PRIME Minister Theresa May has acknowledged that there is not enough support in the House of Commons for her to bring back her Brexit deal for a third "meaningful vote".

But May said she would continue her efforts to build support for the deal – defeated by 230 votes in January and 149 votes in March – and stage a vote before the end of the week.

The European Council has set a deadline of Friday for the PM to secure parliamentary approval for her Withdrawal Agreement if the UK is to leave the EU with a deal on May 22.

If she cannot get it through the Commons, then the UK has until April 12 to propose a different approach or crash out of the EU without a deal.

In a statement to the House of Commons, May said she regretted having to delay Brexit beyond the scheduled date of March 29.

But she cautioned MPs against seeking to obstruct a statutory instrument tabled today which will remove the date from Brexit legislation, warning that this would "cause legal confusion and uncertainty but it would not have any effect on the date of our exit".

Speaking in the Commons, she stopped short of apologising for her remarks in her staement last week, but admitted they were made in "frustration".

She said: "This is the first chance I have had to address the House since my remarks last Wednesday evening.

"I expressed my frustration with our collective failure to take a decision, but I know that many members across this House are frustrated too.

"We all have difficult jobs to do.

"People on all sides of the debate hold passionate views and I respect those differences.

"I would also like to thank all of those colleagues that have supported the deal so far, and those that have taken the time to meet with me to discuss their concerns."

MPs are expected later to debate and vote on a proposal to force a series of indicative votes on alternatives to her Withdrawal Agreement.

Defeat for the Government over the plan – tabled in an amendment by former ministers Sir Oliver Letwin and Dominic Grieve and Labour MP Hilary Benn – would be a further humiliation for May.

The proposal seeks to pave the way for a series of indicative votes in the Commons on Wednesday, effectively taking control of the Brexit process out of the hands of the Government.

But May made clear the Government will oppose the plan and will not regard the outcome of any votes as binding on it.

She said that ministers would provide their own mechanism for indicative votes to take place, but said she was "sceptical" of the process producing a useful outcome and would not promise to implement its results.

"No Government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is," she told MPs.

"So I cannot commit the Government to delivering the outcome of any votes held by this House. But I do commit to engaging constructively with this process."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would back the Letwin amendment, declaring: "It is time for Parliament to take control."

But May told the Commons the proposal would set an unwelcome precedent which would "overturn the balance of our democratic institutions".

She said: "The Government will oppose this amendment this evening, but in order to fulfil our commitments to this House would seek to provide Government time in order for this process to proceed."

Setting out the choices facing MPs, May said: "Unless this House agrees to it, no deal will not happen.

"No Brexit must not happen.

"And a slow Brexit, which extends Article 50 beyond May 22, forces the British people to take part in European elections and gives up control of any of our borders, laws, money or trade, is not a Brexit that will bring the British people together."

She said her deal was a compromise which respected both sides of the argument and "if this House can back it, we can be out of the European Union in less than two months".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, responding toTheresa May's latest update to the Commons, said: "The Government's approach to Brexit has now become a national embarrassment.

"After two years of failure, broken promise after broken promise, the Prime Minister finally accepted the inevitable last week and voted to extend Article 50 and went to Brussels to negotiate.

"Last week's summit represented another negotiating failure for the Prime Minister - her proposals were rejected and new terms were imposed on her."

Corbyn criticised last week's "wholly inappropriate" Downing Street speech by the Prime Minister, arguing she should not have tried to "pit the people against MPs".

He added: "In a climate of heightened emotions where MPs on all sides have received threats and intimidation, I hope the Prime Minister will further reflect and think again about making what I believe to be such dangerous and irresponsible statements.

"Every step of the way along this process the Government has refused to reach out, refused to listen and refused to find a consensus that can represent the views of the whole country, not just the Conservative Party."

The Prime Minister's deal is dead, Corbyn continued, saying she must look for alternatives.

He said: "Given the Prime Minister admitted she does not have the numbers for her deal, will she accept today that her deal is dead and the House should not have its time wasted giving the same answer for a third time?"

Adding Labour would be supporting Tory MP Oliver Letwin's amendment, Corbyn demanded May support plans for indicative votes.

He said: "Rather than trying to engineer a way to bring back the same twice-rejected deal, will the Prime Minister instead allow, rather than fight, plans for indicative votes?

"She cannot both accept her deal does not have the numbers and stand in the way of finding an alternative that may have the numbers."

But May would not be moved and refused to commit to respecting the result of any indicative votes.

To jeers from the opposition, she said: "I think it's important that nobody would want to support an option which contradicted the manifesto on which they stood for election to this House...

"MPs elected to this House at this time have a duty to respect the result of the referendum that took place in 2016 and attempts to stop that result being put into place or attempts to change the result of that referendum are not respecting the voters and not respecting our democracy."

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said voters are "ashamed" of the UK Parliament, UK Government and the "embarrassment that British politics has become" as he urged MPs to find a consensus.

He asked May to reject a no-deal Brexit, adding: "What is the point of all of us sitting in this chamber and voting on debates and the Prime Minister thinks she can ignore parliamentary sovereignty? What a disgrace – because if our votes don't count, then, frankly, we may as well just go home.

"If this Prime Minister is telling the people of Scotland that our votes don't count when we voted to Remain, we know what the answer is – and the day is coming that the people of Scotland will vote for independence and we will be an independent country in the European Union."

As May referred to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, MrBlackford shouted "give it a rest".