Brexit summit: EU tells British MPs this is 'only deal possible' as Brussels approves it – as it happened

Concerns over fishing rights are still high on the agenda for Scottish politicians, despite Theresa May’s assurances in her letter to the nation that her Brexit deal will take the UK “out of the common fisheries policy that has failed our coastal communities”.

Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary, Lesley Laird, has written to the Scotland secretary, David Mundell, insisting he clarify his position, having previously said that he could not support any extension of CFP rules past 2020. Describing the current deal as “a clear breach of your red line on fishing”, Laird says:

I would therefore be grateful if you were able to clarify that you will not be voting for the deal on this basis. If that is the case, I really must ask why you have not resigned your position in the cabinet?

Last week the UK government insisted May’s deal did not tie future access to British fishing waters with trade.

Earlier, the Aberdeen South MP, Ross Thomson, a hard Brexiter Tory, confirmed he would vote against the deal in the Commons. Describing the fishing arrangements as “troubling” on the BBC One’s Sunday Politics Scotland, he said:

It’s in the interest of the EU to keep [the CFP] going and they want to build on those existing arrangements, so to my mind that can only mean the continuation of some form of common fisheries policy.

It may not be called that but if it looks like the CFP and behaves like the CFP, it is the CFP.

Grassroots for Europe, a network that says it represents more than 100 groups campaigning against Brexit, has delivered a letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European council, asking him not to to anything that would prevent a second referendum, and to make provision for possibly revoking article 50.

Richard Wilson, one of its coordinators, from Leeds for Europe, said:

Our campaigners know from talking every week to ordinary people on streets and doorsteps that public opinion is changing and people are realising the Brexit deal is nothing like what they were promised or what many of them were persuaded to vote for.

We are making sure that our MPs know this, understand that the people’s will has changed, and carry out the people’s majority demand for the right to reject Brexit.

With this letter we are taking the same message to the EU in Brussels, to ask, in the mutual interest of all EU citizens, for the time and cooperation to allow UK electors the chance of a democratic rethink.

Here is Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, on today’s deal.

This is a sad day for everyone involved; the deal the EU have endorsed remains a disaster for the British people.

What has been agreed is vague at best and is essentially an agreement to have an agreement. There is still no majority in parliament for it, and “no Brexit” remains the only real alternative.

Nobody voted to make themselves poorer and damage the UK’s standing in the world. It is time the prime minister granted a people’s vote, with the option to remain in the EU.

The BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, has a useful Twitter thread on the message from the summit. It starts here.

Responding to the news that the European Union has endorsed the Brexit deal, the Scottish government’s Brexit secretary, Michael Russell, has issued a statement saying May’s Brexit deal “does not work for Scotland”. He says:

It takes Scotland out of the European Union against our democratic wishes, it removes us from the single market against our economic interests, and it would put us at a competitive economic disadvantage compared to Northern Ireland. The only thing it guarantees is years of damaging uncertainty.

Meanwhile the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is continuing to press the point on fishing rights: in this tweet below she challenges the Scotland secretary, David Mundell, on the link between access to waters and trade, something that the UK government insists will not be ongoing, but which many others looking at the agreement think is inevitable.

Here is Jeremy Corbyn on today’s Brexit deal.

This is a bad deal for the country. It is the result of a miserable failure of negotiation that leaves us with the worst of all worlds. It gives us less say over our future, and puts jobs and living standards at risk.

That is why Labour will oppose this deal in parliament. We will work with others to block a no-deal outcome, and ensure that Labour’s alternative plan for a sensible deal to bring the country together is on the table.

That includes a permanent customs union with a UK say, a strong single-market deal and guarantees on workers’ rights, consumer and environmental protections.

Q: Has anything changed today that might make people back the deal? And what will you say to MPs to persuade them to vote for you?

May says the country has a duty to deliver on Brexit. This deal does that, while protecting jobs and security. It is a deal that is good for the whole of the UK, she says.

And that is it. The press conference is over. I will post a summary soon.

Q: Some MPs are pushing for the Norway option as a fallback. Would you rule that out under your premiership?

May says it is important to deliver on what people voted for in the referendum, including an end to free movement.

Q: Do you plan to hold meetings with opposition MPs ahead of the vote?

May says the government will be making information available to MPs. They will need to consider if this deal delivers for their constituents.

Q: There must be a plan B. Can you rule out coming back to Brussels in three weeks and asking for more?

May says we have heard what EU leaders said. Juncker said this was the only possible deal.

Q: Isn’t your government too divided to govern?

May does not accept that. She says her government is focusing on issues other than Brexit.

