British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday said that a "good" post-Brexit deal with the EU was "within grasp" and she was determined to deliver it, as the European Commission confirmed an in-principle agreement over trade, security and other issues after Britain leaves the economic bloc.
In a statement at Downing Street after briefing her Cabinet over the Political Declaration that supplements the Withdrawal Agreement, or divorce arrangements, with the European Union, May described the minor breakthrough in Brexit negotiations as the right deal for the UK.
The UK and the EU expect to use the Political Declaration as the basis for a detailed post-Brexit trade agreement, to be thrashed out during a 21-month transition period already agreed to kick-in after March 29 next year, when Britain is set to formally exit the EU after a referendum in June 2016 in favour of Brexit.
"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," she said in a statement.
The agreement reached is between the UK and the European Commission and it will now be up to the 27 leaders of the other EU member-states to examine the draft in the days leading up to the special EU Council meeting on Sunday, when they are expected to formally sign off on the agreement.
"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," said May, who heads back to Brussels on Saturday for further meetings with European Commission President Jean-Claude ahead of the crucial summit on Sunday.
Last week, amid an open war of words from rebelling pro-Brexit Conservative Party MPs, the UK and the EU agreed a 585-page legally-binding withdrawal agreement, covering the UK's GBP 39-billion "divorce bill", citizens' rights after Brexit and the thorny issue of the Northern Ireland "backstop" to be activated to keep the border with EU member-country Ireland open if trade talks with the UK stall at a later stage.
The separate, non-legally-binding, Political Declaration sets out broad aspirations for the kind of relationship the UK and EU will have after Brexit.
"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," European Council President Donald Tusk said in a Twitter statement earlier on Thursday.
While May seems to have overcome a brewing rebellion within her own party ranks for the moment, tensions remain over some parts of the withdrawal agreement.
Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has said his government is "annoyed" over the issue of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the Spanish coast, and France is understood to have sought amendments to the wording on fishing rights in UK waters.
May stressed she was "confident that on Sunday we will be able to agree a deal for the whole of the United Kingdom family, including Gibraltar".
If she is right on that count, the British prime minister then faces the tough task of getting the deal through Parliament where MPs in the House of Commons have already been plotting its defeat.
Labour and the other UK Opposition parties have said they will vote against the withdrawal agreement, as have May's partners, the Democratic Unionist Party, who she relies on for her majority in the Commons. Many of her own Conservative MPs are also against it, arguing that it will keep the UK tied too closely to the EU and is not a "proper" Brexit.
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