Brexit news latest: Rebel Tory MPs round on Theresa May in Commons after deal on future UK-EU relationship is reached

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Rebel Tory MPs today rounded on Theresa May in the Commons as she bid to persuade them the UK-EU post-Brexit relationship would set the British people "on course for a brighter future."

Mrs May now faces a fierce battle to get her Brexit deal through Parliament with Labour, Lib Dems, Brexiteers, Remainers and Scottish Nationalists scorning the text with fishing rights a key sticking point.

Staunch Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith, chair of the European scrutiny committee Bill Cash and former Cabinet ministers Dominic Raab, Owen Paterson and Justine Greening were among those to speak out against the political declaration in the Commons on Thursday afternoon.

Later, the DUP's chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the idea of an Irish backstop must end if Mrs May wanted support from the party.

Addressing MPs in the Commons on Thursday in a bid to persuade them to back her deal in a Parliamentary vote, Mrs May said: "The negotiations are now at a critical moment and all our efforts must be focused on working with our European partners to bring this process to a final conclusion in the interests of all our people."

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

"The British people want Brexit to be settled and they want a deal that sets us on course for a brighter future.

"The British people want us to come together to focus on bigger issues at home like our NHS."

She added: "The text has now been agreed between the US and the European commission.

"The draft text agreed is a good deal, it honors the vote of the British people by taking back control of our borders, law and money.

"It ends free movement once and for all, instead we will introduce a new skill-based immigration system.

Jeremy Corbyn speaks in the Commons on Thursday
PA

"It ends the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the UK. It also means an end of sending vast amounts of money to the EU."

A spokesman for Mrs May later said the UK has no further demands in Brexit negotiations ahead of Sunday’s summit in Brussels, adding the prime minister believes she can win a vote on her deal in parliament.

Brexiteer and Tory former leader Mr Smith told Mrs May he appreciated "enormously" her endeavours to deal with the Northern Irish backstop issue, but said: "The reality is that this not the Withdrawal Agreement.

"The Withdrawal Agreement will make it very clear that should we, even under these terms, struggle with a negotiation for a free trade arrangement and not complete that process, we will fall into the Northern Ireland backstop as it exists at the moment.

Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith speaking in the House of Commons
AFP/Getty Images

"And that will mean simply that we will be bound by those restrictions that force Northern Ireland into a separate arrangement and us into the customs union."

He told the Prime Minister: "I would hope that she would now consider that none of this is at all workable unless we get the Withdrawal Agreement now amended so that any arrangements we make strip out that backstop and leave us with that positive open border that we talked about."

Tory Brexiteer Sir Bill told Mrs May the Commons European scrutiny committee, which he chairs, would be holding an inquiry into "the Government's handling and outcome of these negotiations".

He said: "This declaration cannot be reconciled with the repeal of the 1972 act nor the referendum vote."

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab took a swipe at Theresa May's Brexit deal in the Commons (Will Oliver/EPA)
EPA

Former Brexit secretary Mr Raab, who resigned last week over the Brexit deal, said Mrs May's backstop would do the opposite of the will of the people by giving control away.

He said: "The backstop ties the UK to the customs union and single market rules with no voice and an EU veto over our exit whilst paragraph 23 of the political declaration makes that the starting point for future relations to build on.

"The top reason people voted to leave the EU was to take back control over our laws.

"Isn't it the regrettable but inescapable reality that this deal gives even more away?"

There were loud jeers from the opposition as Mrs May then thanked Mr Raab for his work as Brexit secretary.

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Mr Paterson later warned that inclusion of the backstop meant "the horror of Northern Ireland being split off" from the UK remained.

Mrs May responded saying the backstop was not "automatic", she said: "There are alternatives to the backstop and the United Kingdom can choose those alternatives, there are pros and cons in these and when the time comes obviously that choice will measure those pros and cons."

Former Education Secretary Ms Greening said: "I don't think the is a good deal for Britain."

Veteran Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh said the Tories "need to do better".

He tweeted: "As the draft Withdrawal Agreement currently stands it is not good enough. We need to do better."

People's Vote protesters march on Parliament Square - in Pictures

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But fellow Conservative and justice minister Rory Stewart welcomed the speech.

"Welcome words from the prime minister with pledges on agriculture, fisheries, trade and security cooperation, with reassurances on the status of Gibraltar and the backstop #letsgetonwithit," he wrote.

Following Mrs May's statement, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn branded the deal "waffle".

Mrs May hit back at Mr Corbyn saying that "he may want to play party politics but that she was working in the national interest".

Mrs May's deal would take fisheries back into "a new Common Fisheries Policy", Mr Corbyn told the Commons.

Fishermen had been told the UK would become an independent coastal nation, he said: "Yet this agreement sets an aspiration to establish a new fisheries agreement on access to waters and quota shares by summer 2020.

"That sounds to me like we're replacing membership of the Common Fisheries Policy with a new Common Fisheries Policy.

"It's clear, absolutely clear, that during what will now inevitably be an extended transition period there will be no control of our money, our laws and our borders, nor indeed of our fishing stocks, for a very long time to come."

Mrs May, in her reply to Mr Corbyn said: "I have to say to him that on virtually everything he said in his response to my statement he couldn't be more wrong.

"Indeed, I didn't believe that he'd actually even read the political declaration that we published today, like the Withdrawal Agreement."

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.

He went onto Twitter to announce the agreement, saying: “I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators’ level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders.”

The deal is expected to be formally endorsed by all 28 current EU countries on Sunday.

Controversial points include:

  • 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”.

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