Q: Jeremy Hunt said this morning the government could fall if you lose the vote. (See 11.08am.) He’s right, isn’t he?

May says she is focusing on getting the deal through.

Q: You are going over the heads of MPs and making your case to the people. Why don’t you take that to its logical conclusion and call and election?

May says she wants MPs to honour the result of the referendum.

Q: Can you rule out a second referendum or forming a government of national unity to get this through?

May says she does not support a second referendum. She says her focus is on getting this through.

Q: Was it helpful to have Juncker says it is this deal or no deal? And will you stand down if you lose?

May says she is focusing on winning the vote. She says this is “the best possible deal” and the “only possible deal”. There is not another deal available.

Q: If you cannot get this deal through the Commons, would you feel duty-bound to resign?

May says, as she has said before, this is not about her. She will focus on making the case for this deal. She says Jean-Claude Juncker said earlier it was the only deal possible.

Q: Who is pleased about this deal?

May says it is a good deal for the whole of the UK. She repeats some of the points she made in her opening statement. I believe our best days lie ahead of us, she says.

May says today marks the start of a national debate on the deal.

MPs will vote on the deal before Christmas. She says it will be one of the most crucial Commons votes for years. She says people want the government to move on from Brexit. If MPs don’t back the deal, there will be uncertainty.

May says she also wanted a deal that was good for the whole of the UK. She says it will avoid a harder border in Ireland. And it will be a deal that works for the whole of the GB family, including Gibraltar.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is speaking now. He thanks the British team for working constructively with the EU.

Now is the time for everyone to take responsibility, he says.

Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian president, says EU leaders will be discussing Brexit for quite some time to come.

EUCO is European council, the EU’s leader-level decision making body, which has been meeting today.

And this is from Simon Usherwood, deputy director of the UK in a Changing Europe project.

This is from Henry Newman, director of the Open Europe thinktank.

This is from Reuters, quoting what Pedro Sánchez, the Spanish PM, said after the summit.

Spain’s position relating to Gibraltar, a British territory since 1713 but disputed by Madrid, is stronger after EU leaders agreed Britain’s withdrawal treaty from the EU on Sunday and outlined future relations, Spain’s prime minister said.

“This puts Spain in a position of strength in negotiations with the United Kingdom over Gibraltar that we have not had until now.”

This is what Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, said when asked in his press conference what MPs should do when they vote on the deal. (See 11.37am.) He said:

I am totally convinced that this is the only deal possible. Those who think by rejecting the deal that they would have a better deal will be disappointed in the first seconds after the rejection of this deal.

And this is what he said about the future relationship between the two countries:

I don’t think Britain will be a third country like other third countries are third countries. There is, between us, something which has the remainings of love.

The May press conference is due to start at 12pm UK time, not 1pm, as I wrongly said in a post earlier.

We’re expecting Theresa May’s press conference to start at about 12pm.

Q: Are you saying, if Theresa May loses in parliament, no changes are possible?

Juncker says: “This is the only deal possible.”

But Tusk takes a more ambiguous line.

We should not, I think, speculate on what if. For sure, I’m not a fortune teller. It is for me difficult to predict what will be the result of the ratification.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Q: [From the FT] All of you have said the best deal would be for the UK to stay in the EU. Should MPs bear that in mind? Is this reversible?

Juncker says it is not a good idea for him to lecture MPs. It is up to them to decide. He is convinced that this is the only deal possible.

Those who think that by rejecting this deal they will get a better deal will be disappointed within “seconds”, he says. He says divorce is a tragic moment. Payments have to be made. And there has to be an understanding.

Britain will not be a third country like other third countries. What is left is something like love, he says.

UPDATE: See 12pm for the quotes.

Juncker says this is a very sad day. It is not a day for raising champagne glasses. Everyone who spoke today spoke of their sadness. He says this view is broadly shared, if not unanimously shared.

He says the unity of the 27 has been maintained. Despite the pressure, some of it from the UK, that unity has been maintained.

He says people who are not Spanish should not underestimate the importance of the Gibraltar issue to Spain. But there was an agreement. The EU is with Spain, he says.

He pays tribute to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, and to his officials.

Tusk says he has quoted from the summit conclusions because it contains the essence of the meeting.

Regardless of how it all ends, one thing is certain - we will remain friends until the end of days, and one day longer.

Tusk starts by saying the European council endorsed the withdrawal agreement. He repeats what is in the summit conclusions. (See 9.54am.)

This what Jeremy Hunt told Marr about how the UK could eventually improve on the Brexit deal over time. (See 11am.) He said:

There are compromises in this deal. But my colleagues in the House of Commons will be looking at this, and they will say that we have got between 70% and 80% of what we want. And the question is, can this be a staging post to getting 100% of what we want, particularly being an independent trading nation, a sovereign Britain ploughing our furrow in the world.

