Theresa May/Jean-Claude Juncker
© Getty ImagesUK PM Theresa May • EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
A draft agreement on Britain's future trade and security relationship with the European Union after Brexit was finally agreed by negotiators today.

A 26-page text of the political declaration, which is due to be formally signed at a summit on Sunday, was leaked from the EU showing agreement in a series of areas.

In a tweet confirming that a deal was ready to be signed off, European Council president Donald Tusk said:
"I have just sent to EU27 a draft Political Declaration on the Future Relationship between the EU and UK. The Commission President has informed me that it has been agreed at negotiators' level and agreed in principle at political level, subject to the endorsement of the Leaders."
The Prime Minister later stood outside No 10's front door and hailed it as "the right deal for Britain".

"It delivers on the vote of the referendum," said Mrs May. "It brings back control of our money, our borders and our laws." She said she was "confident" that it would be agreed - even by Spain.

The pound surged after Mr Tusk said the draft agreement had been reached.

Prime Minister Theresa May is due to address the Commons on Brexit on Thursday at 2.30pm. The text has been shared with the 27 other governments of the EU.

The 26-page Political Declaration sets out plans for an "ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic co-operation, law enforcement and criminal justice, foreign policy, security and defence and wider areas of co-operation".

The EU and UK are "determined to work together to safeguard the rules-based international order, the rule of law and promotion of democracy and high standards of free and fair trade and workers' rights, consumer and environmental protection and co-operation against internal and external threats to their values and interests", it states.

On trade, the EU and UK agree to develop "an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership". This partnership will be "comprehensive, encompassing a free trade area as well as wider sectoral co-operation where it is in the mutual interest of both parties".

The hoped-for trade deal will be "underpinned by provisions ensuring a level playing field for open and fair competition", facilitating trade and investment while "respecting the integrity of the Union's single market and customs union as well as the UK's internal market".

It will "recognise the development of an independent trade policy by the UK beyond this economic partnership".

The text indicates that the EU is willing to consider technological solutions to avoiding a hard Irish border, such as the "maximum facilitation" system - or Max Fac - favoured by some in the UK administration. "Facilitative arrangements and technologies will be considered in developing any alternative arrangements for ensuring the absence of a hard border on the island of Ireland on a permanent footing," it states. The declaration envisages "a spectrum of different outcomes" in terms of the practical implementation of checks and controls on movements across borders.

On financial services, the declaration calls on both sides to start assessing one another's regulatory frameworks as soon as possible after Brexit, with a view to being able to declare them "equivalent" before the end of June 2020.

The draft agreement comes after Mrs May met with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for talks on Wednesday night before an emergency EU summit scheduled for Sunday. The prime minister said although progress had been made more talks were planned with Mr Juncker on Saturday.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman confirmed Mrs May would be returning to Brussels on Saturday for further talks with the European Commission president ahead of the summit on Sunday.
"As the Prime Minister said last night, she had a good meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker where further progress was made in the negotiations. This allowed them to give further instruction to negotiators who began work immediately on resolving the remaining issues. There will be a further meeting with Jean-Claude Juncker as to how we can bring to a conclusion this process in the interest of all of our people. No final deal can be agreed without the approval of the European Council on Sunday."

Last night Mrs May had said: "We have made further progress. And, as a result we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators, I hope, for them to be able to resolve the remaining issues. And that work will start immediately. I now plan to return for further meetings, including with President Juncker on Saturday to discuss how we can bring to a conclusion this process and bring it to a conclusion in the interests of all our people."
As the countdown to the scheduled summit intensified, Chancellor Philip Hammond said that if the Brexit deal is rejected by Parliament it would unleash "political chaos" and could lead to EU withdrawal not happening.

He told ITV's Peston:
"It's clear that if the deal is not approved by Parliament we will have a politically chaotic situation. And, we don't know what the outcome of that will be. And for those who are passionately committed to ensuring that we leave the EU on the 29th of March, 2019, one of the things that they are going to have to bear in mind is the possibility that, in that chaos that would ensue, there may be no Brexit."
The PM faced a strong push back from Spain over the status of Gibraltar in the "divorce deal".

Mrs May spoke with her Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday evening to try and deal with the situation. A Downing Street spokesman said:
"She said there had been good engagement between the UK, the government of Spain and the government of Gibraltar in order to come to an agreement in the withdrawal agreement and associated package of memoranda of understanding relating to Gibraltar. She said that the UK and government of Gibraltar looked forward to these discussions continuing as we discuss the future relationship. The Prime Minister reiterated her commitment to agreeing a deal that works for the whole UK family including Gibraltar, the other UK overseas territories and the crown dependencies."
There were still believed to be several other unresolved issues connected to the UK's future relationship with the bloc including rights of European vessels to fish in British waters.