Brexit entered a chaotic new chapter on Thursday as a swathe of government ministers – including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab – resigned in protest at the deal secured by Prime Minister Theresa May.

Raab’s resignation triggered a major fall in the pound, with UK-focused stocks following closely behind. Traders are bracing for a turbulent next few days, even weeks, in financial markets.

Investors and analysts across the City of London are scrambling to make sense of Thursday’s developments, especially the repercussions for the economy and UK assets.

Here’s what key figures in the City are saying. Check out their comments below:

Dean Turner, economist at UBS’ Wealth Management’s Chief Investment Office, says the deal will eventually get through parliament in its current form, but that it will be a bumpy road.

“The Brexit negotiations are entering the endgame but the final outcome still remains highly uncertain. The technocrats have, as expected, hammered a draft text for the withdrawal agreement it is now up to the politicians to finalize the deal,” he said in a note to clients Thursday morning.

“The risk to the deal succeeding or failing is now in the hands of UK members of parliament. Theresa May’s slim parliamentary majority, only possible with the support of the DUP, may not hold up when the WA is first shown to MPs. We expect a period of political turbulence in the coming weeks and the collateral damage to the government could be sizeable.

“However, we still think it is more likely than not that MPs will eventually ratify the WA as the alternative of a ‘no deal’ exit will be a less enticing prospect.”

Tina Fordham and Christian Schulz from Citi say the UK not leaving the EU is more likely than May’s deal getting through.

“In terms of outcomes, we see either ‘Never Brexit’ or a No-Deal Brexit – the two best and worst outcomes for the UK economy and markets – respectively, as considerably more likely than a successful vote on the current deal,” the pair wrote to clients on Thursday.

Alasdair Haynes, chairman of Aquis Exchange, a London-based equities trading firm, is concerned that the current situation could see Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party come to power. Corbyn self-identifies as a democratic socialist and has vowed to crack down on banks.

“The absolutely scary thing happening today is that a deal that could get done might not get done, and he could get in,” Haynes said.

“If we have a hard Brexit and Corbyn, that’s Armageddon.”

“28 months work appears to be unraveling in a matter of hours,” says a Bank of America Merrill Lynch team led by James Barty.

“Only one date in the diary really matters; the meaningful vote on the deal in parliament currently expected for 10 December. Until that risk event is behind us, we suspect it will be hard to have much confidence in any one scenario,” the team said.

That said, if May can cling on and somehow manage to push the deal through parliament, however unlikely that is, markets could rally sharply, the team argue.

“This would be enough to bring relief to markets as it would eliminate the risk of no deal, with all the risks that would bring. Until then, uncertainty provides downside risks to our below-consensus growth forecasts and suggests heightened risk premia.”

The chance of a no deal Brexit is now 50/50, says Capital Economics’ Vicky Redwood.

“News that Theresa May could soon face a leadership challenge is the latest twist in the Brexit saga, but even if she survives, the key point is that the chances of her deal being passed by parliament are not looking good,” Redwood wrote.

“There is therefore still a good chance (we’d say 50/50) of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, but the impact of this on the economy would depend on how ‘orderly’ a no deal it was.”

“We always warned that, even if the UK and EU managed to negotiate a deal, getting it through parliament was a big hurdle. And with the mooted leadership contest illustrating the strength of opposition to the deal from Conservative Eurosceptic, that hurdle now looks even bigger.”

Dr Daniel Harenberg, senior economist with Oxford Economics, says that the only certainty right now is uncertainty, and that this is likely to cause chaos in the markets.

“About the only thing that seems sure now is that the next few months will see considerable political upheaval, triggering bouts of significant market volatility,” he wrote to clients.

Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at £94 billion investments firm Hargreaves Lansdown, points out that while the stock market’s reaction looks subdued on the surface — the FTSE 100 is down just 0.5% — UK centric stocks are actually taking a pounding.

“The market has taken a big red pen to stocks which are heavily exposed to the UK economy like the banks, retailers and housebuilders. These sectors were already under pressure, but the potential for an orderly Brexit to unravel in the next few days is causing further distress to be manifested in share prices,” he wrote to clients.

Barclays, for instance, has today hit lows not seen since the day after Britain first voted to leave the EU.

