Cabinet backs draft Brexit deal: what happened behind closed doors?

Theresa May has secured the backing of her Cabinet for a draft Brexit deal negotiated between the EU and the UK after a five-hour meeting last night.

Emerging from what she described as a “long, detailed and impassioned debate” at Downing Street, the prime minister said that the Cabinet’s decision to back the draft was a “decisive step” towards Brexit.

However, a number of senior cabinet members were reportedly strongly opposed to the terms of the deal.

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The Times says Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey was “believed to be on the verge of quitting last night” after clashing with the prime minister, and being shouted down by the chief whip and cabinet secretary after she demanded a vote by ministers on the deal.

“Emotional Cabinet ministers angrily confronted Theresa May in a tense stand-off,” claims The Sun.

The newspaper says the mood was apparently “much, much worse” than after the Chequers summit over the summer, but that the top team were won over by fears that it “was this or Jeremy Corbyn”.

“Penny Mordant repeated her pleas for ministers to be released from collective responsibility and given a free vote on the deal in the Commons,” it adds. “Mrs May moved to sooth Liam Fox's fears that trade deals will not be able to be done with other countries for years to come, but sources said ‘Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid’ were ‘less convinced and not as gullible’.”

The prime minister is yet again facing rumours of a vote of no confidence from within her own party.

Despite May securing the backing of her top ministers, the Brexit deal still has to be signed off by Parliament.

The DUP, on whose votes May’s government relies to stay in power, has already said that the deal breaches “the party’s red lines on identical treatment for Northern Ireland”, reports The Guardian.

Labour has also signalled it will vote against the deal as it “looks unlikely to support jobs and the economy or guarantee standards and protections”.

Additionally, pro-Remain Conservatives may also vote to scupper the deal, which then presents a further variety of possible outcomes, including the possibility of a general election, or even a second referendum.

The draft agreement will be presented to an emergency EU summit in late November, before being introduced to Parliament in early December.