HUGE BREXIT BOOST AT LAST
May clinches deal ...now let’s get on with ditching EU
THERESA May’s drive to get Britain out of the EU was given a massive boost yesterday when she agreed a £39billion exit deal with chief Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker.
After a frantic night of wrangling ended in a 4am dash to Brussels, the Prime Minister finally broke the deadlock in the negotiations.
Shattered from only two hours’ sleep, she shook hands on the deal with the European Commission president at about 6am yesterday.
“Getting to this point has required give and take on both sides,” Mrs May said, adding that her deal was “in the best interests of the whole of the UK”.
A summit of European leaders in Brussels is now expected to give the go-ahead to negotiators to begin thrashing out a trade deal.
Leading Leave campaigners Boris Johnson and Michael Gove led Cabinet ministers in
praising Mrs May for securing the breakthrough. Environment Secretary Mr Gove described the deal as a “significant personal political achievement for the Prime Minister” while Foreign Secretary Mr Johnson hailed her “determination”.
Brexit-backing Tory backbenchers gave the agreement a cautious welcome while warning of far more work ahead to ensure a full break with Brussels.
Senior Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “I am content that no red lines have been crossed but there is a good deal of detail to settle.”
Former Tory Cabinet minister John Redwood welcomed the move towards trade talks but warned: “A good deal has to be better than this, otherwise the Government’s mantra that no deal is better than a bad deal should apply.”
And former Brexit minister David Jones said he feared that plans to “align” some British and EU regulations to avoid the need for border controls between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic could stop Britain signing free-trade deals with countries around the world.
Other Eurosceptic campaigners were underwhelmed by the details of the agreement, which included an agreement to pay an exit fee estimated by British officials at between £35billion and £39billion.
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “The British Prime Minister flying through the night to meet three unelected men and agree to every single one of their demands is humiliating for our country.” He added: “A deal in Brussels is good news for Mrs May as we can now move on to the next stage of humiliation.”
Richard Tice and John Longworth, co-chairmen of the Brexit-backing campaign group Leave Means Leave, warned that the deal contained “hostages to fortune”.
In a joint statement, they said: “The UK Government should therefore be much tougher in its stance going forward. Anything less would amount to a massive betrayal of the British people.” In an extraordinary bout of diplomacy, Mrs May was understood to have thrashed out the final details of the agreement in a series of phone calls late into the night. Several calls took place during a Christmas drinks party for Downing Street staff.
She spoke twice to Arlene Foster, the leader of her parliamentary allies in the Democratic Unionist Party, in the battle to allay concerns that Northern Ireland could be effectively “left behind” when Britain quits the EU. Exhausted officials worked into