JEREMY Corbyn will today seek to upstage Theresa May “to break the Brexit logjam” at a meeting with Michel Barnier in Brussels just hours before the Prime Minister attends a key EU summit.

In a clear bid to increase the political pressure on Mrs May and present himself as an alternative Prime Minister, the Labour leader will hold private talks with the EU’s chief negotiator as well as Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, to set out Labour’s Brexit priorities and attempt to “help move the talks forward”. Brussels sources confirmed the Barnier meeting was arranged at Mr Corbyn's request.

“As the Government’s splits and Brexit bungling become ever more damaging, Labour stands ready to take up responsibility for the Brexit negotiations,” declared the Labour leader.

“A no-deal Brexit would be a bad deal for Britain, threatening jobs and living standards. It would also harm our European neighbours. That’s why it’s in all our interests to increase the pressure for real progress in the current talks and move on to negotiations about our future trading relationship.

“Far from viewing the European Union as ‘the enemy’,” a controversial remark made by Chancellor Philip Hammond, “Labour would conduct negotiations in a spirit of co-operation and mutual respect with the aim of achieving a strong settlement for Britain and a new relationship with Europe,” said Mr Corbyn.

Stressing how Labour was clear in its priorities for a “jobs-first Brexit,” which kept tariff-free access to the Single Market, and guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens in the UK with reciprocal arrangements for British citizens living on the continent, the party leader accepted Britain was leaving the EU but insisted it was how it left that was crucial for the country’s future.

“The Government is lurching towards a no-deal Brexit, egged on by a powerful faction which wants to use Brexit to turn Britain into a deregulated tax haven.

“I am unapologetic in taking every opportunity to seek to influence the final Brexit deal in the interests of the many, not just the few,” added Mr Corbyn, who, accompanied by Sir Keir Starmer, the Shadow Brexit Secretary, and Barry Gardiner, the Shadow International Trade Secretary, will also have bilateral meetings with the Italian, Swedish and Portuguese Prime Ministers.

Alyn Smith, the SNP MEP for Scotland, noted: "Mr Barnier is a hard-nosed professional operator. He knows how to get results...This meeting is not happening by accident."

Today, Mrs May will make her own attempt to move the stalled negotiations onto trade and transition by making a direct appeal to three million EU nationals living in the UK with an announcement of moves to make it “as easy as possible” for them to obtain settled status in the country.

Stressing how citizens’ rights are her “first priority,” she will promise in an open letter on Facebook that the process of registration to enable EU citizens to stay in the UK will be “streamlined” with them having a direct say over how it will work through a new user group.

The PM also claims that the UK and EU are in “touching distance” of reaching an agreement on citizens’ rights.

She says: “When we started this process, some accused us of treating EU nationals as bargaining chips. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

“EU citizens who have made their lives in the UK have made a huge contribution to our country. And we want them and their families to stay. I couldn’t be clearer: EU citizens living lawfully in the UK today will be able to stay.”

The PM will commit to:

*no longer requiring EU citizens settling here to have to demonstrate Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, as they currently have to under EU rules;

*keeping the cost of the settlement process as “low as possible” and

*establishing a simple process to allow people who already have Permanent Residence to swap this for the new settled status.

However, Mrs May’s move, while it will be welcomed by her fellow EU leaders, is unlikely to change their minds on the issue of sequencing.

On the eve of the two-day summit, Donald Tusk made clear that he “did not expect any kind of breakthrough”.

The European Council President said: "There is clearly not sufficient progress we had hoped for, so we cannot yet proceed to the second phase of negotiations.”

However, he noted how there had been “promising progress” in the wake of the PM’s Florence speech and so said EU leaders could begin “internal preparations” for talks on a Brexit transition period and future trade deal.

The nub of the deadlock is money. Mr Tajani has branded Britain’s opening £20 billion offer on the divorce settlement as “peanuts” and suggested the “real situation” was more like £50bn.