London — Negotiators from the European Union and the United Kingdom agreed on a new Brexit deal Thursday ahead of a scheduled summit of EU leaders in Brussels. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “We’ve got a great new deal that takes back control.”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tweeted: “Where there’s a will, there’s a #deal – we have one!”
The deal will still need to be approved by both the British and European Parliaments, but it quickly became clear that Johnson did not have the support of members of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who earlier Thursday morning said they would not vote for the deal as it stood.
Johnson became prime minister with the support of the DUP, and the party has the power to block the agreement’s passage in the British Parliament.
The DUP issued a statement saying: “We will continue to work with the government to try and get a sensible deal that works for Northern Ireland and protects the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom.”
The leader of the opposition Labour party in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn, condemned the new deal on Thursday and said he would back some version of a second referendum.
“From what we know, it seems the prime minister has negotiated an even worse deal than (former U.K. prime minister) Theresa May’s, which was overwhelmingly rejected,” Corbyn said, according the Sky News.
“The best way to get Brexit sorted is to give the people the final say in a public vote,” he said.