Q: Can May stay on as PM if she loses this vote?

Absolutely she can, says Hunt.

Q: If MPs reject this deal, will it be brought back to the Commons for a second vote?

Hunt says he cannot say.

But he says, as a country, we have been in situations that are far more challenging.

Hunt says Blair said only a second referendum would give social stability. But if there was a narrow remain victory, you would have 48% of people who had voted leave twice and who were ignored. That would not create social stability.

Q: Is no deal inevitable if parliament votes this deal down?

Hunt says there would be “a huge degree of uncertainty” if parliament were to vote this down. He says, if nothing else were to happen, the UK would leave the EU on 29 March 2019. He says to avoid that you would need to pass a new act of parliament.

Q: Amber Rudd says a majority of MPs would block a no deal.

Hunt says that is possible, but it would probably involve bringing down the government.

Q: How many Tory MPs will vote against this deal?

Hunt says he can’t say. The figures look very challenging. He says he meets a lot of Bobs – people who are “bored of Brexit”. They want the government to get on with it, he says.

He says if you are offered a deal that offers you most of what you want, you should take it – and try to improve on it later.

These are from my colleague Jennifer Rankin.

Blair says he has a lot of respect for Theresa May. She has showed “resilience” and “a degree of courage”, he says. She is also a decent person surrounded by “a lot of unreasonable ones”, he says.

But her deal will not get through parliament, he says.

Andrew Marr is now interviewing Tony Blair.

Blair says Theresa May says this deal honours the referendum result and settles the issue. But neither of those claims is correct, he says. He says Brexiters aren’t happy with this. And it would not settle the issue, because people do not support it.

He says there should be a referendum offering people a choice between the Boris Johnson-style Brexit or staying in.

Q: But that would be like you being elected in 1997, and then being told you could not govern because the election had to be held again.

Blair says what is happening is more like him being elected as a Labour PM and then declaring he is a Conservative.

Q: Could you live with an EEA-type deal?

Foster says the DUP object to anything that would separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

This is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.

Theresa May has arrived at the summit.

As PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield reports, the Labour MP Lisa Nandy was also on Sophy Ridge on Sunday. Nandy had been identified as one of the Labour MPs who might back Theresa May’s deal, but today she said she definitely would not be supporting it.

Iain Duncan Smith, the leading Tory Brexiter and former party leader, was also on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. He reaffirmed his opposition to Theresa May’s Brexit deal, although, interestingly, he only said that he was likely to be voting against it, not that he was 100% certain to.

Duncan Smith also raised a relatively new Brexiter objection to the political declaration on the future relationship agreed on Thursday. He said it contained a reference to the UK and the EU agreeing to “consider addressing social security coordination in the light of future movement of persons”.” He continued:

I think when you strip out the language, what that actually means is that we are prepared to cede to citizens of the European Union an almost immediate right to claim benefits. And this has caused huge damage to many, many on low incomes who are competing with them, when they find that [EU workers] come in on very low salaries and claim all the benefits.

May was asked about this in the Commons on Thursday by the Labour MP Angela Smith. May said this line was “in relation to some very specific issues” and that she would write to Smith explaining them.

On Sky, Duncan Smith was also asked about the knighthood given to his fellow Brexiter John Hayes on Friday. This has widely been seen as an attempt to buy Hayes’ support ahead of the vote on the Brexit deal. Mark Francois, another Brexiter, responded with a letter mocking Hayes, and claiming he could “list his political principles on the back of an old postage stamp”. But Duncan Smith defended Hayes’ decision to take the honour. He said:

When it comes to John Hayes, he’s an old friend, and he’s been a loyal minister. I have to say, he deserves a knighthood. I’m very happy for him and his wife Susan.

Here is the full text (pdf) of the conclusions of the meeting of the EU27.

There are just three paragraphs.

1. The European council endorses the agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. On this basis, the European council invites the commission, the European parliament and the council to take the necessary steps to ensure that the agreement can enter into force on 30 March 2019, so as to provide for an orderly withdrawal.

2. The European council approves the political declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The European council restates the union’s determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the United Kingdom in the future in line with the political declaration. The union’s approach will continue to be defined by the overall positions and principles set out in the previously agreed European council’s guidelines. The European council will remain permanently seized of the matter.

3. The European council thanks Michel Barnier for his tireless efforts as the union’s chief negotiator and for his contribution to maintaining the unity among EU27 member states throughout the negotiations on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

This is from Leave.EU.

Here is our latest news story on the summit.

