down with the leader of the opposition and to try and agree a plan, that we would both stick to, to ensure that we leave the eu and that we do so with a deal. any plan would have to agree the current withdrawal agreement. it has already been negotiated with the 27 other members and the eu has repeatedly

said it cannot and will not be reopened. what we need to focus on is our future relationship with the eu. the ideal outcome of this process would be to agree an approach on a future relationship that delivers on the result of the referendum, that both the leader of the opposition and i can put to the house for approval and which i could then take to next week's european council. however if we cannot agree on a single unified approach then we would instead agree a number of options for the future relationship that we could put to the house in a series of votes to determine which course to pursue. crucially, the government stands ready to abide by the decision of the house, but to make this process work, the opposition would need to agree to this too. the government would bring forward the withdrawal agreement bill.

we would want to agree a timetable for the bill to ensure it is passed before the 22nd of may, so that the uk need not take part european parliamentary elections. this is a difficult time for everyone. passions are running high on all sides of the argument. but we can and must find the compromises that will deliver what the british people voted for. this is a decisive moment in the story of these islands, and it requires national unity to deliver the national interest. so, it seems that theresa may is obviously reaching out for a cross— party obviously reaching out for a cross—party agreement and if she can't get that then she's saying crucially that she will abide by the decision of the commons. the decisions that got the most support are the customs union plan and the suggestion of a second confirmatory referendum, which got the most votes

in the commons in the last set of votes. i'm joined by a in the commons in the last set of votes. i'mjoined bya member of in the commons in the last set of votes. i'm joined by a member of the institute for government. what do you make of what theresa may said? it shows he's realised that the process so far hasn't worked and she must work across the commons to try and find unity. in the indicative votes so far it has been the labour party moving towards a softer brexit and most of the tory party not wanting that so she's trying to bring the house together. is there time? she's saying she's reaching out tojeremy time? she's saying she's reaching out to jeremy corbyn and time? she's saying she's reaching out tojeremy corbyn and talking to the commons, who haven't coalesced around any majority. no, and the next bit big deadline is the 10th of april when the eu is meeting to decide whether to extend the uk's membership. she needs to have completed the process and to have got a clear and coherent offer that she wants to take to the eu. this is theresa may presumably accepting publicly that c isn't going to get

the dup and conservative party members to support her deal. that seems to be the case. she made the point that they withdrawal agreement as negotiated would need to be part of any deal that is approved. that's what mps voted on on friday when the government separated the declaration and the withdrawal agreement and it was still rejected. whether she gets support for that as part of a different deal is unclear. . thanks for joining different deal is unclear. . thanks forjoining us. theresa may speaking in the last 20 minutes saying that she is going to seek a further short extension to depart from the eu, saying that the debate cannot carry on for much longer but that the uk, her government will try to work with jeremy corbyn to end the stalemate and listen to those indicative votes from the commons, to try and take some control of the indicative vote process ahead of those eu deadlines next week. more coverage coming from

westminster. thanks for watching. it may only be the 2nd of april but it feels like we've had everything but the kitchen sink thrown at us. sunshine and showers today but look at those showers, heavy, with some hailand at those showers, heavy, with some hail and snow on higher ground. that theme is going to continue. the morning rain lingered but then cleared, leaving showers to follow. some showers fading away as we go through the overnight period but we'll keep the frequent rash down the west and south—west but more persistent rain in eastern scotland and north—east england. elsewhere, cold, low and single figures. prost is not out of the question. starting wednesday morning on a cold note. some showers clinging onto the

fringes. the low pressure is what we must watch. it will drift slowly west as we go through the day on wednesday and it will bring further outbreaks of rain and snow, with any over elevation in scotland and the north of england. gradually moving to the north of and ireland by the afternoon. a scattering of showers, and wendy for everyone. it is a cold source, from the north, with severe gales. —— windy for everyone. temperatures on your thermometer may suggest 6—8 but in scotland, northern ireland and in south—west england it is going to feel much colder. you will need a couple of extra layers. out of wednesday and into thursday, the low pressure stays with us but it slowly clears down to the south—west. we are going to see some rain in the south—west and some rain in northern scotland but in between the two, a bit drier

and brighter and a bit quiet on thursday. thursday, not especially warm, still 8—10 but signs on friday into the start of the weekend that things may well change. that's because of the wind direction, we lose the northerly flow and an easterly, so not as cold, and quieter. into the weekend, not as cold, and more sunshine.