Brexit summit: EU tells British MPs this is ‘only deal possible’ as Brussels approves it – as it happened

Author: Andrew Sparrow / Source: the Guardian

• EU leaders have said the deal available to the UK is the only one possible and that they won’t start a new negotiation if British MPs vote it down. Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission president, said this was “the only deal possible”. At a press conference he appeared to rule out making changes to the agreement if May loses the vote in parliament. But at the same press conference Donald Tusk, the European council president, was more circumspect (see 11.39am) and other leaders also refused to speculate on what might happen in these circumstances (eg Angela Merkel – see 11.54am). There is clearly no appetite at all for any substantial renegotiation, but the Commons vote is expected to take place in the week of the December EU summit, and some of the EU leaders seemed keen on keeping their options open if May were to return to Brussels having lost the vote.

• May has claimed MPs will generate “division and uncertainty” if they reject her Brexit deal – although she has refused to speculate on what would happen next in those circumstances. Judging by her extremely non-committal press conference, she seems to be keeping her options open. (See 1.30pm.)

• Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has urged MPs to back May’s deal on the grounds it could lead to a better outcome over time. (See 11.20am.)

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Concerns over fishing rights are still high on the agenda for Scottish politicians, despite Theresa May’s assurances in her letter to the nation that her Brexit deal will take the UK “out of the common fisheries policy that has failed our coastal communities”.

Labour’s shadow Scotland secretary, Lesley Laird, has written to the Scotland secretary, David Mundell, insisting he clarify his position, having previously said that he could not support any extension of CFP rules past 2020. Describing the current deal as “a clear breach of your red line on fishing”, Laird says:

Last week the UK government insisted May’s deal did not tie future access to British fishing waters with trade.

Earlier, the Aberdeen South MP, Ross Thomson, a hard Brexiter Tory, confirmed he would vote against the deal in the Commons. Describing the fishing arrangements as “troubling” on the BBC One’s Sunday Politics Scotland, he said:

Grassroots for Europe, a network that says it represents more than 100 groups campaigning against Brexit, has delivered a letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European council, asking him not to to anything that would prevent a second referendum, and to make provision for possibly revoking article 50.

Our campaigners know from talking every week to ordinary people on streets and doorsteps that public opinion is changing and people are realising the Brexit deal is nothing like what they were promised or what many of them were persuaded to vote for.

We are making sure that our MPs know this, understand that the people’s will has changed, and carry out the people’s majority demand for the right to reject Brexit.

With this letter we are taking the same message to the EU in Brussels, to ask, in the mutual interest of all EU citizens, for the time and cooperation to allow UK electors the chance of a democratic rethink.

Here is Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, on today’s deal.

This is a sad day for everyone involved; the deal the EU have endorsed remains a disaster for the British people.

What has been agreed is vague at best and is essentially an agreement to have an agreement. There is still no majority in parliament for it, and “no Brexit” remains the only real alternative.

The BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, has a useful Twitter thread on the message from the summit. It starts here.

Responding to the news that the European Union has endorsed the Brexit deal, the Scottish government’s Brexit secretary, Michael Russell, has issued a statement saying May’s Brexit deal “does not work for Scotland”. He says:

Meanwhile the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is continuing to press the point on fishing rights: in this tweet below she challenges the Scotland secretary, David Mundell, on the link between access to waters and trade, something that the UK government insists will not be ongoing, but which many others looking at the agreement think is inevitable.

Here are some highlights from Emmanuel Macron’s press conference. The French president repeated…

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