A guide to Parliament’s Brexit tribes

There’s relief in No 10 today after Theresa May and Jean Claude Juncker finally reached deal on the Irish border, EU citizens’ rights and the so-called Brexit bill. The European Commission have subsequently recommended that ‘sufficient progress’ has been achieved in time for this month’s EU council meeting – and that the Brexit talks should move on to trade in the new year. In order to get to this point, May has agreed a £40bn Brexit bill, time-limited ECJ role and a promise of no hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic.

However, for the government the hard work is only just beginning. The second round of negotiations is where the real battle will take place. It will mean that they can no longer fudge difficult issues and difficult decisions will have to be made over what sort of relationship Britain should have with the EU – importantly, whether the UK align itself closely to EU regulations or try and diverge.