Gove insists October 31st Brexit will happen as Government begins no-deal contingency plan

The Government's Operation Yellowhammer contingency plan to handle a no-deal Brexit is being "triggered", Michael Gove has said.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who is in charge of preparations for a no-deal outcome, said the risk of such a scenario had increased due to MPs forcing the Government to ask Brussels for another delay to the Brexit date.

Some Westminster observers viewed the move as a bid to increase pressure on MPs to back Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal.

The latest development comes as Mr Gove insisted Brexit will go ahead on October 31, a stance emphasised by Boris Johnson following a Commons defeat on Saturday.

But Labour has hit out at the way the Prime Minister distanced himself from a legally required request to the EU for a Brexit extension which he refused to sign.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell accused Mr Johnson of "behaving a bit like a spoilt brat" over the issue and has said he believes the prime minister could be held in contempt of parliament over his behaviour.

However, despite the anger over Mr Johnson's behaviour Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab believes the Government can get Boris Johnson's Brexit deal through Parliament - telling Andrew Marr that they "have the numbers" to get Mr Johnson's deal through.

Mr Gove, speaking to Sky News about activating the contingency plan, said: "The risk of leaving without a deal has actually increased because we cannot guarantee that the European Council will grant an extension.

"And that is why I will, later today, be chairing a Cabinet committee meeting, extraordinarily on a Sunday, in order to ensure that the next stage of our exit preparations and our preparedness for no-deal is accelerated.

"It means that we are triggering Operation Yellowhammer.

"It means that we are preparing to ensure that, if no extension is granted, we have done everything possible in order to prepare to leave without a deal."

Mr Johnson stressed to Brussels he was only sending the communication at Parliament's bidding.

After suffering an embarrassing defeat in the Commons over his Brexit plans, the Prime Minister got a senior diplomat to send Brussels an unsigned photocopy of the call by MPs to delay withdrawal from the bloc, with a cover note stressing his detachment from the move.

In a second note to European Council president Donald Tusk, the PM said a Brexit extension would be "deeply corrosive".