UK prime minister Theresa May has secured legally binding changes to the Withdrawal Agreement ahead of a critical vote in the UK House of Commons on Tuesday.

The changes could make the difference between MPs accepting or rejecting the withdrawal agreement and the difference between the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal or having a more orderly exit.

David Liddington, Minster for the Cabinet Office in the UK, told the House of Commons: “This house said it needed legally binding changes and today that is what the Prime Minister has achieved."

Liddington said there were two new documents.

The first is a joint, legally binding instrument on the Withdrawal Agreement and the protocol on Northern Ireland.

The second is a joint statement to supplement the political declaration, he said.

“The first provides confirmation that the EU cannot try to trap the UK in the backstop indefinitely and doing so would be a breach of the legally binding commitment that both sides have agreed,” he said.

Jean Claude Juncker, in a tweet, said: "The choice is clear: it is this deal, or #Brexit may not happen at all. Let’s bring the UK’s withdrawal to an orderly end. We owe it to history."

In a letter to EU president Donald Tusk on Tuesday night, Juncker said that he had spoken to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who, he said, "would be prepared to accept this solution in the interest of securing an overall deal".

Theresa May, in a late night statement said:

"Tomorrow the House of Commons will debate the improved deal that these legal changes have created. I will speak in more detail about them when I open that debate.

"MPs were clear that legal changes were needed to the backstop. Today we have secured legal changes.

"Now is the time to come together, to back this improved Brexit deal, and to deliver on the instruction of the British people."

Irish meetings

Earlier on Monday evening, An Taoiseach delayed his departure for the US to convene a meeting of senior government ministers.

At the same time, UK prime minister Theresa May met with Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, in Strasbourg.

Earlier, Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt said that a no-deal Brexit would be “a catastrophe” and added that Europe would stand by Ireland to safeguard the Good Friday Agreement.

Read more

EU must be very firm on the withdrawal agreement – FNSEA president

Brexit: a short term extension is worthless to farmers

Barnier proposal on backstop a non-starter

Farming on the border: hopes and fears