Brexit news: Anger as government admits it will fail to strike Japan or Turkey trade pacts by exit day in event of no-deal

The government has been accused of breaking its promises after it emerged that key trade deals would not be ready by Brexit day in a no-deal scenario.

Whitehall documents reveal agreements with Japan, Algeria and Turkey will not be rubber-stamped by March 29 – despite Liam Fox’s assurance that deals would be ready at “one second after midnight”.

Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: “Brexiters promised that voting Leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.

“Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members.”

The news emerged as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “not very optimistic” that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided after meeting Theresa May.

Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay travelled to Brussels with attorney general Geoffrey Cox as the government scrambles to secure a deal, while Jeremy Corbyn and his top team were also in the Belgian capital for crunch talks.

Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives were both braced for fresh walkouts after 11 MPs formed a breakaway group in protest at the direction of their parties.

See below for our coverage of events as they happened