Brexit: Theresa May faces cabinet ministers as DUP threaten to break alliance over EU exit

All the latest updates from Westminster

200 days until Brexit: The key dates

Theresa May has gathered her senior ministers for briefings on the Brexit negotiations as the fierce battle to agree the shape of a deal with Brussels reaches its final weeks.

Ahead of next week's key EU Council summit, Downing Street admitted there were still "big issues to resolve" while officials in Brussels said there was "no breakthrough yet" in the talks.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up Ms May's government, dramatically flexed its muscles by insisting its 10 MPs would block the Budget - and potentially topple the government - if the prime minister breaches its Brexit red lines.

In a warning shot to Ms May, DUP MPs failed to back the government in voting against an amendment to an Agriculture Bill on Wednesday.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also warned that checks on goods over the Irish border could increase tenfold after Britain leaves bloc - an ultimatum likely to infuriate the Northern Irish politicians.

Elsewhere, cabinet minister Esther McVey, who was not invited to attend the meeting, became the second member of Ms May's top team to repeatedly refuse to endorse the Chequers plan, although she insisted the prime minister had her full support.

If you want to follow the day's events, see our live coverage below:

Key Points

• May faces cabinet ministers on Brexit as DUP says MPs are ready to block budget
• Doctors will be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis from November 1, says Home Secretary
• Esther McVey admits 'some people could lose out' on universal credit
• ...as Sir John Major says PM could face universal credit backlash similar to poll tax
• Charge for migrants to use the NHS to double, government says

[11 October 2018 08:31 · Lizzy Buchan]

Welcome to The Independent's politics liveblog, where we will be bringing you all the latest updates throughout the day.

[11 October 2018 08:45 · Lizzy Buchan]

The Democratic Unionist Party says it is ready to block the budget and potentially topple Theresa May if she compromises further on Brexit.

The Northern Ireland party – which is propping up the Conservatives in power – dramatically threatened to pull its support if its “red lines” over the Irish border are crossed.

More here: 

[11 October 2018 09:00 · Lizzy Buchan]

As the clock runs right down on the Brexit talks, our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has filed this report from Brussels.

Existing checks on agricultural goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland would have to increase ten-fold after Brexit, the EU’s chief negotiator has said – an ultimatum that is likely to enrage Northern Irish unionists and eurosceptics.

More here:

[11 October 2018 09:12 · Lizzy Buchan]

Ex Tory cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith has warned Theresa May to "listen very carefully" to the DUP's warnings they could vote against her Budget if she crosses their Brexit red lines.

He told Today: "They are a separate party, they must make their own decisions. But, I do think the government does need to listen very carefully."

He added: "A lot of us are concerned that in the hunt, in the chase for some kind of settlement what we'll end up doing is accommodating this ludicrous Irish backstop, which doesn't and shouldn't exist."

[11 October 2018 09:25 · Lizzy Buchan]

Here's the order paper in Parliament today. There will also be a ministerial statement from transport secretary Chris Grayling on the rail review and two urgent questions - one on the sale of the student loan book and one on foreign fighters and the death penalty.

[11 October 2018 09:40 · Lizzy Buchan]

Former prime minister Tony Blair is doing a Q&A session at Reuters at the moment.

He claims the EU would make Britain a "much more attractive offer" if the UK were to hold a second referendum. The former Labour leader restates his call for MPs to vote down Theresa May's deal, which would result in the PM having to go back to Brussels, an election, or a referendum, he says.

He says putting the vote to the people is the only thing that could save Ms May's premiership.

[11 October 2018 10:00 · Lizzy Buchan]

Helpful tweet from a Tory MP here, on how easy it would be to boot Theresa May out.

[11 October 2018 10:10 · Lizzy Buchan]

Former Conservative prime minister Sir John Major has warned Theresa May could face a backlash over universal credit similar to that experienced by Margaret Thatcher with the poll tax.

Sir John, who became Tory leader nine months after rioting broke out over the community charge in 1990, urged the government to rethink the rollout of its flagship welfare programme after reports it could leave families hundreds of pounds worse off.

More here: 

[11 October 2018 10:34 · Lizzy Buchan]

Sir John Major said the treatment the PM was receiving at the hands of some in her party was worse than he had suffered when he called some in his party "bastards".

He told the BBC's Political Thinking podcast: "I have great sympathy for her plight and I think the way she is being treated by some of her colleagues is absolutely outrageous."

Sir John said he supported Ms May as PM, although he was at odds with some of her approach to Europe.

He said: "People in parliament who are undermining the prime minister by wandering round saying we are going to have 40-odd signatures for a leadership election tomorrow, saying unless the Prime Minister does this thing or that thing we are going to vote against it, that's an intolerable way to treat a prime minister who is in the middle of negotiations."

Asked about the "bastards" from his era, he replied: "Their behaviour was pretty intolerable, but not nearly as intolerable as the way the present prime minister is being treated."

[11 October 2018 10:54 · Lizzy Buchan]

The Education Secretary is expected to brand Labour's plan to impose a "common rulebook" on all schools as "dangerous control freakery".

Damian Hinds was also due to call on Jeremy Corbyn to "leave our children alone" when he speaks at the launch of the Confederation of School Trusts at the British Library in London, on Thursday.

At the Labour Party Conference last month, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner announced plans to impose a new rulebook on schools, scrap the free schools programme and end academisation.

Mr Hinds was due to say: "Labour saw the evidence. They had a choice between what is working for children and what left wing dogma says.

"They have made their choice. For them, ideology comes before children's education."

He was due to add: "Angela Rayner may call it 'local democratic control'.

"I call it not trusting schools. Why do Labour want to put politicians in charge of schools? It's because they don't trust headteachers."

Ms Rayner accused Mr Hinds of "resorting to absurd claims".

She said: "When ministers have more to say about the opposition's policies than their own, it is clear that they've run out of ideas.

"The Tories' figures on education spending and standards have unravelled day by day and these wild distortions of Labour policies are just another chapter in the same book of fiction.

"Parents, teachers and communities know that it is the Conservatives who have put ideology first and children second by slashing school budgets for the first time in a generation."