“The pound has fallen, which is acting as a buoyancy aid for the Footsie index, as it boosts the share prices of the big international firms whose revenue streams largely come from overseas,” Khalaf added.

Will Hobbs, head of investment strategy at Barclays Smart Investor, says that UK assets are in for a “hair-raising time.”

“Our hunch remains that the potentially dark unknowns of a hard Brexit will incentivize compromise of one sort or another,” he wrote.

“If such a compromise is not found, we should be prepared for both the UK economy and its related assets to be subjected to a more hair-raising time for a while. Nonetheless, the intrinsic value of the stocks quoted on the UK’s exchanges tends to have little to do with the UK economy.”

Stephen Beer, CIO of Epworth Investment Management, thinks the penny has finally dropped on Brexit for many people.

“The truth is no one can accurately predict how this will play over the next few days and weeks. However, in some important respects, nothing has changed since the referendum,” he said.

“It remains the case that Brexit is likely to be economically worse for the UK than remaining in the European Union. What we have now is more people realising that.”</s>LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May won the support of her bitterly divided Cabinet on Wednesday for a draft deal to leave the European Union after months of stalled talks, bickering and setbacks that have threatened the messy divorce known as Brexit as well as May's leadership.

May secured the backing of her Cabinet for the deal with the EU following an "impassioned" five-hour debate. May confirmed the development during a short statement outside No. 10 Downing Street, the British leader's official residence.

"I firmly believe, with my head and my heart that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom," she said, referring to the support from her Cabinet as a "collective agreement." She didn’t say whether the deal received unanimous backing.

Securing Cabinet approval was an important step for May, but the deal still needs approval from the EU at a summit in the next few weeks. Then May will need to win backing from Britain's Parliament, where pro-Brexit and pro-EU legislators alike are threatening to oppose it. A disorderly exit from the EU is still a possibility.

Britain is due to leave the bloc in March. On Tuesday, it broke a four-month-long logjam with EU negotiators over the terms of its withdrawal, including a plan to keep the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland open after Brexit.

A statue of Winston Churchill is silhouetted against the Houses of Parliament and the early morning sky in London on June 24, 2016.

But pro-Brexit lawmakers in May’s divided Conservative Party are angry, saying the agreement will leave Britain tethered to the EU after it departs the bloc. Failure to secure Cabinet backing would have left May’s leadership in doubt and Brexit in chaos.

"Theresa May’s Brexit agreement is the worst deal in history," Nigel Farage, the British politician and broadcaster who helped engineer the June 2016 Brexit vote, tweeted. Farage represents Britain in the European Parliament in Brussels.

May herself told lawmakers earlier Wednesday that the draft deal "takes us significantly closer to delivering what the British people voted for" when they decided to leave the bloc. She said the deal means that Britain will "take back control" of its laws and borders "while protecting jobs, security and the integrity of our United Kingdom."

Britain's former Foreign Secretary William Hague said a failure to back the draft deal could have led to a new Brexit referendum and even a general election.

"It would probably mean a different government," Hague said in a BBC radio interview. He add that another Brexit referendum "might not resolve matters" that if it did happen it would be "the most divisive and bitter political conflict in this country in 100 years, and very economically damaging."

Britain voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in the vote. Some polling data indicate that if there were a second Brexit vote a majority would chose to stay in the EU. May has repeatedly rejected the idea of holding a second vote.

May is expected to give a statement to Parliament on Thursday. Aspects of the deal that will be detailed in the coming days include Britain's trade relationship with the EU and what rights the 3.8 million EU nationals who live in Britain will retain after the divorce.

More: How much is Brexit costing Brits? A lot — and the tab keeps rising</s>LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May won the support of her bitterly divided Cabinet on Wednesday for a draft deal to leave the European Union after months of stalled talks, bickering and setbacks that have threatened the messy divorce known as Brexit as well as May's leadership.

May secured the backing of her Cabinet for the deal with the EU following an "impassioned" five-hour debate. May confirmed the development during a short statement outside No. 10 Downing Street, the British leader's official residence.

"I firmly believe, with my head and my heart that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom," she said, referring to the support from her Cabinet as a "collective agreement." She didn’t say whether the deal received unanimous backing.

