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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Corbyn says deal is '26 pages of waffle' and 'blindfold Brexit we all feared' - Politics live

Afternoon summary

And here is an analysis by Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin.

That’s all from me for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

These are from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

Here is Tom Kibasi, director of the IPPR thinktank, on the political declaration.

The political declaration confirms that Britain is heading for a hard Brexit—if it can solve the Irish border problem and avoid the backstop.

The language is warm but the message is brutal: if the UK aligns to EU regulations, trade will be easier. But no one should be in any doubt that this declaration rules out frictionless trade. And should the UK diverge its regulatory framework new barriers will be erected.

The EU is a regulatory and trade superpower and has asserted its strength in this declaration, not least by the UK conceding to a permanent role for the European court of justice in dispute resolution.

The political declaration will only deepen the prime minister’s political problems: a Brexit that both disrupts trade and breaches red lines on the role of the ECJ is unlikely to gather significant support from either side of the divide.

This is from Michael Russell, the Scottish government’s constitutional relations secretary.

The Institute for Government has published a very thorough analysis of the political declaration, set out in a huge table. The whole thing is here, and here is an extract which, even if it is hard to read, at least shows how it is set out.

Analysis - economic partnership
Analysis - economic partnership Photograph: IfG

Updated

The SNP’s David Linden asks if pupils at school today will still be able to participate in Erasmus in the future.

May says the UK wants to stay involved. But she says the government will have to see what conditions are attached.

And that is it. The statement is now over, after almost two and a half hours.

No 10 confirms Chequers plan no longer blueprint for future relationship with EU

Number 10 confirmed that Chequers had been ditched, or rather superseded by the more open ended political declaration in a briefing for journalists. The prime minister official spokesman said that “the basis we move forward is the political declaration” as published today, which makes no explicit reference to the core Chequers principle of committing the UK to following the EU’s common rule book for food and goods in the long term.

When asked if “Chequers had been chucked,” the spokesman added:

What the document provides for us to pursue whichever option we so chose. We were told that the choice was binary, Norway or Canada; what you can see from the declaration is that there is a spectrum.

Labour’s Mike Kane asks why he should vote for a deal that restricts the rights of British workers to go abroad to work.

May says the UK will end free movement. What other countries do is up to them.

Neil O’Brien, a Conservative, says he spent eight years campaigning for a referendum. He says he never expected to be standing here with the text in his hand of a new trade relationship with the EU. He says holding another referendum would be a betrayal.

Andrew Percy, a Conservative, asks for an assurance that the government will never put forward legislation for a second referendum.

May says she can give that assurance. It would not be people’s vote, it would be a politicians’ vote, she says.

Ross Thomson, the Scottish Conservative, asks about Sabine Weyand’s tweet. (See 4.19pm.) He asks for an assurance that a future agreement will never link access to UK fishing waters to access for the UK to the single market. Can May give him that assurance in writing.

May says it was in her opening statement, so it is in Hansard. She said: “The fisheries agreement is not something we will be trading off against any other priorities.”

This is what Thompson tweeted earlier.

No 10 says there will never be second referendum while May PM

These are from my colleague Pippa Crerar, who has been to the lobby briefing.

That was a reference to reports like this from today’s Daily Mail.

[May] has been warned by ministers that she must get concessions alongside the text to avoid a catastrophic defeat in Parliament.

One Brexiteer cabinet minister suggested that rather than re-drafting the deal, appendices or explanatory notes could be added to make it more palatable.

‘There are lots of ways of changing something without changing something,’ they said.

‘You can do a lot with addenda.’

Ian Paisley, the DUP MP who is back in the Commons after his suspension, asks what May meant when she said earlier that, if the backstop was used, it would be quickly superseded.

May says the document makes it clear the backstop would only be temporary.

This is from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

That is a reference to this line in May’s opening statement.

Mr Speaker, the British people want Brexit to be settled.

They want a good deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future.

And they want us to come together as a country and to move on to focus on the big issues at home, like our NHS.

Labour’s Chris Matheson says the Commons voted earlier this year to remain in the European Medicines Agency. Why is the government ignoring that?

That was a reference to this vote, a surprise government defeat in the summer on the trade bill.

May says she isn’t. The government wants to negotiate on this point.

John Woodcock, an independent MP, asks if the UK will remain part of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

May says paragraph 87 does not name SIS II, but it refers to the information exchanged as part of that. He says that was a Schengen system; as a country outside Schengen, it was hard for the UK to get into SIS II in the first place, she says.

May says, in the backstop, the UK would not make ongoing financial contributions to the EU, as it would if the transition gets extended. That is one reason why the EU is not keen on the backstop.

Paul Williams, a Labour MP and GP, says patients will be worse off under Brexit. As members of the EU, patients get early access to drugs because the UK is part of the European Medicines Agency. But he says the document just talks about the possibility of cooperating with the EMA.

The Conservative Sarah Wollaston says there should be “informed consent” for leaving the EU. Now is the time for a people’s vote, she says.

