Critics line up after May wins cabinet support – as it happened

Well, we’re going to call it a night, folks.

I’ll be back with a fresh blog bringing you all of Thursday’s news, which I’ll be launching at about 5:30am. So take the next three hours to have a well-deserved break from politics, and hopefully get some sleep.

Thanks so much for following along.

Early coverage of the deal from European papers appears positive.

Le Figaro has: “May imposes her Brexit agreement on her team.” Le Monde triumphantly carries May’s assessment of her cabinet success as a “decisive step” and calls it a success. Les Echos paints the weariest picture, referring to the pain May had to go through to get the support of her ministers.

In Germany, Die Zeit has “British cabinet accepts May’s Brexit draft”, Der Spiegel says “Theresa May after Brexit-deal: dodged a bullet”, Die Welt leads with “British cabinet agrees to drafted Brexit deal”, Süddeutsche Zeitung has “Brexit deal overcomes important hurdle” and Bild Zeitung “Stage-victory for British premier Theresa May: Cabinet waves through Brexit deal”.

Sam Coates, the Times’ deputy political editor, has some juicy tidbits from inside the cabinet meeting today, including Esther McVey’s “meltdown”, which we have also reported on, and this interesting nugget:

“Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told the room that he could not guarantee people would not die as a result of a no-deal Brexit.”

There’s no explanation of what Hancock may have been referring to.

Simon Coveney, the deputy prime minister of Ireland, has tweeted his thanks to those involved in securing the draft agreement, which he calls “a credible Brexit withdrawal agreement that protects Ireland, our shared island and our future relationship with the UK”.

The Irish leaders have been among the only ones to speak positively about the deal.

More reaction from Scotland

View image in fullscreen

We had some quotes from Nicola Sturgeon earlier in the day, but here is her full statement, in which she labels the deal “bad for Scotland” and said it was like being “blackmailed into a choice between the frying pan or the fire”.

In a phone call with the Prime Minister after the Cabinet meeting, Ms Sturgeon rejected Mrs May’s assertion that Scotland’s interests had been protected in the deal.

I pointed out that there isn’t a single mention of Scotland in the agreement, that it disregards our interests and puts Scotland at a serious competitive disadvantage,” she said.

It is obvious that the Prime Minister can barely unite her Cabinet on this deal and it is also increasingly clear that she will struggle to get a majority for it in Parliament.

In these circumstances it is more important than ever that we are not faced with a false choice between a bad deal and no deal.

No-one should be effectively blackmailed into a choice between the frying pan or the fire.

This proposed deal would be a bad one for Scotland, taking us out of a single market eight times the size of the UK market alone and posing a huge threat to jobs, investment and living standards.

If this deal is indeed rejected by Parliament, then the UK Government must return to the negotiating table to secure a better one.

Our bottom line - short of continued EU membership - is continued, permanent membership of the single market and customs union.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said:

This is a bad deal for the country. Labour has been clear from the beginning that we need a deal to support jobs and the economy - one that guarantees standards and protections.

The Tories have let down the country with their bungled negotiations and pushed Britain towards a bad deal that will harm jobs, rights and living standards.

The deal undermines the integrity of the UK and would be another example of the Tories playing into the hands of the SNP by putting the future of the UK at risk through their ineptitude and recklessness.

Ruth Davidson and David Mundell threatened to resign if the integrity of the UK was put at risk - and it appears Theresa May has simply ignored them.

Ukip are making hay out of today’s news and are pushing membership of their party in light of the draft agreement, which they describe as “May’s abject surrender”.

The ads also have strong military tone. One features a picture depicting May as Neville Chamberlain holding up his infamous “peace for our time” paper and urges people to “join the fight back”.

Another, from a Twitter account called War Plan Purple, which is an official Ukip account, urges people to “ENLIST”.

View image in fullscreen

Prison minister Rory Stewart has said European Union member states believe Theresa May’s Brexit deal is “too good” for Britain, claiming it reflects what “many EU countries want” – benefits of customs union membership with no freedom of movement.

Speaking on the BBC earlier today, Stewart told Andrew Neill: “From their point of view, this sounds like Norway with control over borders, which is what a lot of European states would want.

“Because from their point of view, from many people in Europe, they feel this is exactly what many European states want. Which is control over immigration and unfettered access to the single market on goods.

“And they believe that these four freedoms are inalienable and would say this is breaking the four freedoms.”

Neil accused Stewart of “making up half a dozen things”, saying: “The customs union is not related to free movement. The single market is different from the customs union. That is related to free movement.”

And this is what the chief whip said when he left the office earlier.

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh has been keeping an eye on who has been going in and out of the PM’s office in Westminster this evening.

Iain Dale, LBC presenter and staunch Brexiter, caused a stir earlier tonight when he told Newsnight that he’d rather Britain remain in the EU than leave the union with this deal.

He has published a blog explaining those comments (and says, for the record, that he’d prefer no deal over either remaining or taking this deal). In his blogpost, he describes the agreement reached with the EU by May as a “constitutional outrage” that “reduces Britain – which is still the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world – to the state of an EU controlled province.”

This is not what I voted for on June 23 2016. I am pretty sure it’s not what 17.4 million other people voted for. We now have the worst of all worlds, a Brexit In Name Only - commonly known as BRINO. Not in Europe, but still run by Europe, as William Hague might not have said...

I’m often asked if I regret my Leave vote. I most certainly do not. The reasons why I voted Leave are as valid today as they were two and a half years ago. There is no one to blame for the fact that the negotiations have ended up in this sorry way except for those who have been conducting them...

I regard this deal as so damaging to our country both in the short and long term that if I had to make a choice between voting for this deal or remaining in the European Union, I’d do the latter.

Jacob Rees Mogg was on Peston, where he vented about the deal. Here’s a clip.

When I first heard about the document, obviously it was gossip and it was rumour and it was leaks. Now that the document is available, unfortunately it’s worse than the gossip and the rumour and the leaks. And it fails the prime minister’s own promises, and that’s the most concerning thing, because a prime minister must not promise one thing and do another.

And some more of today’s front pages. None are as colourful as the Sun’s, but the consensus of seems to be that while May may be holding on, it is by the skin of her teeth.

Hello late-night politics-watchers, this is Kate Lyons taking over the blog from Ruth Quinn. Hats off to all my colleagues who have brought you the news as it has unfolded. What a day!

There’s a lot of unhappiness around tonight about the deal, including from the Sun, who blast it on Thursday’s front page. Here’s their front page (right) and their front page on the day after the referendum during happier times (for the Sun, that is).

The Independent’s political correspondent Benjamin Kentish reports that No 10 are allow a vote on amendments before main vote in parliament

Ominous tweet from Arlene Foster. In the language Northern Irish marathon power-sharing talks “frank meetings” are rarely good news for negotiators