Theresa May admits she faces “long and difficult days ahead” in the Brexit process at the start of a challenging week for her premiership.

Here are some of the key events over the coming days:

– Statement on the European Council

The Prime Minister will face MPs on Monday afternoon following last week’s Brussels summit. She will attempt to put a positive spin on progress, saying 95% of the UK’s divorce deal from the European Union is complete. But all eyes will be on the reaction of Tory backbenchers who fear she is giving away too much, including the prospect of the UK remaining tied to EU laws beyond the end of 2020 in an extended transition period.

– Eurosceptics travel to Brussels

The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will be left in no doubt about the Prime Minister’s limited room for manoeuvre in a meeting with Eurosceptics on Monday. Tory former Cabinet ministers Owen Paterson and Iain Duncan Smith will tell Mr Barnier that the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan for the future UK-EU relationship is unworkable.

– Cabinet

Mrs May’s usually meets on Tuesday and there is currently high tension around the Cabinet table. The Prime Minister has sought to build support for her plans but still faces the threat of resignations from Cabinet Brexiteers if they believe she has conceded too much to Brussels. Conference calls over the weekend appear to have done little to win over critics, Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey is said to have told the PM she was “devastated” by suggestions the transition period could be extended.

– Prime Minister’s Questions

The main event in Parliament most weeks and another opportunity for Tory critics to publicly air their views about Mrs May’s handling of Brexit. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn last week used his questions to claim the Conservatives were “too weak and too divided” to deliver Brexit.

– Potential Commons revolt

Tory Brexiteers appear poised to use the passage of legislation on Northern Ireland to flex their muscles. Rebel ringleader Steve Baker has tabled a series of amendments to the Northern Ireland Bill on Wednesday which would block officials from putting any trade or regulatory barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in an attempt to prevent the Government signing up to the EU’s “backstop” proposals to avoid a hard border with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

How a Conservative leadership election works
(PA Graphics)

– Meeting of Tory backbenchers

The Prime Minister has been urged by critics to address the 1922 Committee, although given some of the lurid language used ahead of the group’s meeting on Wednesday she may think it wise to stay away. One Brexiteer suggested she should “bring her own noose to the ’22” while an ally of former Cabinet minister David Davis – a potential leadership rival – suggested the Prime Minister was now in the “killing zone”.