Labour’s Ian Murray asks May if she thinks the UK will be poorer outside the EU.

May says “life will be different”. She says there will be new trade opportunities.

May rejects procedure committee call for Brexit deal to be amendable in normal way

Labour’s Helen Goodman asks if May accepts the recommendation of the procedure committee for MPs to vote on the amendments before the main motion when they have the “meaningful vote” on the Brexit deal.

May says MPs will be able to vote on amendments, but the public want parliament to take a yes/no decision on the deal, she says.

  • May rejects procedure committee call for Brexit deal to be amendable in normal way.

Mark Francois says this document is not legally binding. May said she would not contemplate a border down the Irish Sea.

Prime minister, why have you repeatedly made commitments at the despatch box, and then done the opposite.

And when will the “meaningful vote”.

On the timing of the vote, May says there is a balance between giving parliament enough time to consider the decision, and getting it done quickly.

And she defends the backstop plans.

Labour’s Angela Smith asks May about paragraph 54. It says.

The parties also agree to consider addressing social security coordination in the light of future movement of persons.

Does this mean EU nationals would still be able to claim benefits?

May says this refers to some very specific issues. She will write to Smith about it.

Sir Desmond Swayne, the Tory Brexiter, has a very short question.

But is is a wish list, isn’t it?

May does not accept this.

Sabine Weyand, deputy to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has posted this on Twitter - referencing a Twitter thread I posted earlier. (See 1.19pm.)

And here is some BBC comment on it.

Mike Gapes, the Labour MP, says this is a “surrender of influence” document.

Sir Edward Leigh, the Tory Brexiter, says he wants to help May. So can she assure him that, if the UK is still in the backstop by 2022, she will abrogate this treaty. He says the Vienna Convention allows that, and no parliament can bind its successor either.

May says the intention is to ensure that the UK is out well before then.

She says it is firmly her intention to be out of the backstop by the next election. She wants to be able to look the public in the eye and say she delivered.

Labour’s Pat McFadden says these proposals represent a downgrading of Britain’s status. Can May look the country in the eye and say these plans will make the country better off?

May says she does not agree with McFadden about the UK’s role. We will be an independent country outside the EU, and can form closer relationships with other bodies.

Outside the EU, the UK will be able to develop new trade relationships, she says.

Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister, says today’s document makes it clear that the UK could be fined for not obeying EU law. What other country would accept this?

He is referring to paragraph 135, on dispute settlement, which says:

Where a party fails to take measures necessary to comply with the binding resolution of a dispute within a reasonable period of time, the other Party would be entitled to request financial compensation or take proportionate and temporary measures, including suspension of its obligations within the scope of the future relationship.

May says the document would offer the UK a closer relationship with the EU than is available to any other country.

Here is the BBC’s Nick Robinson on these exchanges.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, refers to paragraph 134, which says the ECJ will have the right to decide on EU law. So why isn’t there a paragraph saying the UK courts will decide UK law. Is EU law superior?

May says EU law is not superior. But she says it has been agreed that the ECJ should settle matters of EU law.

Kate Hoey, the Labour Brexiter, says there is no need for the backstop to be in a legal agreement.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw says this will make people poorer, give the UK less control and create years of uncertainty. Is that what May really thinks people voted for?

May says, when Bradshaw talked about “poorer” and “more uncertainty”, MPs will think he was talking about a Labour government.

May says she remains committed to working towards 'frictionless trade'

Labour’s Angela Eagle asks May to confirm that this is not actually a deal. And whatever happened to frictionless trade?

May says the UK cannot agree the legal text of the new trade relationship until after the UK has left. This document says there is a spectrum; there will be a balance between wanting no trade barriers and control over regulation. She says it remains her goal to work towards frictionless trade.

  • May says she remains committed to working towards “frictionless trade”.

This is significant, because “frictionless trade” would involve something equivalent to ongoing single market membership.

Dominic Grieve, the Tory pro-European, says taking the UK out of legal entanglements with the EU only involves creating further legal entanglements. He says the backstop will create a constitutional anomaly. It will make the EU the legal guarantor of an international treaty (the Good Friday agreement) to which the UK is signed up.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader, says Philip Hammond, the chancellor, said last night that working out if the UK would be better off outside was not all about the economics. But it is all about the economics.

Patrick McLoughlin, the former Tory chairman, asks if May thinks Labour’s six-paragraph alternative is credible.

May says Labour have six tests, but they don’t have an alternative plan.

Labour’s Luciana Berger says the deal does nothing for the service sector.

May does not accept that.

Justine Greening, the Tory pro-European former cabinet minister, says this is not a good deal, especially for young people. If parliament rejects it, will the government come back with an alternative approach? And could that include a referendum?

May says the Commons voted overwhelmingly to give the people the choice to leave the EU. The people voted to leave. Politicians should deliver on that, she says.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna asks if May can provide certainty about a deal being signed by the end of the transition.

