UK Prime Minister Theresa May defended the Brexit deal in the House of Commons in London on Monday, following the EU Brexit summit in Brussels on Sunday where the terms of the agreement were approved by the leaders of the 27 other EU member states.
May claimed that the deal is the best one the UK could get, saying that there is “absolute certainty that there is not a better deal available” and added that EU leaders “were very clear on that” at the summit in Brussels.
She also explained that while the so called backstop arrangement to avoid a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is not perfect, it was essential to any agreement, stating that “there is no deal that comes without a backstop and without a backstop there is no deal.”
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn criticised the deal however saying that the government’s negotiations had never even got beyond “square one” and added that for “the good of the nation the House has very little choice but to reject this deal.”
Now that the EU leaders have signed off on the terms of the withdrawal agreement, the only hurdle in the way of the UK’s exit from the European Union is a parliamentary vote on the deal, which is scheduled for December 11.