Securing Cabinet approval was an important step for May, but the deal still needs approval from the EU at a summit in the next few weeks. Then May will need to win backing from Britain's Parliament, where pro-Brexit and pro-EU legislators alike are threatening to oppose it. A disorderly exit from the EU is still a possibility.

Britain is due to leave the bloc in March. On Tuesday, it broke a four-month-long logjam with EU negotiators over the terms of its withdrawal, including a plan to keep the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland open after Brexit.

A statue of Winston Churchill is silhouetted against the Houses of Parliament and the early morning sky in London on June 24, 2016.

But pro-Brexit lawmakers in May’s divided Conservative Party are angry, saying the agreement will leave Britain tethered to the EU after it departs the bloc. Failure to secure Cabinet backing would have left May’s leadership in doubt and Brexit in chaos.

"Theresa May’s Brexit agreement is the worst deal in history," Nigel Farage, the British politician and broadcaster who helped engineer the June 2016 Brexit vote, tweeted. Farage represents Britain in the European Parliament in Brussels.

May herself told lawmakers earlier Wednesday that the draft deal "takes us significantly closer to delivering what the British people voted for" when they decided to leave the bloc. She said the deal means that Britain will "take back control" of its laws and borders "while protecting jobs, security and the integrity of our United Kingdom."

Britain's former Foreign Secretary William Hague said a failure to back the draft deal could have led to a new Brexit referendum and even a general election.

"It would probably mean a different government," Hague said in a BBC radio interview. He add that another Brexit referendum "might not resolve matters" that if it did happen it would be "the most divisive and bitter political conflict in this country in 100 years, and very economically damaging."

Britain voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in the vote. Some polling data indicate that if there were a second Brexit vote a majority would chose to stay in the EU. May has repeatedly rejected the idea of holding a second vote.

May is expected to give a statement to Parliament on Thursday. Aspects of the deal that will be detailed in the coming days include Britain's trade relationship with the EU and what rights the 3.8 million EU nationals who live in Britain will retain after the divorce.

More: How much is Brexit costing Brits? A lot — and the tab keeps rising</s>British Prime Minister, Theresa May, says she intends to see her draft Brexit plan through but she could be removed as party leader if the Tories hold a vote of no confidence.

Here's a look at the 10 men and women who are the most likely to be the next leader of the Conservative party.</s>Theresa May is braced for a furious backlash from Tory Brexiteers as she presents her deal on Britain’s EU withdrawal to the Commons.

The Prime Minister cleared the first hurdle when Cabinet ministers finally approved the draft terms of her agreement with Brussels at a stormy five-hour meeting on Wednesday.

But she now faces a battle to get it through Parliament as pro-Leave Conservative MPs – as well as some Remainers – lined up to condemn the plan, accusing her of breaking promises and leaving the UK at the mercy of Brussels.

Following the release of the 585-page agreement document, Jacob Rees-Mogg – the leader of the pro-Brexit European Research Group – wrote to all Tory MPs urging them to vote against it.

Rumours continued to swirl at Westminster that the tally of Conservative MPs who have submitted letters of no confidence in Mrs May is about to reach the 48 threshold needed to trigger a vote on her position.

Mr Rees-Mogg said that he was not among those MPs who had written to the chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady, but suggested he could be “very close” to doing so.

“Certainly this has dented my confidence,” he told ITV’s Peston programme. “Politics depends on trust and this document is shattering to trust.”

While the Cabinet agreed to collectively support the agreement, there was speculation that some ministers were so unhappy that they could still quit in protest.

Reports suggested as many as a third of the 28 ministers attending the meeting in No 10 voiced doubts about the deal.

Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey was said to be particularly upset amid reports she was shouted down after she tried to press for the agreement to be put to a vote.

Mrs May described the debate around the Cabinet table as “long, detailed and impassioned”, in a clear indication her proposals had come under intense challenge from ministers.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street minutes after the meeting concluded, she acknowledged she faced “difficult days ahead” as she attempts to win round critical MPs.

“I firmly believe, with my head and my heart, that this is a decision which is in the best interests of the United Kingdom,” she said.

At the same time she warned Brexiteers that if they failed to back her plan they risked ending up with “no Brexit at all”.

Chief Whip Julian Smith has said he is confident the Government will get the support of Parliament for the deal.