May says today’s document will give business certainty.

Today’s political declaration is fuller than last week’s, and a good deal for Britain.

Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary, says nothing in today’s document alters the “hard reality” of the withdrawal agreement, which gives the EU the power to stop the UK doing trade deal.

He says the government should “junk” the backstop, “which makes a complete nonsense of Brexit”.

May says Johnson will remember the government (when he was in it) agreeing the plan for a UK-wide temporary customs arrangement (the UK’s backstop plan).

Damian Green, the former first secretary of state, says there is more respect for May’s tenacity outside the Commons than within. He asks what can reassure people about the backstop.

May says article 50 makes it clear that the withdrawal agreement cannot be the basis for a long-term future relationship.

Sir Jeffery Donaldson, the DUP chief whip, says the backstop is unacceptable.

May says neither side wants to see the backstop used. But it is there so the people of Northern Ireland have a commitment that trade will continue as today.

Dominic Raab, who resigned as Brexit secretary last week, says this deal gives powers to the EU.

May says the political declaration is about the future relationship. When the UK is independent, will be able to get a good deal on trade. There is a balance between being bound by rules and reducing friction at the border.

May rejects last-minute Brexiter demand to remove backstop from withdrawal agreement

Owen Paterson, the Tory Brexiter and former cabinet minister, says there is a danger of the backstop becoming operative. Will May consider withdrawing the backstop from the withdrawal agreement and instead replacing it with the “max fac” customs proposals mentioned in today’s document. Then they would be legally binding, not the backstop.

May says it is her determination, and the EU’s determination, to have the future relationship in place by January 2021. The backstop is not automatic. There are alternatives. And the UK can choose them, she says.

  • May rejects last-minute Brexiter demand to remove backstop from withdrawal agreement.

Updated

Bill Cash announces Commons committee to investigate government’s handling of Brexit negotiations

Sir Bill Cash, the Tory Brexiter and chair of the European scrutiny commitee, says the document is “self-contradictory”. He says, because the ECJ will still have a role, will not secure complete independence for Britain.

He also says his committee will hold an inquiry into the government’s handling of the Brexit talks.

  • Bill Cash announces Commons committee to investigate government’s handling of Brexit negotiations.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says the fishing rights of Scottish fishermen have been discarded like fish.

He claims Scottish Tories will find it impossible to vote for this sell-out.

In her response, May quotes from what she said about fishing in her opening statement. She said:

We would become an independent coastal state, with control over our waters so our fishermen get a fairer share of the fish in our waters. We have firmly rejected a link between access to our waters and access to markets. The fisheries agreement is not something we will be trading off against any other priorities. We are clear that we will negotiate access and quotas on an annual basis, as for example, do other independent coastal states like Norway and Iceland.

Here is some comment on the Duncan Smith question.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory Brexiter, asks about the backstop. He says he wants to see the withdrawal agreement amended.

May says there are many ways in which the backstop could be avoided. But she does not offer to try to get the withdrawal agreement changed.

Updated

May is responding to Corbyn.

She says the document is much more detailed than Corbyn claims. She quotes from bits of it.

On the CFP, she says the UK will negotiate an annual agreement with the EU on access to British waters.

She says throughout this she has been looking at what’s best for the UK.

She turns to Labour’s six texts for Brexit.

She quotes five of them. (I’m quoting from the text of the words here. May may have phrased them slightly differently.)

Does it ensure a strong and collaborative future relationship with the EU?

Does it ensure the fair management of migration in the interests of the economy and communities?

Does it defend rights and protections and prevent a race to the bottom?

Does it protect national security and our capacity to tackle cross-border crime?

Does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK?

But, for obvious reasons, May omits the sixth.

Does it deliver the “exact same benefits” as we currently have as members of the single market and customs union?

  • May implicitly concedes her Brext deal does not offer the UK the “exact same benefits” as current EU membership.

Corbyn says the section on fishing in the document sounds as if the common fisheries policy will be replaced by - a new common fisheries policy.

Corbyn quotes paragraph 107 to mock it.

The parties should consider appropriate arrangements for cooperation on space.

(This refers to Galileo. Corbyn does not say so, but this bit is interesting, because it is one part of the document where today’s document says even less than the seven-page outline published last week. On Galileo, that document said: “Consideration of appropriate arrangements on space cooperation, including satellite navigation, where in the parties’ mutual interest.”

Corbyn says “Chequers has been checked”. There is no reference to the common rulebook, or frictionless trade.

He says the document mentions several agencies, without saying if the UK will remain a member.

Corbyn says deal is '26 pages of waffle' and 'blindfold Brexit we all feared'

Jeremy Corbyn says this 26-page document show how the Tory Brexit negotiation has failed.

He says just over a year ago we were told by the government there would be a trade deal at the end of this process. Liam Fox said it would be “the easiest in human history”.

Instead we have 26 pages of waffle.

