Brexit news latest: Theresa May begins fight of political life as UK-EU post-Brexit relationship is agreed

+++ Huge question marks remain over how Prime Minister will get deal through Commons +++ MPs slate deal as ‘unacceptable’ on fishing +++ Pound surged as draft agreement on post-Brexit relationship was announced  +++ Follow our Brexit blog LIVE for all the latest developments here  
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Theresa May began the fight of her political life today as Europe agreed a draft Brexit deal that strengthened the pound but met fury from hardline Brexiteers and Remainers.

She called the Cabinet into a special “remote” telephone session after the announcement that a 26-page draft political declaration had been agreed by UK and EU negotiators. Sterling improved half a point against the euro and by 0.91 cent against the dollar as investors welcomed signs of potential agreement.

After Cabinet, the Prime Minister stood outside No 10 and hailed it as “the right deal for Britain”.

“It delivers on the vote of the referendum,” said Mrs May. “It brings back control of our money, our borders and our laws.”

Theresa May makes a statement outside 10, Downing Street on Thursday
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

She said she was “confident” that it would be agreed — even by Spain.

Prime Minister Theresa May shakes hands with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
REUTERS

But political reactions raised huge question marks over how Mrs May hopes to get the deal through the Commons — with Labour, Lib Dems, Brexiteers, Remainers and Scottish Nationalists scorning the text. Conservative former business minister Anna Soubry, an arch-Remainer, said: “It’s not the deal that we were promised. It’s just warm words of intent instead of a proper trade deal that we were told we would get.

European Council President Donald Tusk, right, with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier
AP

“And the whole thing could be ripped up by either side once we have left the EU and our negotiating position is even weaker. These are worthy words written on the flimsiest of paper.”

The Prime Minister was planning to make a statement in the Commons after the Cabinet agreed the text, paving the way for the deal to be formally endorsed by all 28 current EU countries on Sunday. Today’s text was agreed after UK and EU negotiators knuckled down for final talks after successful discussions between Mrs May and Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels last night. It was promptly leaked just seven minutes after being emailed to the 27 remaining EU states by European Council president Donald Tusk.

  • Flexibility on future trade including a “spectrum of different outcomes” depending on how closely attached to EU rules the UK is willing to stay.
  • Fishing rights are up for grabs, which furious Scottish MPs said broke Mrs May’s promise to restore sovereignty over our waters. Aberdeen South Tory MP Ross Thomson said: “This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable. We must be a normal independent coastal state like Norway.”
  • The European Court of Justice will be deferred to over the meaning of EU law in disputes when it will be asked “for a binding ruling”. That seemed to break Mrs May’s vow to remove its sway.
  • A sop to Brexiteers worried about the Irish border backstop is included. The text agrees that new technology will be investigated to see if it could allow smooth trading to continue without a hard border, even if Britain later adopts different rules to the EU.
  • On financial services, the declaration calls on both sides to start assessing one another’s regulatory frameworks as soon as possible after Brexit, with a view to being able to declare them “equivalent” before the end of June 2020.
  • A commitment to explore the possibility of staying in the European medicines agency.
  •  On aviation, the draft appeared to fall short of Mrs May’s demand for “associate membership” of the European air safety agency, but offered “close co-operation”.

Some saw the leak of the 147-paragraph document as an attempt to bounce France and Spain, which were trying to reopen negotiations on fishing and Gibraltar. But it was quickly clear it had little backing in Parliament. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon dismissed it as “lots of unicorns taking the place of facts about the future relationship”.

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs said: “The political declaration is not legally binding, vague, aspirational and little more than a smokescreen to cover up the fact that the permanent relationship is the customs union backstop. The withdrawal agreement gives away £39 billion for no guaranteed free trade agreement in return.”

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