But with the DUP – whose 10 MPs prop up Mrs May in the Commons – voicing their unhappiness at the agreement, and the prospect of a significant Tory backbench revolt it is hard to see how ministers can make the numbers add up.

Jeremy Corbyn again made clear that Labour was unlikely to come to the Government’s rescue.

“I don’t believe that the deal that I’ve heard of so far is in the national interest. It doesn’t meet the interests of all parts of Britain, it doesn’t give us a security of our trading relationship with Europe in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker issued a statement that “decisive progress” had been made, clearing the way for a special summit for leaders of the remaining 27 EU states to give their stamp of approval, probably on November 25.

Senior UK Government officials said the final text of the withdrawal agreement featured important gains for the UK on the so-called backstop arrangements to be implemented if no trade deal can be reached.

The outline political declaration – which will be subject to further negotiation over the coming weeks – expresses an ambition to achieve zero tariffs and no quotas in EU-UK trade, something the officials said no other major economy had achieved.

The facilitated customs arrangements and “common rulebook” proposed in Mrs May’s Chequers plan are replaced by the concept of a “sliding scale” of commitments and market access, which means the UK would not be tied to an off-the-shelf deal of the kind previously offered to countries such as Canada.

Under backstop arrangements designed to keep the Irish border open, if no trade deal is agreed by the end of the transition period in December 2020, a temporary “EU-UK single customs territory” would be established.

This could be terminated only by mutual consent of Brussels and London but each side would be legally bound to make “best endeavours” to bring it to an end by sealing a permanent deal on their future relations.

There will be a provision to allow the two sides to extend the transition to a fixed date rather than activate the backstop.

A five-person arbitration panel, with two representatives of each side and one independent member, will be set up to rule on disputes, with the chair chosen by drawing lots if members cannot agree.</s>On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that her ministers have approved her Brexit withdrawal plan. May will now have to address parliament for approval. Photo: Getty

Theresa May has been hit with her first resignation over the proposed Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Shailesh Vara, a Northern Ireland minister in the British government, quit first thing Thursday morning London time saying he could not support the withdrawal agreement.

In his resignation statement, published on his Twitter account, the minister said the deal fails to leave the UK as a “sovereign, independent country”.

The agreement “leaves the UK in a half-way house with no time limit on when we will finally be a sovereign nation”, he wrote.

May secured Cabinet support for her Brexit divorce proposal, taking a significant step towards preventing the UK crashing out of the European Union without a deal.

After a high-stakes five-hour Cabinet debate, the Prime Minister emerged from 10 Downing Street to reveal Cabinet had endorsed the draft plan.

The 500-page draft Brexit withdrawal agreement was agreed after hours of arguments which Mrs May described as a “long, detailed and impassioned debate.’’

A failure to secure a deal could have triggered a leadership challenge against Mrs May, or led her to resign.

While no-one seems particularly thrilled with the draft deal, Mrs May appears to have steered a middle path through the hard Brexiteers and the staunch Remainers by warning it was this deal or no deal.

The sticking points related to the Northern Ireland border, and how a hard border could be avoided with the Republic of Ireland.

Cabinet members could not agree on how to manage the establishment of a “temporary customs agreement’’ which would start at the end of the Brexit transition period in 2020 in the event of no permanent deal being reached.

To ensure Northern Ireland was treated no differently to the rest of the UK, a so-called “all-UK backstop’’ was being planned, which would remain in place until a final agreement was reached.</s>Theresa May will launch a high-stakes battle to sell her Brexit deal to parliament on Thursday, after clinching the support of her deeply-divided cabinet during a fraught five-hour meeting in Downing Street.

Emerging from No 10 on Wednesday night, May said she believed “with my head and my heart” that her deal was the best one for the UK – and the only alternatives were no deal, or no Brexit.

She said her ministers had taken a “collective” decision, to press ahead with finalising the deal in Brussels, which she will then have to bring back to parliament for approval; but it was clear there had been significant dissent.

Theresa May's Brexit deal: everything you need to know Read more

There were a series of dissenting voices from Brexit supporting ministers, as the meeting overran its intended length by two hours. One Whitehall source said the environment secretary, Michael Gove, had been the only leaver to speak in favour.

“This is a decision that was not taken lightly, but I believe it is firmly in the national interest,” May said, adding that cabinet had held “a long, detailed and impassioned debate”.