He says the document is full of phrases like ‘we will look at’, or ‘we will explore’.

The government has managed less than one page for every month since the referendum, he says.

This is the blindfold Brexit we all feared.

Instead of considering the case for jobs, the government is more interested in “dog whistling on immigration”.

May says public now wants politicians to ‘move on’ from Brexit

The British people want Brexit settled. They want politicians to “move on”, and focus on other issues like the NHS, she says.

She says a deal is now in grasp.

  • May says public now wants politicians to ‘move on’ from Brexit.

May says she has been clear the Gibraltar’s sovereignty must be protected.

May says the text also repeats the determination to ensure the backstop is not needed.

And it includes specific proposals on how technology could be used to avoid the need for a hard border in Ireland. May thanks Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson (two leading figures in the ERG) for their ideas on this issue. (She met them in Number 10 earlier this week.)

May says the deal will create a free trade area with the EU unlike any other.

The EU said the choice for the UK was binary (Norway or Canada). But this text recognises there are is a spectrum of options, she says.

She says the UK would be able to negotiate and implement trade deals.

Turning to fishing, she says the UK will be an independent coastal state. British fishermen will get access to a larger share of the fish in British waters.

Theresa May's Commons statement

Theresa May is addressing MPs now about the future relationship document.

She says it is a good deal for the UK.

It ends free movement once and for all. Instead there will be skills-based immigration.

The jurisdiction of the ECJ in the UK will end, she says.

Some MPs shout, “It doesn’t.” (See 2.46pm.)

8 things you need to know about political declaration on future UK-EU relationship

You are read the full text of the draft political declaration on the future UK-EU relationship here. And here is our most recent story about it.

And here is my take - 8 of the most important points that stand out.

1 - This is nothing like the extensive draft of a trade deal originally promised by the government. In October 2017 David Davis, the then Brexit secretary, said a full trade deal could be negotiated before Brexit, ready for signing a “nanosecond” after the UK left the EU. In May this year he said this document would have to be “pretty substantive”. But it’s not. It runs to just 26 pages.

2 - Key decisions about the closeness of the trade relationship between the UK and the EU after Brexit remain unresolved. The document confirms that the UK will end free movement, which rules out a Norway-type Brexit, but in other respects the document makes it clear that the UK has yet to choose whether it wants maximum regulatory alignment (involving a loss of control) or maximum independence (involving higher barriers to trade). Two paragraphs in particular make this clear. Here is paragraph 28.

The parties envisage that the extent of the United Kingdom’s commitments on customs and regulatory cooperation, including with regard to alignment of rules, would be taken into account in the application of related checks and controls, considering this as a factor in reducing risk. This, combined with the use of all available facilitative arrangements as described above, can lead to a spectrum of different outcomes for administrative processes as well as checks and controls, and note in this context their wish to be as ambitious as possible, while respecting the integrity of their respective markets and legal orders.

Paragraph 79, on the level playing field and fair competition, makes the same point very clearly.

But, in a very minor win for Theresa May, the document also makes it clear that the UK will not get an off-the-shelf trade relationship with the UK (something at one point Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator seemed to imply, provoking a push-back from May.) Paragraph 5 in the preamble says the future deal will have to take into account the “unique context” of the UK-EU relationship.

3 - The document does not propose “frictionless” trade between the UK and the EU. The government’s white paper on Brexit published in July, fleshing out the Chequers plan, said the UK and the EU should have “frictionless access at the border to each other’s markets for goods”. This ambition has been downgraded. Today’s document, in paragraph 20, says:

The parties envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible, with a view to facilitating the ease of legitimate trade.

4 - The UK plan for the Irish backstop, which would involve the UK staying in a customs partnership with the EU, remains the springboard for the future deal. When the seven-page outline of this document last week, the bit that most alarmed Brexiters was a line saying the future deal would “build on the single customs territory provided for in the withdrawal agreement”. This aspiration remains. Paragraph 23 says:

The economic partnership should ensure no tariffs, fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all sectors, with ambitious customs arrangements that, in line with the parties’ objectives and principles above, build and improve on the single customs territory provided for in the withdrawal agreement which obviates the need for checks on rules of origin.

Later the document also says “the United Kingdom will consider aligning with union rules in relevant areas.”

5 - But there is also a commitment by both sides to do their best to ensure the backstop never gets needed. The document says:

The parties recall their determination to replace the backstop solution on Northern Ireland by a subsequent agreement that establishes alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing.

6 - “Max fac” is back in play. This is something that emerged after cabinet on Tuesday. It is a modest concession to Brexiters, who believe that new technology will ensure that the backstop provisions never need to be implemented. Here are the key paragraphs, relating to customs.

The parties will put in place ambitious customs arrangements, in pursuit of their overall objectives. In doing so, the parties envisage making use of all available facilitative arrangements and technologies, in full respect of their legal orders and ensuring that customs authorities are able to protect the parties’ respective financial interests and enforce public policies. To this end, they intend to consider mutual recognition of trusted traders’ programmes, administrative cooperation in customs matters and mutual assistance, including for the recovery of claims related to taxes and duties, and through the exchange of information to combat customs fraud and other illegal activity.

