EU bosses were left furious after Brexit Secretary David Davis over the weekend claimed the so-called breakthrough Brexit deal was not legally binding.
Mr Davis insisted that Britain could easily refuse to hand over the agreed £39bn divorce bill if a trade deal with Brussels was not secured by the date of departure.
Keen to dig their heels in, the EU Parliament put forward an amendment on their Brexit approval after a seething Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s self-appointed Brexit negotiator, branded the Brexit Secretary’s comments “unacceptable”.
The EU Parliament demanded negotiations must be carried out “in good faith” by the UK and there would be no progress unless the nation “fully respects” its commitments.
The ammendment reads: “Is of the opinion that the report allows for negotiations to move on to the second phase recommends that the European Council decide accordingly, but believes that negotiations must be good faith and is of the opinion that negotiations can only progress during the second phase if the UK government also fully respects the commitments it made in the Joint Report and they are fully translated into the draft Withdrawal Agreement.”
The the UK has since bowed to pressure from the angered Brussels bosses, agreeing that Phase 1 of the Brexit deal will be put into law.
In an extraordinary U-turn, Mr Davis confirmed he had spoken to Mr Verhofstadt and they had agreed to convert the text into law.
MEPs are expected to vote on the amendments at 12noon..
Please follow Express.co.uk for live updates on the vote below…
8:17am: Tajani has told the council, Jean-Claude Juncker is not present today as he is involved in negotiations for the preparation of tomorrow’s Council, “particularly the Brexit aspect of it”.
Instead he will be represented by Frans Timmersman.
8:12am: Estonian minister Matti Maasikas has struck a positive tone while speaking about Brexit, which he said would get the “most visibilty”.
He said: “Now I believe that we are there. The UK’s new improved offer looks like a solid agreement. This is a significant move from the UK which I expect the EU27 leaders to welcome.”
But he warned: “This does not mean that we have finished with phase one issues. There’s still a lot to do and any further progress in the next phase depends on full respect of the agreements described in the joint report of the negotiators.”