Cabinet sources said Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, made the most impassioned interventions against the draft agreement and warned of chaos should the government lose a meaningful vote in parliament.

May twice refused a request from McVey to hold a vote in the room. One cabinet source said that McVey was “shouted down” by the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill.

Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said they were “caught between the devil and the deep blue sea”.

Up to 11 cabinet ministers were said to have spoken out against the deal. Supportive voices came from the communities secretary, James Brokenshire, and the education secretary, Damian Hinds.

Brokenshire, a close ally of May, said the prime minister should “follow her judgment”, and while Hinds expressed some reservations that there would be no unilateral way to withdraw from the backstop, according to a source he told ministers that the deal “has to be better than the alternative”.

May will now face questions from sceptical MPs on the 585-page withdrawal agreement – effectively the divorce deal – published on Wednesday night alongside a seven-page outline of Britain’s future relationship with the EU.

The documents confirmed one key concession that has enraged Brexiters: the UK will not be able to unilaterally exit the Irish backstop. Instead that decision would rest with a joint, independent arbitration committee with an equal number of British and EU representatives, as well as outside members. The EU and the UK “decide jointly within the joint committee that [the backstop] … is no longer necessary,” the draft agreement said.

Within minutes of the documents being published, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chair of the ardently pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), had written to all his Tory colleagues with a detailed rebuttal, urging them to join him in voting it down.

Amid rumours that Brexiters were sufficiently angry about the details of the deal to seek to trigger a vote of no-confidence in the prime minster as Tory leader, Rees-Mogg said he would “not be surprised” if colleagues did so.

Brexit deal: May wins cabinet support but hints at ministers' reservations – Politics live Read more

May took a defiant stance in her statement, insisting that “there will be difficult days ahead, this deal will come under intense scrutiny and that is entirely as it should be and entirely understandable.”

She said: “What I owe to this country is to make decisions in the national interest and I firmly believe that, with my head and my heart, this deal is in the best interest of our entire United Kingdom.”

Government officials highlighted what they claimed were a series of negotiating victories on the fraught question of the backstop – including “best endeavours” clauses, obliging both sides to make efforts to ensure it never comes into force.

May drank a glass of wine with the cabinet before stepping out to speak on the Downing Street steps. No 10 denied any cabinet ministers had explicitly threatened to resign and said the prime minister had set the tone by acknowledging there were “difficult and uncomfortable” decisions that had been taken.

The prime minister and her cabinet will now turn their attention to promoting the deal, to the public and their backbench colleagues.

After the release of the deal, Philip Hammond and Greg Clark almost immediately convened a conference call with business leaders, to brief them on the details.

No ministers resigned on Wednesday evening after the lengthy meeting broke up but there were fears that walkouts could follow.

Julian Smith, the chief whip, would not comment on possible resignations, telling reporters outside the prime minister’s office in the Commons that it was “not surprising we had to have such a long cabinet” given the importance of the issue.

The key May ally insisted that the meeting had been positive and was confident May’s deal would be approved by MPs, although he would not say when a vote would take place other than it would be “hopefully before parliament before Christmas”.

Before the cabinet meeting, May held one-to-one meetings with key ministers – including Penny Mordaunt and Andrea Leadsom – on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in a bid to assuage their concerns that the UK could slide into a permanent customs union with the EU.

Scottish Conservatives, including the Scottish secretary, David Mundell, who attended the crunch meeting, had also sought assurances over fishing rights.

Rumours were swirling at Westminster late on Wednesday that a fresh flurry of letters from angry Tories could be submitted to Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, the mechanism to spark a no-confidence vote.

Quick guide How would the Tories trigger a leadership contest? Show Hide No-confidence proceedings Forty-eight Conservative MPs would need to back a no-confidence vote in Theresa May to trigger a leadership contest, according to party rules. There are two ways a contest can be triggered, most obviously if the leader of the party resigns. If they do not, 15% of Conservative MPs must write to the chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories. With the party’s current crop of 317 MPs, 48 would be needed. After David Cameron announced his resignation, five Tory MPs stood for the leadership. Unlike Labour party rules, under which candidates go to a ballot of members as long as they have the support of 15% of the party’s MPs, Conservative candidates are whittled down to a final two before party members have their say. The ballot is based on “one member, one vote”, but in 2016 one of the final two candidates, Andrea Leadsom, withdrew from the race after a damaging interview with the Times about the fact that May did not have children. Her withdrawal meant May was made party leader without having been elected by members.