Such facilitative arrangements and technologies will also be considered in developing any alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing.

7 - The EU has not managed to secure guaranteed access to UK waters for their fishermen - although this issued is essentially unresolved, not decided in the UK’s favour. At one point countries like France wanted to link giving their fishermen access to UK waters to the UK having the right to sell its fish on the continent. But the document does not make this link. Instead it just says:

Within the context of the overall economic partnership the parties should establish a new fisheries agreement on, inter alia, access to waters and quota shares.

The parties will use their best endeavours to conclude and ratify their new fisheries agreement by 1 July 2020 in order for it to be in place in time to be used for determining fishing opportunities for the first year after the transition period.

8 - The European court of justice could still have a say. The document includes a section on dispute mechanisms, and these are very similar to the procedures set out in the withdrawal agreement text last week for resolving disputes arising from that. These involve a joint committee and an arbitration panel, which will have to refer points of dispute about EU law to the ECJ.

Updated

Tory MP Mark Francois, a leading figure in the European Research Group, told the World at One the document was “political camouflage”. He explained.

This is not binding under any international law. It is 26 pages of political camouflage designed to take people’s eye off the withdrawal agreement and try and persuade them to vote it through. It will not work.

The legally binding element in this is the withdrawal agreement. That is what MPs will vote on in the meaningful vote. This is a fig leaf.

Even with this, which won’t fool anybody, they will never get the withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, has released the text of a document he has sent to Donald Tusk, the European council president, about today’s document.

This is from Henry Newman, director of the Open Europe thinktank, on the deal. Newman used to work for Michael Gove as a special adviser. Newman said:

This political declaration sets out a default position of a Canada plus agreement with the EU, with the possibility of a closer arrangement if both sides can agree on regulatory alignment and level playing field issues. In effect the choice is between Canada plus and Chequers minus - the economic aspects of the government’s Chequers policy are not on the table.

The government failed to secure a commitment to ‘frictionless’ trade in goods but this may actually please Eurosceptics as it reflects that the UK will leave the single market and regain an independent trade policy, as well as ending free movement.

On Northern Ireland there is an explicit acknowledgment that technology and facilitation could ultimately address the border issue, although the solution is deferred to the next phase of the negotiations. The UK has also won an important victory with the acknowledgement that a future agreement on fishing will be separate from the overall trade agreement, albeit agreed within the same context.

Overall this is a non-binding declaration which sets the direction of travel for the next phase of the relationship. After the UK leaves the EU, the process of negotiating our future relationship can begin - the challenge then will be to ensure that the kind of future relationship envisioned is on offer to the entire United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, and so the backstop can be replaced.

Commenting on the document, the Labour MP Chuka Umunna, a leading supporter of the People’s Vote campaign for a second referendum, said:

This political declaration is just that - a political declaration. It is entirely aspirational and doesn’t finalise anything.

Years of uncertainty and endless negotiations would lie ahead - discouraging investment long into the future.

In short this is a terrible offer to the British people and one that the people should have the opportunity to turn down in favour of keeping our current deal as members with a say over decisions that affect our future.

The Telegraph’s Europe editor, Peter Foster, has a good Twitter thread on the document. It starts here.

And here are two tweets setting out his central conclusion.

The Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said he hoped the deal would soon be finalised as he arrived at Number 10 for talks with Theresa May. He is here because Austria holds the presidency of the EU, which gives him a key role in preparing for Sunday’s summit. He said:

Of course, we are trying our best as presidency to keep the unity of the EU27.

There are some issues now regarding Gibraltar with Spain, but I hope that we can keep the unity among the 27. And I hope that we will be able to finalise the Brexit and make sure there will be a strong cooperation between the UK and the European Union afterwards.

Theresa May greets Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Downing Street
Theresa May greets Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz in Downing Street Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

And here is a different Fysh take - from the Brexiter Tory MP Marcus Fysh.

On the subject of fishing, this Twitter thread, from Rem Korteweg, who works for a Dutch thinktank, is worth reading. It starts here.

Government says it has resisted EU bid to explicitly link fishing access to trade deal

Here are more tweets from David Mundell, the Scottish secretary, defending what the future relationship document says about fishing.

The environment department (which is led by the Brexiter Michael Gove) has also put out a brieing note defending what the document says about fishing. Here are the key points it is making.

The UK’s red lines on fish have been protected.

Industry agrees that “The declaration gives the UK the power to assert its position as an independent coastal state with full, unfettered sovereignty over our waters and natural resources” (Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation).

The text acknowledges the UK will be “an independent coastal state” with the rights and responsibilities that entails.

The EU wanted “existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources [to] be maintained” but this has been rejected - there is no commitment in the political declaration to maintaining existing access.

