LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May won the backing of her senior ministers for a draft European Union divorce deal on Wednesday, freeing her to tackle the much more perilous struggle of getting parliament to approve the agreement.
“The collective decision of cabinet was that the government should agree the draft withdrawal agreement and the outline political declaration,” May said outside her Downing Street residence after a five-hour cabinet meeting.
“I firmly believe that the draft withdrawal agreement is the best that could be negotiated,” May said as protesters shouted anti-Brexit slogans from the end of the street.
But May, the weakest British leader in a generation, now faces the ordeal of trying to push her deal through a vote in the British parliament, where opponents lined up to castigate the agreement, even before reading it.
It is not yet clear when parliament might vote on a deal. To get it approved, May needs the votes of about 320 of parliament’s 650 MPs.
