British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday secured legally binding assurances that the European Union won't use the Brexit withdrawal agreement to keep the U.K. entangled in EU rules "indefinitely," The Washington Post reports. The agreement apparently guarantees that the so-called Irish backstop, intended to keep open the border between Britain's Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, won't tie the U.K. to EU customs and trade regulations forever.
May rushed to Strasbourg, France, to strike the deal with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in a bid to avoid a devastating loss in a planned Tuesday vote on her Brexit plan less than three weeks before Britain is scheduled to leave the European trading bloc.
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