Instead the declaration says there will be a fisheries agreement which is a separate agreement and separate negotiation to the FTA.

This is similar to the arrangement Norway, as another independent coastal state, has with the EU - they have a fishing agreement which is separate to their trading arrangements.

SNP and Brexiter Tories accuse May of selling out Scottish fishermen

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has condemned the detail in the leaked political declaration on fishing rights as “yet another Tory sell-out of Scotland’s fishermen”. Asked about the declaration during first minister’s questions at the Holyrood parliament on Thursday lunchtime, she referred to the paragraph that states “within the context of the overall economic partnership the parties should cooperate on inter alia access to waters and quota shares” and contrasted this with the letter written to Theresa May last week by her 13 Scottish Conservative MPs which warned: “Access and quota shares cannot be included in the future economic partnership, allowing the UK to become an independent coastal state both in principle and in practice.”

Sturgeon said that if Scottish secretary David Mundell (one of the 13) was still in office by the end of today he would have forfeited for ever any scrap of credibility or principle he had.

While FMQs continued, Mundell himself tweeted that he would “not take lessons on standing up for fisherman from Nicola Sturgeon who is committed to trapping them in the hated common fisheries policy”.

But there no doubt that fishing rights continue to be a flashpoint for May’s Scottish colleagues. Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie welcomed the deal as “getting us out of the CFP”, while another of the 13, the hardline Brexiteer Ross Thomson, described it as “unacceptable”, stating: “This means sovereignty over our waters sacrificed for a trade deal. That is unacceptable. We must be a normal independent coastal state like Norway.”

May's statement about future relationship document

This is what Theresa May said about the future relationship document in her statement outside Number 10.

Last week we achieved a decisive breakthrough when we agreed with the European commission the terms for our smooth and orderly exit from the EU. Alongside that withdrawal agreement, we published an outline political declaration setting out the framework for our future relationship. Last night in Brussels I had a good, detailed discussion with President Juncker, in which I set out what was needed in that political declaration to deliver for the United Kingdom.

We tasked our negotiating teams to continue working overnight, and as a result the text of that declaration has been agreed between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

I have just updated the cabinet and I shall be making a statement to the House of Commons later this afternoon.

This is the right deal for the UK. It delivers on the vote of the referendum. It brings back control of our borders, our money and our laws, and it does so while protecting jobs, protecting our security and protecting the integrity of the United Kingdom.

The agreement we have reached is between the UK and the European commission. It is now up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member states to examine this agreement in the days leading up to the special EU council meeting on Sunday. I will speaking to my counterparts during that time, including meeting Chancellor Kurz of Austria here in Downing Street later today.

Last night I spoke to the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and I am confident that on Sunday we’ll be able to agree a deal that delivers for the whole UK family, including Gibraltar.

On Saturday I will return to Brussels for further meetings with President Juncker, where we will discuss how to bring this process to a conclusion in the interests of all our people.

The British people want this to be settled. They want a good deal that sets us on course for a brighter future. That deal is within our grasp, and I am determined to deliver it.

Theresa May addresses the media outside 10 Downing Street
Theresa May addresses the media outside 10 Downing Street Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters

Bercow signals his support for motion approving Brexit deal to be amendable in usual way

The speaker, John Bercow, has indicated he will agitate to make sure the Commons motion on a final Brexit deal is properly amendable by MPs – something ministers are wary of agreeing to.

At business question in the chamber, Bercow twice intervened to remind Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, that she and Theresa May had promised an amendable motion.

One of the areas is disagreement is whether MPs would treat the deal in the usual way – with amendments submitted and voted on before an eventual vote on the final package – or, as ministers prefer, amendments would only be considered if MPs first rejected the proposal as initially submitted. Bercow seemed to indicate he expects the former.

His first intervention came as Leadsom responded to a question by Tory MP Michael Tomlinson on the timetable for the final vote by saying it would be up to parliament “to debate and determine the procedure”. Bercow interjected:

That’s absolutely true, but it’s also true of course that the government has made clear its commitment to an amendable motion, because the leader of the house has said that a number of times in the chamber, and the point has been made by the prime minister as well, and I know that there’s been no movement from that position at all. An amendable motion will be put to the house. I think it’s important to be clear about that.

Later, when Labour MP Helen Goodman asked whether the normal type of amendments would take place, Leadsom warned that this “risks creating huge uncertainty for business, consumers and citizens”. This prompted Bercow to again intervene, indicating that he backed Goodman’s view. He said:

The government has already promised an amendable motion, and the leader of the house has herself done so on the floor of the house, and I hope that the honourable lady is at least reassured by that. There will be further discussion of these important matters, as the leader has said, but I hope that the honourable lady is reassured by that fact, of which there’s evidence in the official report.

The issue is important because, if the motion approving the Brexit deal can be amended in the usual way, MPs would be able to pass a motion approving it subject to certain conditions, like a second referendum.

