Theresa May: There are things I agree on with Labour over Brexit

Theresa May has said she agrees with the Labour Party on certain aspects of Brexit.

Despite Labour accusing ministers on Friday of failing to offer real change or compromise during talks to end the stalemate, the Conservative prime minister said the government and opposition agreed on "ending free movement, ensuring we leave with a good deal, protecting jobs, protecting security".

During a video filmed at Chequers and released on her Twitter account, she also admitted that compromise would be required "on both sides".

"And so we are talking," she said. "Can we find a way through this that ensures that we can get a good deal and a deal agreed through Parliament?

"I believe that delivering Brexit is the most important thing for us."

Earlier, Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News that Theresa May had made "active choices" to stop Brexit - decisions she "deserves to be held to account for".

The chairman of the European Research Group of eurosceptic Conservative MPs hit out at the prime minister's decision to sit down for talks with Jeremy Corbyn to break the Brexit deadlock.

He said the move "risks giving a degree of credibility" to the Labour leader and "undermining the general thrust of the Conservative argument that he is a Marxist who would be dangerous to this nation's interests".

It has sparked fury within the party, but Mrs May has claimed she had "no choice" but to reach out to Mr Corbyn because of the refusal of Conservative and DUP MPs to back her deal.

Mr Rees-Mogg took issue with Mrs May's rationale for sitting down with Labour, telling Sky News that the PM had no one to blame but herself.

He told Sophy Ridge On Sunday: "The prime minister could have taken us out on 29 March. It was the prime minister who asked for an extension, it was the prime minister who changed the date by prerogative power from 29 March to 12 April."

"This all rests with her and upon her shoulders. Mrs May has made active choices to stop us leaving and she deserves to be held to account for that.

"People ought to know the truth of the position, rather than trying to blame everybody else, blaming recalcitrant MPs and other Conservatives.

"If the prime minister had done what she said in the first place and had stuck to the law, as set out in two acts, we would have left the European Union by now."

Britain was due to leave the EU on 29 March, but Mrs May asked Brussels for a delay to Brexit after her deal was defeated three times by MPs.

The new deadline is 12 April, although the PM now wants to push it back to 30 June at the latest, with an option to leave before then if an agreement is passed by Parliament.

Ahead of going back to the EU this coming week, teams from the government and Labour have been holding discussions in an attempt to find a compromise.

Speaking on Sunday, senior figures in Labour sounded a downbeat note on the progress made so far.

Shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti told Sky News: "So far our impression is that Mrs May has not moved an inch on her red lines.

"That is worrying to me because the clock is running down."

Her frontbench colleague, shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that the "overall mood is quite a positive and hopeful one".

But she added: "The sad thing is at the moment we haven't seen overall any real changes to the deal, but we are hopeful that will change in coming days and we are willing to continue the talks as we know the government are."

Ms Long-Bailey, who has been involved in the talks, said the teams were "keeping our diaries as free as possible" - adding: "We have had exchanges with the government over the weekend, clarifying our position.

"They have been setting out theirs and hopefully at the beginning of next week we will be having further discussions.

"But we are currently waiting for the government to come back to us now to state whether they are prepared to move on any of their red lines.

Ms Long-Bailey said Labour had raised the prospect of another referendum to avoid a "damaging" no-deal Brexit.

Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said the Conservatives were working with Labour "through gritted teeth".

One potential area of agreement between the two sides is Britain remaining in some form of customs union with the EU.

When pressed on whether she could accept this, Ms Leadsom told the BBC: "There are various different types of arrangement and those discussions are still ongoing.

"For me, whatever we deliver, it has to be Brexit."

She added that the PM's deal had a "customs arrangement" in it aimed at tariff-free trade.

"My expectation - and I'm not party to the discussions - is that the prime minister will only seek to agree those things that still constitute Brexit."

Ms Leadsom said she would never back revoking Article 50 - the legal process which triggered Britain's EU exit - and the UK could "survive and thrive" after a no-deal exit and it would be "not nearly as grim as many would advocate".