If the total number of such letters reaches 48, Brady would have to announce a vote – although more than 150 would need to vote against May to formally topple her.

While all eyes have been on the cabinet’s reaction to the draft deal, it has also been met with expressions of serious concern among key member states, including France, which was expected to demand further concessions.

Brussels was expected to confirm that it would convene a special EU summit to sign off on the deal on 25 November, after EU ambassadors held their own lengthy meeting on Wednesday.

The final deal, to be put to MPs, would include the full text of the political declaration on Britain’s future trading relationship, some aspects of which have not yet been negotiated.

Cabinet ministers have only seen a seven-page outline of this political declaration, along with 585 pages setting out the withdrawal agreement – effectively the divorce terms.

Several Brexiter ministers were unhappy about the terms of the deal. One senior leaver said it was “worse than expected”, while another said: “Several people are not in a happy place.”

However, securing the support of her cabinet for now would allow May to press on with putting the agreement to MPs in a “meaningful vote”, likely to be held early next month.

Provisional UK Brexit deal with EU difficult to secure, says Barnier Read more

The parliamentary arithmetic looks tight. The Democratic Unionist party (DUP), whose 10 votes the Conservatives rely on for their majority, rubbished the deal before it had even been published, with the party’s Brexit spokesman, Sammy Wilson, describing it as a “punishment beating”.

The DUP have been wary of any arrangement that gives Northern Ireland a different status to the rest of the UK.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said he agreed with May that the publication of the draft withdrawal agreement and political declaration constituted “decisive progress”. The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, published a letter to the European council president, Donald Tusk, recommending the convening of a special Brexit summit later this month.

Barnier warned, however, that it would be difficult to translate the provisional agreement into a final deal given the fierce opposition in some quarters. “The path is long and it may well be difficult to guarantee an orderly withdrawal,” he said, as he called on the UK parliament to “assume its responsibility”.



</s>Theresa May’s Brexit plan is “profoundly undemocratic” and would lock the UK into the EU’s rules, the leader of the influential European Research Group of Tories has said as he urged colleagues to reject the blueprint.

In a letter to colleagues, Jacob Rees-Mogg said the deal would see the UK hand over £39 billion to the European Union for “little or nothing in return”.

Arch-Brexiteer Mr Rees-Mogg also said the deal was unacceptable to unionists because of its treatment of Northern Ireland and broke Tory manifesto commitments.

In a call for revolt on the Tory benches, he said: “For these reasons I can not support the proposed agreement in Parliament and would hope that Conservative MPs would do likewise.”

He wrote: “The proposed agreement will see the UK hand over £39 billion to the EU for little or nothing in return. The prospect of an agreed free trade agreement is as far away today as it always has been.”

The 15-page political declaration on the future relationship was “neither binding nor clear” and “if it aims to put in place the Chequers proposal it is neither workable nor respectful of the referendum result”.

In an echo of the argument on the Vote Leave bus, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “In the absence of a trade agreement we should spend our money on our own priorities, for instance £39 billion could pay for 26,000 nurses for 40 years.”

Mr Rees-Mogg warned: “This agreement will lock us into an EU customs union and EU laws. This will prevent us pursuing a UK trade policy based around our priorities and economy.

“Without the ability to regulate our own economy and form our own trade agreements we will lose out on the opportunities that Brexit affords us.”

Agreeing to the rules of the customs union “in contravention of the 2017 Conservative manifesto, without any votes or influence, is profoundly undemocratic”.

“This is compounded by the lack of any ability for the UK to unilaterally escape, making the UK a permanent rule taker,” he added.

He said the proposals would treat Northern Ireland differently from the rest of the UK, which was unacceptable to unionists in both Northern Ireland and Scotland.