Under the government plan, MPs would have a straight yes/no vote on the motion, and only vote on amendments if the motion were rejected. Ministers plan to use pass a business motion saying this procedure should be used for the vote, but that business motion would have to be approved by MPs.

John Bercow, the Commons speaker.
John Bercow, the Commons speaker. Photograph: PA

May says she is determined to deliver deal that will work for the whole of UK

Theresa May is speaking outside Number 10 now.

She says she had a good discussion with Jean-Claude Juncker last night, when she said what had to be in the political declaration to deliver for the UK.

She says the negotiating teams worked overnight, and a text was agreed.

She has updated her cabinet, and will address parliament this afternoon.

It is an agreement between the UK and the European commission. It is now up to EU leaders to look at it before the summit on Sunday.

She says she spoke to the Spanish prime minister last night. She says she is confident she will be able to deliver an agreement on Sunday that delivers for the whole EU family, including Gibraltar.

The British people want a deal.

That deal is within our grasp and I am determined to deliver it.

This is from Reuters Kylie MacLellan.

And here is Leave.EU on the document.

European Research Group says deal would leave UK 'stuck as vassal state'

A source from the European Research Group, the caucus representing Tory MPs pushing for a harder Brexit, dismissed the future relationship document as “vague”.

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 £39bn for no guaranteed free trade agreement in return. What it does guarantee is the UK would be stuck as a vassal state accepting EU laws and trade policy unless the EU decides to release us.

Updated

Here is the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake on the document.

This document is as aspirational as it is contradictory. In reality, it tells us nothing new, and as we heard from the Spanish PM’s comments last night, people aren’t rallying behind this deal, home or away.

This has gone from being a fudge to a farce. May needs to start telling some home truths, about what this deal really means for people in Britain, and British expats.

The declaration - in trying to please all sides - pretends that the UK will be able to have its cake and eat it, combining a “single customs territory” and “alignment of rules” with an independent trade policy and an end to freedom of movement. This is not the case, and MPs should not be tricked into voting for the deal on this pretence.

You can read the full draft of the leaked draft of the political declaration on the future relationship here.

This is from my colleague Jennifer Rankin.

Sturgeon says future relationship document confirms UK heading for 'blindfold Brexit'

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, says she has read the 26-page document. She says

Here is some more comment and analysis on the document from journalists.

From the Times’ Sam Coates

From the Telegraph’s James Rothwell

This is from my colleague Dan Sabbagh, who has been at the Number 10 lobby briefing.

My colleagues Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin have filed their first take on the document setting out agreed plans for the future UK/EU trade deal.

Officially it is called the “political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom”.

It expands on the seven-page outline version (pdf) published last week. That did not receive much media attention, mainly because it was remarkably vague. Some of its paragraphs were little more than headlines, and it left the question of whether the the UK would have a very close relationship with the EU after Brexit, with high regulatory alignment, or a much looser relationship essentially unresolved.

Here is Daniel and Jennifer’s story.

And this is how it starts.

A joint document on Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU fails to give hope of frictionless trade said to be vital to the British economy, but offers Theresa May arguments to bolster her hopes of selling the deal to the Brexiters in parliament.

A leaked 26-page political declaration, to be approved by EU leaders at a Brexit summit on Sunday, paints a picture of the future relationship which is far from the Chequers proposals made by the prime minister in the summer.

May is due to give a statement to the House of Commons at 2.30pm UK time.

The two sides “envisage having a trading relationship on goods that is as close as possible”, but the EU and the UK will be separate markets with inevitable barriers to trade, and there is no reference to a common rulebook.

Here are some more highlights from the document flagged up by journalists.

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

From the Financial Times’ Alex Barker

From Sky’s Faisal Islam

The PM’s statement could come at 3pm, Labour whips report.

This is from the BBC’s Brussels correspondent, Adam Fleming, on the new future relationship text.

The pound has jumped to its highest level since Dominic Raab resigned as Brexit secretary a week ago.

Sterling has gained 1.5 cents against the US dollar to $1.292, clawing back most of the losses suffered a week ago.

The pound vs the US dollar
The pound vs the US dollar over the last 10 days Photograph: MeetingRoom/Thomson Reuters

That’s a fairly substantial move, suggests City traders believe the risk of a no-deal Brexit has receded a little following Donald Tusk’s announcement.

Theresa May to address Commons after UK and EU agree draft agreement on future relationship

Theresa May will make a statement in the Commons about the agreement later today.

That is definitely 2.30pm, not 12.30pm.

Updated

Here are some excerpts that colleagues have already picked out.

From my colleague Daniel Boffey

From my colleague Dan Sabbagh

Updated

The new text runs to 26 pages.

The outline one from last week was just seven pages. You can read it here (pdf).

UK and EU agree beefed-up text on future relationship after Brexit

This is from Donald Tusk, the president of the European commission.

Last week the UK and the EU published a seven-page draft (pdf) of the political declaration on the framework for the future relationship. Today’s document is the beefed up version.

