Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Theresa May faces Cabinet battle over Britain’s future… Mrs May faces a Cabinet battle over Britain’s future relationship with the EU after today’s deal led to claims that a “very soft” Brexit had become inevitable. Michael Gove says the deal has given Britain the power to set it its own course after Brexit Mrs May achieved a breakthrough when Brussels agreed that Britain had made “sufficient progress” on divorce talks to move on to the next phase, covering the transition period and trade. She agreed to pay a “divorce bill” of up to £39 billion and give residency rights to about three million EU citizens. Meanwhile, the EU said that it expected Britain to remain in the single market and customs union for at least two years after Brexit. The Prime Minister has called a Cabinet meeting for next week, to be followed by another session on 19 December, for ministers to discuss Britain’s final relationship with the EU. – Telegraph (£) Rejuvenated PM to confront Johnson on Brexit – The Times (£) How the Prime Minister convinced her allies to back her – Tom Mctague for Politico Donald Tusk warns Theresa May the next round of Brexit talks will be even tougher – The Sun Did ‘soft Brexit’ just win? – Kamal Ahmed for the BBC Britain is on course for a ‘soft Brexit’ after Theresa May’s Brussels deal – Nigel Morris for i News May has capitulated – and here’s what must be done to fight back – John Longworth for ConservativeHome The EU deal is a victory for a softer Brexit – Evening Standard editorial > Today on BrexitCentral: Hugh Bennett: What does the UK-EU deal say and is it good for Britain? > Also on BrexitCentral: Austin Mitchell: The long EU negotiating farce is just beginning …as Michael Gove says UK voters can change final deal Voters can use the next general election to have their say on a final Brexit deal, Michael Gove has said. The environment secretary praised Theresa May’s “tenacity and skill” in securing a last-minute deal to end phase one negotiations on Friday. But, writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said if British people “dislike the arrangement”, they can change it. Reports suggest the cabinet will meet on 19 December to discuss its “end state” plans for Brexit. This is just two days before Parliament’s two-week Christmas recess. – BBC Thanks to the Prime Minister’s tenacity and skill, we’ve achieved a breakthrough on these issues. But it’s important to remember that the offer we’re making is dependent on securing what we want in the next stage of negotiations. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Everything we have proposed is provisional on achieving a final deal with the EU which is mutually beneficial. Under the Prime Minister’s leadership, I am confident we will secure that prize. – Michael Gove MP for the Telegraph (£) Hardline Brexiteers backed the Prime Minister this time but she will need more to keep them onside – Trevor Kavanagh for the Sun Brexit negotiations will only get harder from here – our team must toughen up – The Telegraph editorial (£) ‘Grand bargain’ divorce settlement means no hard border for Ireland… The European Union is to formally offer Theresa May a two-year standstill Brexit transition deal next week as the reward for today’s “grand bargain” divorce settlement with the bloc. In return for Britain paying about £40 billion in EU liabilities for many years to come, the 27 EU member states will sign off on the next stage of Brexit at a summit of EU leaders on Thursday. The plan, which both sides believe can be formally agreed upon by the end of January, will give business a two-year cushion in which to make preparations for a full EU exit. Ministers hope that the transition plan — a key trade-off over the so-called divorce bill — will be enough to steady business nerves and prevent mass relocations in the run-up to March 2019. – The Times (£) Scotland needs special agreement too, Nicola Sturgeon says – The Times (£) Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, DUP warns – The Times (£) > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Arlene Foster says ‘We need clarification on PM’s deal’ …as Irish PM is praised for securing ‘politically bulletproof’ agreement Leo Varadkar received widespread praise for securing an open border with the North after Brexit, describing the agreement as “politically bulletproof.” The development came as Britain and the EU reached a historic deal on the Brexit divorce terms following frantic overnight talks. And now it allows both sides to move on to talks on a future relationship after the split ahead of a meeting of council officials on December 14th. The European Commission announced that it “recommends sufficient progress” had been made by Britain on separation issues including the Irish border, Britain’s divorce bill, and citizens’ rights. It said in the absence of a trade deal, no new barriers would develop between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.. – The Sun > Watch on BrexitCentral’s Youtube Channel: Irish PM says this is ‘not the end but the end of the beginning’ Barnier shuts down Remainers’ Single Market fantasy The remain narrative on continuing membership of the single market was fully shut down by Michel Barnier this morning as Chuka Umunna, Nicola Sturgeon and Sadiq Khan’s fantasies were blown out of the water. This remain triumvirate tried to spin regulatory alignment to suggest Scotland and London could remain in the single market. Chuka even called for permanent membership of the single market after the transition… Asked if the deal meant that the default position is remaining in the single market, Barnier said: “No. You haven’t understood that well… beyond its decision to leave the EU… the British government has confirmed that it wishes also to leave the single market and the customs union”. – Guido Fawkes Jean-Claude Juncker’s demands for UK’s £50bn divorce bill ‘linked to lunch with Financial Times’ Brussels chief Jean-Claude Juncker started demanding a £50 billion Brexit settlement only after lunching with the Financial Times, it was claimed yesterday. Sources said he began to use the eye-watering figure once he had sat down with the pro-EU broadsheet in March. Mr Juncker mentioned £50 billion in the middle of March – saying “we have to calculate scientifically what the British commitments were and then the bill has to be paid”. An insider yesterday said: “People in Brussels are joking he got this from a very important newspaper.” – The Sun Barnier promises UK will pay