Theresa May gives sofa warning that Brexit ‘won’t happen without compromise on both sides’

Theresa May has warned that Brexit will not happen unless there is compromise between the Conservative and Labour parties.

The prime minister issued the stark warning on Sunday in a Twitter video message filmed at Chequers, ahead of further cross-party talks this week.

Mrs May said: “There are lots of things on which I disagree with the Labour Party on policy issues.

“But on Brexit I think there are some things we agree on: ending free movement, ensuring we leave with a good deal, protecting jobs, protecting security.

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

“It’ll mean compromise on both sides but I believe that delivering Brexit is the most important thing for us.”

Mrs May is to make a whistle-stop trip on Tuesday to Berlin and Paris for last-minute talks with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on the eve of a summit which will determine the future of Brexit.

The leaders of the 27 remaining EU nations have been summoned to Brussels for an emergency summit of the European Council on Wednesday, just two days before the UK is due to leave the EU under current plans.

The prime minister’s visits on Tuesday appear to make it unlikely that any compromise deal thrashed out with Labour will be put before MPs ahead of the summit, with no face-to-face talks currently scheduled with the Opposition.

Downing Street said that “good-natured” dialogue with Labour had continued through the weekend, following a series of formal meetings last week, with both sides showing a “willingness to co-operate”.

“Our intention is engage further with the Opposition today and, given the need for urgency, we hope that will lead to further formal discussions,” she said.

The spokeswoman declined to set a deadline for a conclusion to negotiations with Labour, saying only that the Prime Minister wanted an agreement “as soon as possible”.

It has been reported that the government is contemplating putting a written offer in front of Labour’s negotiating team on Monday, which would differ from its proposal last week.

Mrs May is expected to set out in her talks with the German Chancellor and French President the rationale behind her request for a delay to the date of Brexit from April 12 to June 30.

And she will speak to other EU leaders by telephone in the run-up to the crunch meeting, where their unanimous agreement will be needed to avoid the UK leaving without a deal on Friday.

Shadow business minister Rebecca Long-Bailey, a member of Labour’s negotiating team, said while it was “disappointing” that there had not been any shift in the government’s red lines “the overall mood is quite a positive and hopeful one”.

Labour’s key demand is for a customs union with Brussels in order to protect the flow of goods, but Brexiteers vehemently oppose anything that would restrict the UK’s ability to strike free trade deals through being bound by tariffs set by the EU.

Ms Long-Bailey told BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that in the talks Labour had discussed how any changes to the Brexit agreement “could be entrenched” so that any potential future Conservative leader, such as Boris Johnson, would not be able to “rip up” any compromise – a so-called “Boris-proof” deal.

She said a customs union was “defined in international law” and “the proposals we have seen from the government so far and their direction of travel over the last two years have not been compliant with the definition of a customs union”.

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But Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said the prime minister’s deal with Brussels already had a “customs arrangement” aimed at tariff-free trade.

She added: “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.”

Mrs May heads to Brussels on Wednesday for an emergency summit aimed at securing a further delay to Brexit, hoping for an extension until June 30 at the latest, with the option of leaving the EU earlier if a deal can get through Parliament.

If no extension is agreed then the UK is set to leave without a deal on Friday.

Ms Long-Bailey suggested Labour could be prepared to revoke Article 50, cancelling Brexit, if the UK was heading towards a no-deal scenario.

“We have promised our party members and our constituents that we will do all we can to avoid a no-deal situation,” she said.

Signalling that talks aimed at reaching a deal with the Tories were expected to continue she said “hopefully at the beginning of next week we will be having further discussions”.

Ms Long-Bailey also said that Labour had raised the prospect of a second referendum to prevent a “damaging” or no-deal Brexit.

Some 80 MPs, including frontbenchers, have written to Jeremy Corbyn demanding a public vote on any deal that emerges from the talks.

Brexiteer Mrs Leadsom said she would never back the revocation of Article 50, insisting the UK could “survive and thrive” after a no-deal exit and it would be “not nearly as grim as many would advocate”.

The Commons Leader said the Tories were working with Labour “through gritted teeth”, adding that a second referendum is an “appalling” idea and taking part in the European elections would be “utterly unacceptable”.

But European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News: “The prime minister could have taken us out on March 29. It was the prime minister who asked for an extension, it was the prime minister who changed the date by prerogative power from March 29 to April 12.

“This all rests with her and upon her shoulders. The prime minister, Mrs May, has made active choices to stop us leaving and she deserves to be held to account for that.”