The Guardian reports:

The European council president, Donald Tusk, has said the UK is prepared to either cancel Brexit or to depart with no deal if MPs vote down the settlement secured by Theresa May with Brussels.

Speaking at the G20 summit in Argentina, Tusk said there was no other deal on offer and the only alternatives were remaining in the EU or leave with no deal.

“The European Union has just agreed an orderly divorce with the United Kingdom,” he said. “A few days before the vote in the House of Commons it is becoming more and more clear that this deal is the best possible, in fact the only possible one.

“If this deal is rejected in the Commons, we are left with, as was already stressed a few weeks ago by prime minister May, an alternative. No deal or no Brexit at all. I want to reassure you that the EU is prepared for every scenario.” [Continue reading…]

The Guardian also reports:

Theresa May’s plans to get her Brexit deal through parliament ran into fresh difficulties on Friday as it emerged that a “no to no deal” amendment submitted by Labour’s Hilary Benn with the support of two Tories had won the backing of the SNP and Lib Dems.

Joanna Cherry, an SNP frontbench MP, said her party’s 35 MPs would support Benn’s “excellent” amendment, which rejects both May’s deal and a no-deal Brexit and gives parliament a say in what the government would do next.

The Lib Dems also said they would give their support, alongside Labour and the Tory rebels who declared their backing on Thursday, meaning that it has a chance of success if the other minor parties and a dozen or so more Conservatives follow suit.

Benn said his amendment declined to approve May’s deal, rejected the UK leaving the European Union without a deal, and “enables parliament to express a view, to see if there was an alternative that could get support”. [Continue reading…]