Assurances won by PM Theresa May to her Brexit deal do not change anything - Rees-Mogg

The last-minute assurances won by Prime Minister Theresa May to her Brexit deal do not change anything, leading eurosceptic lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Tuesday. May won "legally binding" assurances from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker late on Monday in a bid to get her Brexit deal through parliament in a vote later on Tuesday.

"Under the treaty, we can ask to leave the backstop, but that has been blindingly obvious to anybody since the Withdrawal Agreement was produced. Of course, we can ask to leave but the ability to ask is not the same as the ability to leave, is it? Rees-Mogg said at a parliamentary select committee. "We, in the unilateral declaration, are accepting that the only way to get out is with the approval of an arbitration panel that is subject to EU law.

"There is absolutely no change from what was there before. The unilateral declaration doesn't add anything."