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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Brexit deal is FINALLY ready: Theresa May summons Cabinet ministers to No 10 'one-by-one' after negotiating teams reach 'technical' agreement

The Prime Minister is bracing for a potentially explosive showdown with her ministers after officials in Brussels firmed up a text overnight.

Following the breakthrough, the Cabinet is set to be brought into Downing Street individually this evening for discussions with Mrs May.

No10 will hope the personal treatment can minimise the risk of resignations by Brexiteers when the senior team gathers again at 2pm tomorrow.

However, even if the premier survives the crunch session with her Cabinet unscathed she is facing a massive task to push the deal through Parliament.

The dramatic movement comes as the clock runs down on a deadline for triggering a crunch EU summit that could approve a divorce package this month.

At a 45-minute Cabinet meeting this morning, Mrs May said there were only a few issues to be finalised and UK officials were pushing for the 'best text that can be negotiated'.

Boris Johnson tore into 'stage managed delays' to the Brexit process today, saying people should not be 'fooled by this theatre' and a 'surrender' by the government is imminent.

EU and UK negotiators are said to have agreed a text for a 'backstop' to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic last night.

A source told RTE that the agreement was now 'as stable as it can be' and had been sent to Downing Street.

But Mrs May must still get it past an increasing restive Cabinet, before running the gauntlet of vehement opposition from Remainers and Brexiteers in Parliament.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is said to be spearheading a group of ministers who have been warning that crashing out of the EU would be better than caving into EU demands.

Mr Raab has apparently being trying to harden the resolve of colleagues by assuring them that a no-deal Brexit can be 'managed'.

The Brexit divorce negotiations have boiled down to the issue of the Irish border.

The line between Northern Ireland and the Republic will be the UK's only land border with the EU after we leave the bloc.

Brussels had initially demanded that Northern Ireland stays within its jurisdiction for customs and most single market rules to avoid a hard border.

But Mrs May flatly rejected the idea, saying she would not agree to anything that risked splitting the UK. Instead, the government has mooted a temporary customs union for the whole UK, and accepted the need for extra regulatory checks in the Irish Sea.

Brussels has also given ground, and now appears to be prepared to sign off a UK-wide backstop in the divorce deal.

That left the mechanism for ending the backstop as the final hurdle to overcome - but the two sides had different views.

 These were the options on the table:

UNILATERAL EXIT

Dominic Raab has been arguing that the UK should be able to scrap the backstop arrangements by giving three to six months' notice.

That would assuage Eurosceptic fears that the country could end up being trapped in an inferior customs union indefinitely, unless the EU gives permission for it to stop or a wider trade deal is sealed.

ALL-WEATHER BACKSTOP

For its part, the EU has been adamant that the backstop must offer an 'all-weather' solution to the Irish border issue and stay in place 'unless and until' it is superseded by other arrangements.

The bloc has already effectively killed off calls for a hard end date to the backstop - and No10 is now convinced that a simple unilateral notice period will not unlock the talks. 

COMPROMISE PLAN

Mrs May and Irish PM Leo Varadkar have discussed a 'review mechanism' for the backstop, which could involve an independent arbitration body assessing whether the terms were being honoured and if the arrangement should be ended.

Potentially this could provide a solution that allows Mrs May to say the backstop would not go on for ever.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox - an eminent QC and strident Brexiteer - has been tasked with coming up with a text that satisfies both sides.

But the devil will be in the detail, and ministers are keen to ensure there are 'robust' ways for the UK to escape .

Source: Daily Mail

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