Theresa May is due to address a crunch summit of European Union leaders in Brussels today in a last-ditch push to get an agreement on the UK’s exit from the bloc.
Brexit is really the only item on the agenda, with the PM due to meet EU chief Donald Tusk before giving a speech to EU leaders at a dinner.
So will the UK get a withdrawal deal? Here’s what you need to know.
What’s the situation going in?
The Prime Minister has had a tough few days trying to convince her senior ministers of her “temporary” customs arrangement.
But she emerged from Tuesday’s cabinet meeting looking relatively safe, at least for now, with the Cabinet backing her proposals in a two-and-a-half hour meeting - despite earlier threats to walk from a number of ministers.
They did not agree on an alternative to EU backstop proposals but “discussed the need for a mechanism to clearly define how the backstop will end”, a spokesman said.
Today at Prime Minister’s Questions, May was steadfast: insisting her s-called Chequers proposal was “not dead”.
It comes after May faced pressure in the Commons from Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith over a specific end date for the proposal.
But today’s talks will be a moment of truth for the negotiations, which have for a while been hung up on the issue of the Irish border.
The summit follows a lack of breakthrough over the weekend between Brexit minister Dominic Raab and EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.
It was hoped that today’s meeting would be a prelude to discussing a deal ready for finalisation in November.
The United States has confirmed that it will begin trade talks with the UK” as soon as it is ready after it exits the European Union”, Donald Trump’s trade envoy Robert Lighthizer told key senators.
What do both sides want out of the summit?
Tusk has demanded “concrete proposals” from May on how to move forward in the deadlocked negotiations.
May has insisted she will not agree to a “backstop” which would see an open Irish border that keeps Northern Ireland within EU rules. She cannot risk conceding too much to Brussels as the integrity of her Cabinet is at risk.
The PM will underline her commitment to reaching an agreement, while reviewing areas where progress has been achieved.
“We want to secure a deal as quickly as possible. We think it is in the best interests of the UK and European Union to forge that deep future partnership,” her official spokesman said.
In a last ditch pitch, the PM will hold one-to-one talks with the EU Council president before addressing the EU27 at a summit dinner.
Is there still hope for a November summit on a final deal?
Maybe - but it is unlikely to bring about the concrete agreement hoped for.
Instead, Barnier has told EU 27 foreign ministers that more time is needed to find an agreement and resolution to the Irish border issue.
He said in Luxembourg: “We will take this time, calmly and seriously, to find this global agreement in the next weeks.”
It now looks like December will be the final opportunity to secure a deal - which is cutting it fine just three months before the UK is due to leave the EU on March 29.
With less than 24 hours to go, Tusk tweeted on Tuesday that there were “no grounds for optimism” before the summit.
He added: “Only source of hope for now is the goodwill and determination on both sides. For a breakthrough we need new facts.”
It comes as Tusk earlier this week warned EU leaders that a no-deal Brexit is “more likely than ever before”.