Although a final decision was not made at Monday night's meeting, a second Democratic source said a final decision could be made at a White House meeting Tuesday between the Senate's Democratic majority and President Obama.

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On Twitter, Mr Andrews said the "meeting was cordial but the Whitehall source is just offensive - and it reads like it was someone in the meeting".

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One source at the meeting told Reuters that the SNC had agreed only under pressure and that it had been given a deadline of 10:00 (07:00 GMT) to sign up or risk being left out.

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