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		</div><p>Latest: The European Union’s Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has set out details of provisions in the deal to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Both the UK and EU will “use their best endeavours” to achieve a future trade agreement by July 2020 – six months before the end of the post-Brexit transition period, said the Commission.</p>
<p>Should this not be possible, the UK and EU could jointly agree to extend the transition period.<br />
Alternatively, they could introduce a “backstop” arrangement from January 2021, establishing a “single EU-UK customs territory” to apply until a new trade deal is implemented, covering all goods except fishery and aquaculture products.</p>
<p>Northern Ireland would remain part of the same customs territory as the rest of the UK and the entire area would be subject to “level playing field” commitments requiring Britain to follow EU rules in areas like animal welfare, environmental and workplace protections.</p>
<p>Mr Barnier told a news conference in Brussels the draft agreement represented a “decisive crucial step in concluding these negotiations”. On the Northern Ireland backstop, he said if there was no final agreement at the end of the transition in December 2020 they would create an “EU-UK single customs territory”.</p>
<p>“Northern Ireland will therefore remain in this same customs territory as the rest of the UK,” he said.<br />
“In addition Northern Ireland will remain aligned to those rules of the single market that are essential for avoiding a hard border.</p>
<p>“The UK would apply the EU’s customs code in Northern Ireland. It would allow Northern Irish businesses to bring goods in the single market without restrictions which is essential to avoid a hard border.”</p>
<p><strong>Update &#8211; 7.25pm:</strong></p>
<p>Theresa May says cabinet has agreed on draft Brexit withdrawal deal<br />
Theresa May’s Cabinet has given its blessing to a draft agreement on the terms for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, as well as an outline political declaration on the future relationship.</p>
<p>The agreement was announced by the British Prime Minister on the steps of 10 Downing Street after a marathon five-hour meeting of Cabinet which stretched on far beyond its expected time.</p>
<p><a href="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4E5F6D5C-B41B-4AC3-A7E2-EBAE4A06740D.jpeg"><img src="https://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/4E5F6D5C-B41B-4AC3-A7E2-EBAE4A06740D.jpeg" alt="" width="600" height="338" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-120673" /></a></p>
<p>The move clears the way for a special Brexit summit in Brussels – probably on November 25 – for EU leaders to approve the deal, followed by a crucial Commons vote in which MPs will hold Britain’s future in their hands.</p>
<p>Mrs May announced she will make a statement to the House of Commons tomorrow and concluded: “I firmly believe, with my head and my heart that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom.”</p>
<p>She said there had been a “long, detailed and impassioned debate” on the Brexit deal.<br />
Speaking outside Number 10, the British Prime Minister said: “I firmly believe that the draft withdrawal agreement was the best that could be negotiated and it was for the Cabinet to decide whether to move on in the talks.</p>
<p>“The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop, but the collective decision of Cabinet was that the Government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration.”</p>
<p>Mrs May said: “This is a decisive step which enables us to move on and finalise the deal in the days ahead.<br />
“These decisions were not taken lightly but I believe it is a decision that is firmly in the national interest.”</p>
<p>Mrs May said: “When you strip away the detail the choice before us is clear – this deal which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects jobs, security and our Union, or leave with no deal or no Brexit at all.</p>
<p>“I know there will be difficult days ahead. This is a decision that will come under intense scrutiny and that is entirely as it should be and entirely understandable.” The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will be speaking to the press at 9pm (8pm Irish time), according to EU Commission chief spokeswoman Margaritas Schinas.</p>
<p>Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, said: “We welcome the positive progress made in the negotiations by Michel Barnier and his team, who have consistently fought for the interests of the European Union.</p>
<p>“We look forward to being fully apprised of the details of the withdrawal agreement tomorrow morning at 1100 (CET) by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator.</p>
<p>“It is encouraging to see that we are moving towards a fair deal that should ensure an orderly withdrawal, including a backstop guaranteeing that there will be no hardening of the Northern Irish/Irish border and that the Good Friday Agreement will be safeguarded.</p>
<p>“This deal is a milestone towards a credible and sustainable future relationship between the EU and the UK.<br />
“It is now up to elected Parliamentarians on both sides of the Channel to do their work and scrutinise the proposed deal, including the political declaration and the framework for future relationship.</p>
<p>“Throughout the Article 50 negotiations, we have fought for a people-first Brexit, and we are committed to forensically monitor closely the implementation of the citizen’s rights parts of the agreement.<br />
“The European Parliament will have the final say, along with the UK Parliament, on the deal.”</p>
