Done deal: EU leaders approve Brexit withdrawal agreement and future relationship

Months of wrangling between Theresa May and Brussels came to an end on Sunday after all EU 27 leaders approved the Prime Minister’s contentious withdrawal agreement.

EU member states agreed to the legally binding document that maps out the terms of the UK’s exit from the bloc. They also approved the declaration on the future relationship, which sets out how the UK and EU will manage issues such as trade after Britain’s exit.

At a press conference, May warned that her deal was the “only one on the table” and that it would not be possible to renegotiate it with the EU.

"The British people don’t want to spend any more time arguing about Brexit. They want a good deal done that fulfils the vote and allows us to come together again as a country," she said.

In a pitch to parliament to back her deal, she said: "So I will take this deal back to the House of Commons confident we have achieved the best deal available and full of optimism about the future of our country. In parliament and beyond it, I will make the case for this deal with all my heart and I look forward to that campaign."

Her comments were ratified by a series of EU leaders, including European Council president Donald Tusk, head of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator.

Juncker said it was a “sad day” but warned MPs to get behind the Prime Minister, saying the deal she had struck was the “best” and “only deal possible”.

While the Prime Minister may be relieved that Spain – which threatened to veto the deal over talks regarding the status of Gibraltar – did not scupper the summit, the weekend's agreement is far from her final hurdle.

MPs will now vote on the deal before Christmas, amid strong signs she will struggle to secure the support required to squeeze the bill through the House.

Arlene Foster, head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that is propping up May’s minority government, told the BBC on Sunday that there were “no circumstances” in which her party would approve the deal.

In the unlikely event that the deal gets through parliament, the DUP would have to “review” its confidence and supply arrangement, Foster said.

May’s own foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted that the government could collapse in the next few weeks if it cannot get its Brexit deal through parliament. “It’s not possible to rule out anything,” he said.