The United Kingdom government has asked the Queen to suspend Parliament just days after MPs return to work in September - and only a few weeks before the Brexit deadline.
Rebel Conservative MPs joined forces on Wednesday with Labour to inflict a fresh blow on Theresa May's government in a Commons Brexit vote. It means the government will have to come up with revised plans within three days if Mrs May's EU withdrawal deal is rejected by MPs next week.
The British government has narrowly avoided a defeat on its Customs Bill after agreeing to Brexiteers' demands to change its wording. It twice survived by just three votes after a backlash from pro-EU Tories who accused Theresa May of caving in to the party's Eurosceptic MPs.
Theresa May has seen off a potential defeat over her flagship Brexit bill, after last-minute concessions which could give MPs a bigger say on the final withdrawal agreement and make a “no-deal” exit much less likely. MPs voted by 324 to 298 to reject a House of Lords amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill which would have given MPs the power to tell the Prime Minister to go back and renegotiate the Brexit deal.