after Germany raged over increased bill – Express Brexit bill could rise beyond UK estimate of €40bn-€45bn – FT (£) Japan – EU trade agreement offers template for Britain The EU and Japan have struck the world’s largest free trade deal in an agreement that Britain will try to replicate after Brexit… The agreement will remove the vast majority of the €1 billion in tariffs applied to trade between the EU and Japan and open up to European producers the lucrative Japanese market for food. Theresa May travelled to Japan in August to push for assurances that Britain could trade on the same terms as outlined in the EU-Japan agreement after Brexit. Lorand Bartels, senior counsel at the law firm Linklaters, said: “It is highly likely that the UK and Japan have a shadow agreement based on the EU-Japan FTA. – The Times (£) UK economy outperforms official estimates, but trade deficit widens The UK economy has strengthened, growing by 0.5pc in the three months to November as a weaker pound helped boost manufacturing exports, data from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) suggests. This comes as official data showed exports to non-EU countries had grown. Excluding the EU, the trade deficit narrowed by nearly £3bn, as the impact of the cheaper pound made UK goods more affordable. Figures released on Thursday also revealed improved export activity in every region of the UK, according to data from HMRC, with England’s and Scotland’s exports rising by 14pc and 19.9pc respectively. – Telegraph (£) Charles Moore: This Brexit deal is no ‘breakthrough’. It is a complete capitulation When we finally do leave the EU, one of the many joys will be an end to this crazy manner of negotiating. After months, sometimes years, of dawdling, Brussels suddenly rushes. It commands leaders from its rebellious colonies to fly over in the small hours. They obey, and appear bleary-eyed in the imperial court to act the part allotted to them in the play. We groundlings – otherwise known as citizens and voters – are then invited to hail whatever has been agreed before we know what it says. If we are slow to do so, our cheers are led by the BBC, which has written the official narrative in advance. – Charles Moore for the Telegraph (£) This deal makes us an EU satellite state, and the British people will not accept it – Rob Wilson for the Telegraph (£) Wallace, Rees & Torrance: Show Brussels Britain is serious – launch trade talks worldwide The British Government must show it is serious on global trade by setting out its goals for deals with countries outside the EU as soon as possible, a top group of trade experts has urged. This will show the EU that the UK is not going to be forced into accepting its dictats on regulations, and prove to non-EU countries that they should treat the UK well at the World Trade Organisation in return for future free trade deals. – Tim Wallace, Tom Rees & Jack Torrance for the Telegraph (£) Paul Goodman: We’ve learned this week that the EU wants a deal. Now May must tell it what she really wants Yes, the EU will get that £39 billion – but not the £60 billion it briefed out to some papers, let alone the £100 billion it cited to the Financial Times. Yes, the ECJ will have a role for eight years – but at the request of British judges (“due regard”), and only on EU citizens’ rights. Yes, there will be “full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union” between Northern Ireland and Ireland in Belfast Agreement-related matters. But look at that wording closely. It doesn’t say “regulatory alignment” which, as Gisela Stuart wrote on this site yesterday, is a form of words for rule-takers, at least in the EU’s view. It is ambiguous, doubtless deliberately so. The entire section on the UK/Ireland border is a great big steaming pile of fudge. – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Peter Foster: The demons of the Irish border question have not been slain by Theresa May After four long days – and through gritted teeth – Mrs May finally convinced her Democratic Unionist allies to sign off on the first phase of the Brexit negotiation.Understandably, given the debacle earlier in the week, there were audible sighs of relief from Downing Street as, in the middle of last night Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, finally gave the deal the green light.She put on a brave face in interviews, but the reality is that Mrs Foster made a hard choice, preferring to accept a frankly unpalatable offer from the UK, over bringing down Mrs May’s government and risking Jeremy Corbyn entering Number 10. – Peter Foster for the Telegraph (£) James Kirkup: Theresa May’s punchbag act was actually a calculating rope-a-dope to sucker the Brexiteers History will not remember Theresa May as one of Britain’s great prime ministers. Nor as one of its luckiest. But posterity might, just, afford her a place in the pantheon of our most resilient leaders.Retrospect might even suggest she was more calculating than anyone suspected. – James Kirkup for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: After dangling a £39bn carrot, Theresa May still has the stick to make the EU behave Negotiators have come quite far since the start of the Brexit negotiations, when they couldn’t even agree on the order in which they were meant to agree everything. Both sides eventually agreed to to tackle the terms of Britain’s divorce, and then move onto the terms of their future relationship. The Europeans claimed that the talks would be conducted “in accordance with the principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Brexit comment in brief British global influence as strong as ever post-Brexit – Jayne Adye for The Commentator When Brexit talk turns to ‘Canada’, reach for your revolver – Matthew Parris for the Times (£) For the sake of the country, the Tories must ditch Theresa May – before it’s too late – Nigel Farage MEP for the Telegraph (£) Theresa May must now choose between the two factions in her Brexit Cabinet – James Forsyth for the Spectator Twas the night of No 10’s Christmas Party, and Jean-Claude was under the mistletoe… – Rosa Prince for the Telegraph (£) The EU is notorious for making demands of its trade partners, but it is far from unique – Allie Renison for the Telegraph (£) Brexit news in brief Fears grow the EU will try to block Gibraltar from any Brexit transition period – The Sun British citizens living in EU say Theresa May has ‘sold them down the river’ for deal – Independent Khan gets Brexit-bashing Corbynista to write his Brexit impact papers – Guido Fawkes