Spain denies reaching agreement with UK over Gibraltar
Gibraltar chief minister Fabian Picardo announced on Friday that the UK had reached an agreement with Spain regarding the Brexit deal but officials from the Spanish Foreign Ministry said that they had just negotiated a fiscal agreement and some memorandums
"We have worked very hard and, in fact, we have reached an agreement with Spanish colleagues regarding the role of Gibraltar in the withdrawal process ... in good faith," said Picardo, in an interview with BBC radio.
This will ensure that Madrid will not veto the deal at the EU summit on Sunday where leaders are set to approve the divorce agreement, he suggested.
This came a day after UK and European Union negotiators agreed the wording of a political declaration for the Brexit deal, which follows the publishing of the withdrawal agreement last week.
EU leaders are meeting to discuss both the legally-binding withdrawal agreement setting out the terms for the UK's departure from the EU and the accompanying non-binding political declaration on the future relationship between the UK and EU. A majority of 20 EU countries is needed to pass the deal
This declaration has been criticised by plenty of members of Theresa May’s own party, in particular, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday that the deal on Brexit would be worse than staying in the EU.
“If you just presented me terms: this deal or EU membership, because we would effectively be bound by the same rules without the control or voice over them, yes I think this would be even worse than that,” he said, telling the BBC that he felt it parliament will still vote the deal down.
May addressed the media outside No 10 on Thursday after the European Council said the political declaration had been "agreed in principle".
"The British people want Brexit to be settled, they want a good deal that sets us on a course for a brighter future, and they want us to come together as a country and to move on to focus on the big issues at home, like our NHS," said May.