Theresa May agrees to publish Brexit plans

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May has backed down and agreed to Labour demands to reveal her Brexit plans before the process of leaving the EUis triggered.

In a major U-turn, the Prime Minister has accepted a motion due to be debated tomorrow which calls for the Brexit strategy to be published before Article 50 is triggered next March.

The Government’s last-minute move is seen as an attempt to avoid a potential rebellion from 40 Conservative MPs who were reportedly prepared to back the motion.

Mrs May has previously declared the Government would not disclose its Brexit plans while negotiating in order to secure the best possible deal.

Her amendment to the motion also challenged Labour MPs to respect the triggering of Article 50 next spring.

It read: “That this House should respect the wishes of the United Kingdom as expressed in the referendum on 23 June; and further calls on the Government to invoke Article 50 by 31 March 2017.”

A Downing Street spokesman stressed that the amendment was "a separate issue" from the Government's Supreme Court battle to overturn a ruling that it should obtain Parliament's approval before triggering Article 50.

The spokesman added: "The Prime Minister has been clear that we will set out our plans in due course. That remains the position.

"We won't be showing our negotiating hand until we have to, but we have not suggested we will not set out the position. That's what the amendment goes to."

The development came as the European Union's lead Brexit official warned that the UK will have to reach a deal within 18 months of negotiations, in order to allow time for it to be ratified by the European Parliament and national leaders sitting in the European Council.

European Commissioner Michel Barnier urged the UK to "keep calm and negotiate" as he suggested that October 2018 will be the deadline for agreement if Mrs May launches withdrawal talks by the end of March, as she has promised.

And he suggested that time would be too short to finalise all details of Britain's future relationship with the EU - potentially including the vital issue of trade - telling a Brussels press conference: "You can't do everything in 15 to 18 months of negotiations."