We have a copy and will be publishing details very soon.

Updated

Union leader says Labour should hold emergency conference to decide Brexit plan if May's deal voted down

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the TSSA transport union, and probably the most pro-European union leader in the Labour movement, has written an article for HuffPost saying that Labour should hold a special conference if Theresa Mays Brexit deal gets voted down in parliament to decide what it should push for next.

It’s quite long but here’s an extract.

My union now wants May’s “no Brexit at all” as the real alternative to her deal or no deal. This is the best option to safeguard working people from an impending disaster. Thankfully, the Labour party says all options remain on the table. And foregrounding no Brexit at all as the best option will involve telling some truths in public. And who better than Jeremy Corbyn to do this? Grown popular by his straight-talking socialist politics, the man usurped all political convention when after terror attacks during the last election campaign, he said: “We must be brave enough to admit the war on terror is simply not working. A Labour government would ensure that our foreign policy reduces rather than increases the threat to this country.”

Straight talking on Brexit will land Jeremy in Downing Street, as the Tories know only too well. Brexit is now very much at the core of Britain’s foreign policy, and a man whose political life has been devoted to the cause of international peace is a formidable opponent to May and her unwinnable Tory war with Europe ...

Jeremy’s position of remain and reform is as right today as it was back in 2016 - it’s why a general election is necessary. But I no more trust the Tories to give in gracefully before 2022 than I trust them to deliver a jobs first Brexit. Labour’s current policy is that once May’s rotten deal is sunk, all options remain on table. This stance is for now holding us in good stead but we can’t ride all the horses all of the time. It’s why I believe Labour should convene an emergency Labour party conference as soon as May’s deal is sunk so we can democratically decide which of the options on the table we should take.

At Labour’s conference the party agreed a motion saying that, if May’s Brexit deal gets voted down, the party should push for a general election and that, if that fails, “all options” should be on the tabled, “including campaigning for a public vote”. In his speech to the conference Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, added that “nobody is ruling out remain as an option” in that referendum - although it was also obvious at the conference that Jeremy Corbyn was not enthusiastic about a second referendum, and Len McCluskey, one of his most important allies, did rule out remain as an option. He said a “public vote” should involve a choice the Brexit deal available and a no deal Brexit.

In a related development, 30 Labour activists who were involved in the meeting where the Brexit composite motion was drafted (a composite is a compromise text, taking in all points contained in the many motions submitted one the one subject) have written an open letter to Corbyn, published on LabourList, accusing him of not following agreed party policy when giving interviews on Brexit. Here’s an extract.

You promised that the Labour Party leadership would comply with the policy agreed by our members at conference. We were therefore dismayed to read in an interview in Der Spiegel earlier this month that you had said “we can’t stop Brexit”. The Prime Minister herself has said that, if her deal is not passed by Parliament, there could be no Brexit. Parliament is sovereign. Brexit can be stopped. You were also quoted on the BBC website as having said you didn’t agree with calls for another referendum in a story about Jo Johnson’s resignation. On Sky’s Ridge programme on Sunday, despite several questions on this very specific topic, your answers were not aligned with party policy in relation to the option of campaigning for a public vote if there isn’t a General Election.

Manuel Cortes
Manuel Cortes Photograph: Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock

Katya Adler, the BBC’s Europe editor, has a Twitter thread with a useful summary of the current state of play in Brussels in the Brexit talks. It starts here.

In a separate interview this morning Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that if parliament were to vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal, a second referendum was a possibility. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

I think [May’s deal] a good deal. If it doesn’t go through, whether we end up with no deal or a second referendum is impossible to know.

But Hancock also said he thought have a second referendum would be “terrible”.

Theresa May went to Brussels yesterday but her talks with Jean-Claude Juncker did not lead to agreement on the text of the final Brexit withdrawal deal documents to be signed off at the EU summit on Sunday. She is going back on Saturday to have another go. Our overnight story summing up developments is here.

But don’t worry, Matthew Hancock, the health secretary, told the nation this morning. In an interview on the Today programme he rejected claims that the talks were in trouble and said it was normal in EU negotiations of this kind for agreement to be delayed until the very last moment. When it was put to him that it was all going wrong, told the programme:

I don’t think so. My understanding of the discussions last night are that we’ve been making good progress on the future relationship ...

We all know that EU negotiations always come down to the last minute. The last time I was in this studio you had Michel Barnier [the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator] and he said to me, ‘These deals always happen at the last minute possible, or sometimes a little bit afterwards’, and that’s how the EU negotiates. We are negotiating well. I’ve had a report from the negotiations yesterday and they are constructive and making progress.

As usual, there will be a lot more on this to come.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Parliament’s intelligence and security committee publishes a report about the 2017 terror attacks.

10.30am: Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, takes questions in the Commons.

12.30pm: Theresa May meets Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian chancellor, in Downing Street ahead of Sunday’s proposed EU emergency summit to agree the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Austria holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another when I wrap up, around 5pm.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

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