Theresa May has effectively ruled out Labour's ideas for a compromise Brexit plan, shutting off another potential route to a deal as business groups warned that with less than 50 days to go the departure process was entering the "emergency zone".
The prime minister's formal response to Jeremy Corbyn's proposal, in a letter to the
Labourleader, stressed her objections to keeping the UK in some form of customs union, saying this would prevent the UK making its own trade deals.
But in an apparent renewed bid to win over wavering Labour MPs, May made a concession on environmental and workers' rights, discounting Corbyn's idea of automatic alignment with EU standards but suggesting instead a Commons vote every time these change.
The letter comes amid a growing presumption that while May remains officially committed to putting a revised
Brexitplan to MPs as soon as possible, in practice this is unlikely to happen before the end of February, if not later.