Boris Johnson has appealed to hardline Eurosceptic Tory MPs to back his post-Brexit trade agreement in next week’s 11th-hour vote.
The prime minister admitted “the devil is in the detail” of the more than 1,000-page treaty due to come into force from 1 January, but insisted it is “the right deal for the UK and the EU”.
He is expected to win comfortably when MPs are recalled from their Christmas break next Wednesday to ratify the text, which was published today by both sides.
MPs vote on the deal on Wednesday
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to support it and is expected to whip his MPs to do the same, thus almost guaranteeing it will pass.
But there are some on Mr Johnson’s side who wish the UK were exiting the transition period without a deal, meaning trade with Brussels would revert to baseline World Trade Organisation rules.
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In a bid to quash any potential rebellion, he claimed the breakthrough in negotiations on Christmas Eve was a victory and that the deal “delivered on every one of our manifesto commitments”.
“I believe we now have a basis for long term friendship and partnership with the Eu as sovereign equals,” the prime minister wrote in a WhatsApp message to MPs seen by Sky News.
“I know the devil is in the detail but I am sure this can survive the most ruthless and Talmudic scrutiny from the star chamber legal eagles.”
The so-called “star chamber” is a panel of lawyers assembled by the European Research Group, including veteran Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash, and is likely to meet tomorrow.
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Some MPs are waiting on his judgement before deciding how to vote, with one telling Sky News on Thursday that they “need to study the small print before committing” and are still “waiting to hear the verdict of Sir Bill”.
In a final appeal to his party, Mr Johnson signed off the message by telling them: “We must remember that what the public want us to do is focus above all on defeating COVID and rebuilding our economy and I am glad that at least one uncertainty is now out of the way.”
He added: “P.S. On fish, we are talking hundreds of thousand of tonnes more even in the transition period! Enough fish to stretch to the South Pole and back!”
The agreement was struck with just days left until the end of the transition period
Negotiations went down to the wire but ended with a breakthrough on Christmas Eve, with a Number 10 source confirming the “deal is done” at 2:45pm.
Minutes later, the news was announced officially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who said talks had been “tough but fair” and “successful”.
And later that afternoon, Mr Johnson held a Downing Street news conference to declare the agreement meant “taking back control of our laws and our destiny”.
“This country will remain culturally, emotionally, historically, strategically, geologically attached to Europe,” he added.