<p><strong>Update &#8211; 7pm:</strong><br />
Theresa May fights to get marathon Cabinet meeting to back her Brexit plans.<br />
Theresa May was fighting to get senior ministers on board with her Brexit plans as a Cabinet meeting to approve a draft withdrawal agreement dragged on well beyond its expected time.</p>
<p>There was confusion in Westminster as British Government minister Nick Hurd wrongly told MPs that Mrs May had cancelled plans for a statement to the press on the outcome of the crunch meeting.</p>
<p>Downing Street was forced to issue a statement that the British PM’s appearance before the TV cameras would go ahead. Mrs May is expected to deliver a brief statement without a lectern in front of the famous black door to Number 10.</p>
<p>Brexit-backing Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who has called for Mrs May’s removal as leader, tweeted: “Catastrophe and calamity. What an utter, total mess.”</p>
<p>Mr Hurd’s misstatement came at about 5.30pm, after ministers had been locked in discussion around the Cabinet table for three and a half hours with little sign of the meeting drawing to an end.</p>
<p>Opposition leaders including Jeremy Corbyn had written to Mrs May to say it would be “entirely inappropriate” for her to brief the press before making a statement to MPs.</p>
<p>Reports suggested that many ministers were speaking at length about the 500-page document which they first saw on Tuesday evening, sparking speculation that Mrs May was having to address doubts among her top team.</p>
<p>The draft document sparked waves of condemnation from Brexit-backing Tory backbenchers, who fear it will commit the UK to remaining indefinitely within a customs union with the EU and unable to forge its own trade deals elsewhere.</p>
<p>Cabinet minister David Mundell joined other Scottish Tories in voicing unease about the treatment of fisheries in any post-Brexit arrangement, warning the British Prime Minister they could not support a deal which failed to restore “complete control and full sovereignty” over UK waters.</p>
<p>All 13 Scottish Conservative MPs signed a joint letter warning the British Prime Minister that they could not support a deal which failed to restore “complete control and full sovereignty” over the UK’s fishing waters.</p>
<p>Mr Mundell is among the few MPs to have read the draft agreement finalised on Tuesday, and his inclusion among the signatories sparked speculation that he may be ready to resign from the Cabinet if he is not satisfied by its contents.</p>
<p>In the letter, the MPs warn: “We could not support an agreement with the EU that would prevent the UK from independently negotiating access and quota shares… We also cannot stay in the Common Fisheries Policy after December 2020.”</p>
<p>The emergence of the letter came amid a febrile atmosphere in Westminster as Cabinet ministers gathered at 10 Downing Street for their historic 2pm meeting to decide whether to give their approval to the plan.</p>
<p>They met shortly after Mrs May urged MPs in the Commons to back an agreement which she said would bring the UK “significantly closer” to delivering the result of the 2016 referendum.</p>
<p>The level of Brexiteer discontent has raised expectations that further letters demanding a vote of no confidence in Mrs May will be sent to the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee – a total of 48 letters would trigger a showdown.</p>
<p>Leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has previously held back from calling for Mrs May’s removal, said on Tuesday that “there comes a point at which the policy and the individual become so intimately connected that it will be very hard to carry on supporting the person who is promoting this policy”.</p>
<p>Tensions were heightened by reports that senior Brussels negotiator Sabine Weyand had told ambassadors the deal will mean the UK aligns its rules with Europe, while the EU “will retain all the controls”.</p>
<p>Ms Weyand – deputy to chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier – cast doubt on the veracity of a leaked note containing her supposed comments by “liking” a series of tweets which said it was “not an accurate reflection of the EU’s position”.</p>
<p>At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs May told MPs: “The Cabinet will decide on the next steps in the national interest.<br />
“I am confident that this takes us significantly closer to delivering what the British people voted for in the referendum.”</p>
<p>Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the draft deal was “a failure in its own terms” and a senior spokesman said that the “likelihood” was that the party would vote against it in the Commons.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster – whose party props up the minority Conservative administration in the Commons – said there would be “consequences” if the deal contained anything threatening the integrity of the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>“We could not as Unionists support a deal that broke up the United Kingdom,” said Mrs Foster, who flew to London and expects to meet Mrs May late on Wednesday. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the draft deal could provide the basis for a summit of EU leaders by the end of the month, potentially on November 25.</p>
<p>He said he was confident that the proposed arrangements would not negatively impact on the Good Friday Agreement, adding that Dublin was ready to write into any deal a legal guarantee for the unionist community in Northern Ireland, who he acknowledged were going through “a difficult time”.</p>
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