Speculation Before the Storm? Cabinet Agrees to Draft Withdrawal Agreement -

It took five hours for the UK Cabinet to come to an agreement on accepting the Draft Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. Of the 23 ministers in the Cabinet, 11 spoke against it.

Even EU officials kept quiet, unwilling to inadvertently send the wrong signals till the cabinet reached its decision.

The withdrawal agreement includes a backstop where Northern Ireland would be treated as closer to the EU to prevent a border on the island and the UK would have to maintain custom arrangements on behalf of the EU.

There is now the speculation before the storm with three key questions:

• Can Theresa May get the Withdrawal agreement successfully through parliament?
• Will the Representatives of the other EU countries agree to the agreement  at an emergency meeting on the 25th November?
• Will the conservatives issue challenge to the Prime Minister's leadership?

More detailed evaluation of the Draft agreement will surface over the coming days as politicians and reporters work their way through the 583 page document and translate some of the issues into understandable language and concepts.