Brexit talks on Wednesday between Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the opposition party Jeremy Corbyn were "constructive, with both sides showing flexibility", according to a statement from a Downing Street spokesman.

May offered to sit down with Corbyn after MPs rejected her EU withdrawal deal for the third time in late March.

“There are actually a number of areas we agree on in relation to Brexit ... what we want to do now is to find a way forward that can command the support of this House and deliver on Brexit,” May told parliament earlier on Wednesday.

The prime minister's move could see a deal reached by the April 12 deadline, which would prevent the UK from crashing out from the bloc without a deal.

But it risks further dividing her own Conservative party.

On Wednesday, two junior Conservative ministers quit over the talks with the Labour leader, who is largely seen as veteran socialist.

“It now seems that you and your cabinet have decided that a deal — cooked up with a Marxist who has never once in his political life put British interests first — is better than ‘no- deal’,” Nigel Adams said as he resigned as a minister for Wales.

Corbyn said later on Wednesday there is "an awful lot of talking that still needs to be done" and that the Brexit situation is a "totally ridiculous process that we have gotten ourselves into".

Labour wants to stay in the customs union with the EU, which raises the prospect of a "soft" Brexit that would keep the UK economy closely aligned to its biggest trading partner.

But the party has its own infighting, with many supporters demanding a second referendum and other seeing a "soft" Brexit as a betrayal to voters in 2016 referendum.

Meanwhile, MPs narrowly rejected a plan to hold more indicative votes set for Monday that would have tried to establish a majority for another way forward for Brexit.

Ministers were tied on the amendment, voting 310-310 but Speaker John Bercow voted against in accordance with the conventions of the House.

“In accordance with precedent and on in the principle that important decisions should not be taken except by a majority, I cast my votes with the noes. So the noes have it,” Bercow said.

The EU however, put a dampener on May's plans on Wednesday.

The European Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker rejected May's appeal for a short Brexit extension unless the withdrawal deal was passed by April 12. If not, the UK would crash out of the bloc or have to sign up to a long delay.

The EU’s economic affairs and tax commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, also said the EU would automatically bring in customs checks and import duties if the UK crashed out without a deal.

Euronews