The letter comes a day after Mr Rees-Mogg suggested his patience with Mrs May was running out.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who has previously held back from calling for Mrs May’s removal, said on Tuesday that “there comes a point at which the policy and the individual become so intimately connected that it will be very hard to carry on supporting the person who is promoting this policy”.</s>The Tory backbencher claimed Theresa May’s Brexit deal will leave Britain tied to Brussels forever as he urged for the Prime Minister to “see sense”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World Tonight, Mr Bridgen said: “I hope the Cabinet will make the Prime Minister see sense. This is not going to go through Parliament. So, there is no point bringing that vote when it is going to fail. If it passes through the Cabinet then it will have to go through Parliament and I honestly believe all this discussion about whether the EU 27 think it is giving away too much – that is pure theatre. This is a sell-out and is a betrayal of the Brexit we promised the British people and I will not be voting for it.”

Mr Bridgen said Mrs May’s Chequers proposal displayed a “clear” shift in her Brexit position. He added: “We were very clear, weren’t we? And the Prime Minister was very clear in her Lancaster House speech, Florence, Mansion House speech, you know, that we are taking back control of our money, our laws and our borders. “We will be no longer under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice and while the Prime Minister held that position and Brexit means Brexit, I was completely loyal. “But, obviously, once the Chequers proposals came out in the duplicitous way in which they were produced without the knowledge of the Brexit Secretary David Davis and Steve Baker, a minister in that department who both resigned after Chequers.

It was clear that the Prime Minister had shifted her position and I haven’t shifted mine.” Two years after Britain voted to quit the EU, UK and Brussels negotiators finally broke the deadlock to conclude a draft withdrawal agreement on Tuesday. The proposed treaty, more than 500 pages long, could be rubber stamped at a special EU summit in the Belgian capital later this month. But the Prime Minister now needs to win the backing of her Cabinet for the deal at a crunch emergency meeting in Downing Street this afternoon. Mrs May was understood to have told friends last night: "This is a deal that delivers for the millions of people who voted to leave the EU.” Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has also ridiculed the agreement and said: "For the first time in a thousand years, this place, this Parliament, will not have a say over the laws that govern this country. It is a quite incredible state of affairs."

Prominent Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg added: "White flags have gone up all over Whitehall. It is a betrayal of the Union." He said that if leaks about the deal were correct the “Cabinet should reject it”. Mr Rees-Mogg added: “They should vote it down, they should make it clear that the Cabinet will not support it. “It is harder to leave the customs union under the proposed backstop than it is currently so we go from being a vassal to being a slave.” In an effort to win over her Cabinet, the Prime Minister held a series of one-to-one meetings with ministers in Downing Street following concerns several were poised to quit in protest at details of the deal. Sources close to the talks said the breakthrough was finally achieved when the EU backed down over contentious details in the plan for a so-called Northern Ireland "backstop”, which could have imposed customs checks on goods travelling between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.</s>Theresa May has secured her deal in Brussels but her fight to get it actually in place in time for Brexit day is just beginning.

If the Cabinet agrees to the deal the biggest hurdle will be the 'meaningful vote' on the plans in Parliament.

This is expected to take place in December to ensure the deal is over its biggest hurdle before the end of the year.

The Prime Minister needs at least 318 votes in the Commons if all 650 MPs turns up - but can probably only be confident of around 230 votes.

The number is less than half because the four Speakers, 7 Sinn Fein MPs and four tellers will not take part.

To win, Mrs May will need to get back around half of the 80 hardcore Tory Brexiteer rebels and secure the support of the 10 DUP MPs.

Even then she will probably still need the help of dozens of Labour MPs to save her deal and possibly her job.

This is how the House of Commons might break down:

Who are they: All members of the Government are the so-called 'payroll' vote and are obliged to follow the whips orders or resign. It includes the Cabinet, all junior ministers, the whips and unpaid parliamentary aides.

How many of them are there? About 150.

What do they want? For the Prime Minister to survive, get her deal and reach exit day with the minimum of fuss.

Many junior ministers want promotion while many of the Cabinet want to be in a position to take the top job when Mrs May goes.

How will they vote? With the Prime Minister.

Who are they? Led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the ERG counts Boris Johnson, David Davis and other former ministers including Steve Baker and Iain Duncan Smith.

How many of them are there? Estimates vary on how many members it has. It secured 62 signatures on a letter to the PM in February while Mr Baker has claimed the group has a bloc of 80 Tory MPs willing to vote against May's plans.

The group's deputy leader Mark Francois said today there were at least 40 hard liners who would vote against the deal in all circumstances.