The BBC’s Adam Fleming was watching the clock.

James Brokenshire, the communities secretary, has been on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. As my colleague Peter Walker reports, he was a little evasive on the question of whether the UK will be better off after Brexit than it is now.

A spokesperson for Philip Hammond has dismissed as “fake news” reports in the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times that he has convened a “gang” of cabinet ministers who are threatening to walk out if the government pursues a no-deal Brexit.

They pointed out that he has warned publicly numerous times about the economic risks of no deal; but insisted he had taken no further action, and wasn’t involved in a “gang of five”.

Just before Hammond’s budget earlier this month, he warned that he would have to pursue “a different strategy for the future” if the UK leaves next March without a deal in place.

The question of no deal has taken on a fresh resonance in recent days as the parliamentary arithmetic facing May as she prepares to bring her deal back to Westminster looks increasingly bleak.

Here is the scene in the room where EU leaders are meeting.

The summit proceedings have started. The first event is a meeting between the EU 27 and the president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani.

This is from Preben Aamann, Donald Tusk’s spokesperson.

You can read the provisional agenda for today’s meeting here (pdf).

The overall message to the UK from EU leaders is quite clear, as Politico Europe’s Charlie Cooper and the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg point out.

Macron was also asked about fish, the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge reports.

And he spoke about the need for EU reform.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said today was a moment of “dignity” as he arrived at the summit and spoke to reporters in French, Quentin Aries reports.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European council, is next up.

Speaking in French, he says it is a sad day.

Here are more quotes from what Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM, said when asked what would happen if the UK parliament voted down the deal. At first he replied:

I am absolutely confident that Theresa May has everything now on the table to argue for a majority in the British parliament.

Then, when pressed on whether the EU might offer more, he said:

I don’t expect a no vote, I expect a yes vote. And this is the deal on the table. I don’t think there’s anything more, no.

So that meant the EU would not be willing to offer more? Rutte replied:

I don’t want to contemplate a no vote. I think it will be a yes vote. In general, I think this is the max we can all do.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, is here now. He gives a statement to reporters.

He says he thinks it would be better if the UK stayed in the EU. But he respects its decision to leave. They have negotiated an agreement that will protect the economy, he says. It has been a very difficult deal to negotiate. But he expects it to be approved.

The best outcome for Ireland, and I think for Europe and Britain, would be for the UK to stay in the European Union, to stay in the single market and customs union, but we respect their decision not to do that.

We spent two years trying to negotiate an agreement that protects our interests, our citizens and our economy.

I believe we have that: an agreement which allows for an orderly withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, an agreement which protects the freedoms and rights of citizens, particularly the Common Travel Area, an agreement which provides a transition period during which we can negotiate a future relationship.

If that isn’t successful then a backstop that kicks in that assures us that there will be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. And we’ll continue to have tariff free and quota free trade between Britain and Ireland which is very important for our economy.

Like Michel Barnier earlier, Varadkar does not respond to questions after he has finished his statement. He says he will take questions after the summit is over.

Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, is here now. He says the European parliament supports the deal.

The European parliament is in favour of this agreement. It is a good agreement for both.

Asked repeatedly what will happen if the UK parliament votes the deal down, he refuses to speculate, just saying that he wants to be optimistic.

I want to be optimistic. The European parliament will vote a resolution in December, and probably in January, or February, we will vote [for] the agreement. We want to work with the British parliament for better relations in the future.

Here are some more quotes from Dalia Grybauskaitė, the president of Lithuania.

Asked why EU leaders were agreeing this deal when it was likely to be rejected by the UK parliament, she replied:

But we have a summit not with the British parliament, but between us [EU leaders]. We are going to agree on the withdrawal agreement. And then of course it will be for Britain to decide what to do next.

She was also asked how the EU got Spain to agree to come to this summit, given the problem over Gibraltar. She replied:

Usually there are some, I can joke, tricks – we promise to promise.

She also said EU leaders were not happy about today’s development.

I’m not sure that divorce could be perfect at all ... Nothing good in that for all sides ... I will not say we are very happy. I think that the feeling of the withdrawal of Britain, and its reality, is in our minds.

The arrivals have started. You can watch them on a live feed here. And the first person here is Dalia Grybauskaitė, the president of Lithuania. She says she and other EU leaders are not feeling very happy about this.

There is nothing good for any side, because it is withdrawal from the European Union.

She says the process ahead is long.

Q: What happens if the UK parliament rejects this deal?

Everything could happen, she says. There are at least four options, she says, including a referendum, and election, and new negotiations.

Q: Are you worried the PM will not get this through parliament?

That is not our concern, says Grybauskaitė. She says that’s a British concern.