Theresa May has agreed to a new customs union – which she does not want to call a customs union – with Jeremy Corbyn, in a bid to win over Labour and pass her Brexit deal through Parliament. Brexiteers reacted with fury to the Prime Minister’s plan to enshrine in law a customs arrangement with the European Union – claiming the move has “legitimised” Labour and Mr Corbyn as a future leader. Tory MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip Mr Johnson is reportedly paid more than £200,000-per-year by the Daily Telegraph to write columns.

In today’s paper he wrote: “If we Tories have one duty it is to prevent this man getting anywhere near the levers of power. So it seems utterly incredible that he has now been invited into Downing Street to negotiate a Brexit deal.

“And it is doubly incredible that the Government is – so we are told – willing to accede to his terms. We are informed that there are now “no red lines” in the negotiations with Labour.

“That would mean that we had zero flexibility to do big or serious trade deals with anyone else. It would mean that Slovakia or Lithuania – to say nothing of France or Germany – would have more say over UK trade policy than London.”

Mr Johnson warned of the perils of creating a partnership with Corbyn, claiming: “By staying in the customs union, we would have to commit also to “regulatory alignment” with Brussels – being a rule-taker, and yet with no say in the making of those rules.

Mr Johnson warned of the perils of creating a partnership with Corbyn, claiming: “By staying in the customs union, we would have to commit also to “regulatory alignment” with Brussels – being a rule-taker, and yet with no say in the making of those rules.

“This is simply unacceptable to any self-respecting democratic country – let alone to the fifth biggest economy in the world, and the possessor of an old and proud system of parliamentary democracy.”

The UK has until April 10 to come up with a new Brexit plan – or may face leaving the union without a deal two days later on April 12.

EU leaders are due to meet at a summit on April 10, where Mrs May will be expected to present her new deal. But last week, European Commission president Donald Tusk offered the UK a lengthy delay to Brexit, of up to one year.

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9.45am update: Sinn Feinn leader hopes to “get some sense” out of Corbyn during talks

Speaking ahead of talks with Labour leader Mr Corbyn today, Ms McDonald told the Today programme: “I hope to get some sense from Jeremy Corbyn as to where he thinks all of this might land.

“There is a lot of talk now about an extension… and there’s ongoing uncertainty which I’m sure has caused real problems in Britain and certainly has caused real harm on the island of Ireland.”

Praising Mr Corbyn as someone who “understands Irish politics very deeply” unlike “in Government circles”, Ms McDonald said a customs union would only solve the issues around the Northern Irish border “to an extent”.

She said: “It (a customs union) doesn’t answer in its entirety the issue for the all-Ireland economy. Yes it is about the customs union but it’s also about alignment to the single market.”

9.30am update: Jaguar Land Rover starts it’s “Brexit shutdown”

Jaguar Land Rover has today started its shutdown of production due to uncertainty around Brexit. The shutdown, which is due to last for one week, begun on Monday.

The closure of production has affected staff at Castle Bromwich, Solihull and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, as well as the Halewood plant in Merseyside,

The company said it needs more concrete plans around Brexit – and that a potential no-deal would cost more than £1.2billion in profit each year.

Unite, the worker’s union, said the move was agreed in January when the Uk was still thought to be leaving the bloc on the original date of March 29.

Unite’s spokesman at Solhull, Mick Graham, said: “We had to make some plans to protect the business as best we could and we started talking about this in January.

“We knew we had to take reactive action to mitigate the potential effect of a bad Brexit or no-deal Brexit.

“Suppliers need notice to get their parts across to us… It was a prudent thing to do.”

9.15am update: Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright calls for Brexit compromise

Mr Wright has said there needs to be a cross-party comprimise between the Government and Labour negotiators in order to “move forward”.

He told the BBC Today programme: “I think we have to move forward. We must make sure we’re all prepared to compromise to fulfil that primary objective.

“What everyone has agreed is that we should sit down and talk sensibly about how we fulfil that objective.

“There’s some urgency to it but I do think it’s important for everyone to take their responsibilities seriously, whatever party they come from, and try and get to a point where we leave the EU, as people have said they wish to do, and to do it on the best possible terms.

“I think that’s achievable. I would prefer we did it on the basis of the Prime Minister’s deal… But if we can’t do that then let’s find another way forward.”

9.00am update: Macron leads calls for UK to face “tough conditions” in Brexit delay

French president Emmanuel Macron has called for the UK to face strict conditions if it was to concede to a lengthy delay on Brexit.

Mr Macron has been an outspoken critic of the UK’s mission to exit the bloc.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: “We can’t live in a perpetual Brexit process.

“The British government and the British parliament have to realise that the EU cannot forever waste its time in dealing with the vagaries of the UK’s domestic politics.”

Mrs May is appealing to the EU to allow n extension until June 30, in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock through ‘cross-party’ negotiations.

8.40pm update: Sinn Fein to hold Brexit talks with Corbyn and Karen Bradley

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald and vice-president Michelle O’Neill are also set for discussions with Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley. They will also meet a number of SNP MPs at Westminster, while Mr Corbyn is due to meet the republican leaders on Monday afternoon.

Ms McDonald said: “We will set out again the very clear need to protect Irish interests and make it very, very clear that whatever way  lands, deal or no deal, that Irish interests have to be protected. Our peace process, our all-Ireland economy, crucially our citizens’ rights, cannot be the collateral damage to the Tory .”

At the weekend, Mrs McDonald also confirmed that Sinn Fein will hold a convention this weekend to select a candidate to fight a potential European election in Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, Michel Barnier is heading to Ireland to hold talks with Taioseach Leo Varadkar. The Irish Prime Minister has already said he prefers the option of a longer Brexit extension that June 30.

8.20am update: Shadow transport secretary says second referendum “likely outcome” of Brexit talks.

Speaking on the Today programme, Andy McDonald said: “There’s divergence of opinion, let’s be absolutely straightforward, people take different views on a public vote – be that a general election or a second referendum – but that is not where we are.

“My view is if our proposition was accepted in its totality I think the argument for a public vote in those circumstances reduces. The reality is that is not on the table, so I think we’re looking at options that would warrant a PV (People’s Vote) in those circumstances.

“We’ve got to look at the offer on the table at the moment and what we’re looking at is Theresa May’s deal or no deal.”

8.10am update: Theresa May updates the nation on neogtiations  through “informal video”

On Sunday, Mrs May addressed the nation in an “informal video” filmed at her country residence Chequers, in which she insisted political parties must work together in order to solve the Brexit deadlock.

She said: “Over the past few days, people have been asking me what on earth has been happening with Brexit.

“And I can understand that, because after all it’s been nearly three years since people voted in the referendum for the UK to leave the European Union.”

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