What do they want? The ERG has said Mrs May should abandon her plans for a unique trade deal and instead negotiate a 'Canada plus plus plus' deal.

This is based on a trade deal signed between the EU and Canada in August 2014 that eliminated 98 per cent of tariffs and taxes charged on goods shipped across the Atlantic.

The EU has long said it would be happy to do a deal based on Canada - but warn it would only work for Great Britain and not Northern Ireland.

The ERG say the model can be adapted to work for the whole UK. They say Northern Ireland can be included by using technology on the Irish border to track goods and make sure products which don't meet EU rules do not enter the single market.

They also say it would give complete freedom for Britain to sign new trade deals around the world to replace any losses in trade with the EU.

The group is content to leave the EU without a deal if Brussels will not give in.

How will they vote: Against the Prime Minister.

Moderates in the Brexit Delivery Group (BDG) and other Loyalists

Who are they? A newer group, the BDG counts members from across the Brexit divide inside the Tory Party. It includes former minister Nick Boles and MPs including Remainer Simon Hart and Brexiteer Andrew Percy.

There are also many unaligned Tory MPs who are desperate to talk about anything else.

How many of them are there? There are thought to be around 50 members in the BDG, with a few dozen other MPs loyal to the Prime Minister

What do they want? The BDG prioritises delivering on Brexit and getting to exit day on March 29, 2019, without destroying the Tory Party or the Government. If the PM gets a deal the group will probably vote for it.

It is less interested in the exact form of the deal but many in it have said Mrs May's Chequers plan will not work.

Mr Boles has set out a proposal for Britain to stay in the European Economic Area (EEA) until a free trade deal be negotiated - effectively to leave the EU but stay in close orbit as a member of the single market.

How will they vote? With the Prime Minister.

Who are they? A handful of about five Tory MPs - mostly former ministers - who never supported Brexit and think the failure of politicians to get a deal means Parliament should hand it back to the people. The group includes Anna Soubry, Dominic Grieve and Justine Greening.

What do they want instead? A so-called People's Vote. The exact timing still needs to be sorted out but broadly, the group wants the Article 50 process postponed and a second referendum scheduled.

This would take about six months from start to finish and they group wants Remain as an option on the ballot paper, probably with Mrs May's deal as the alternative.

There are established pro-Remain campaigns born out of the losing Britain Stronger in Europe campaign from 2016. It is supported by Tony Blair, the Liberal Democrats and assorted pro-EU politicians outside the Tory party.

How will they vote? Hard to say for sure. Probably with the Prime Minister if the only other option was no deal.

Who are they? The Northern Ireland Party signed up to a 'confidence and supply' agreement with the Conservative Party to prop up the Government.

They are Unionist and say Brexit is good but must not carve Northern Ireland out of the Union.

How many of them are there? 10.

What do they want? A Brexit deal that protects Northern Ireland inside the UK.

How will they vote? Against the Prime Minister if the deal breaches the red line, with the Prime Minister if she can persuade them it does not. The group currently says No.

Who are they? Labour MPs who are loyal to Jeremy Corbyn and willing to follow his whipping orders.

How many of them are there? Between 210 and 240 MPs depending on exactly what Mr Corbyn orders them to do.

What do they want? Labour policy is to demand a general election and if the Government refuses, 'all options are on the table', including a second referendum.

Labour insists it wants a 'jobs first Brexit' that includes a permanent customs union with the EU. It says it is ready to restart negotiations with the EU with a short extension to the Article 50 process.

The party has six tests Mrs May's deal must pass to get Labour votes.

How will they vote? Against the Prime Minister's current deal.

Who are they? A mix of MPs totally opposed to Mr Corbyn's leadership, some Labour Leave supporters who want a deal and some MPs who think any deal will do at this point.

How many of them are there? Up to 45 but possibly no more than 20 MPs.

What do they want? An orderly Brexit and to spite Mr Corbyn.

How will they vote? With the Prime Minister.

Who are they? The SNP, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Green Caroline Lucas and assorted independents.

How many of them are there? About 60 MPs.

How will they vote? Mostly against the Prime Minister - though two of the independents are suspended Tories and two are Brexiteer former Labour MPs.
British Prime Minister Theresa May wins approval of her Brexit plan from her cabinet, although many Conservative and opposition MPs voice strong disapproval.