What time is Theresa May's Brexit speech today? What you need to know

Theresa May is set to make a statement to MPs this afternoon giving an update on Brexit negotiations.

The Prime Minister is under mounting pressure to rethink her plan for leaving the EU, after Brexit talks reached a stand-off over the Irish "backstop" arrangement.

Mrs May faces pressure from Brexiteers within the Conservative Party and her Democratic Unionist Party parliamentary allies ahead of a crunch summit next week.

Efforts to avoid a hard border in Ireland are creating a headache for the PM, with DUP leader Arlene Foster telling her not to accept a "dodgy" deal which would "effectively cut Northern Ireland adrift".

Talks over the weekend failed to produce the hoped-for breakthrough on the so-called "backstop" arrangements for Ireland.

The impasse means that meetings between "sherpas" in Brussels have been cancelled, and UK Government ministers will have no withdrawal plan to approve at Cabinet on Tuesday, before Mrs May travels to the European Council summit the following day.

Mrs May has already agreed to keep the UK in a customs union until a solution is found, but the EU wanted a fail-safe where Northern Ireland would be held in EU rules for longer if her ideas collapsed.

The effort to find a way to avoid a hard border remains one of the last obstacles to achieving a divorce deal.

What time is Theresa May's statement?

Mrs May will make her statement on Brexit negotiations to the House of Commons at around 3.30pm this afternoon, unless there are urgent questions.

In this case it would be delayed for half an hour or more.

The timing of the statement is unusual as the Prime Minister usually only updates MPs on progress after EU summits, not before.