Brexit deal - as it happened: Theresa May's late-night scramble to seal a deal as EU finally gives green light for future trade talks

Brexit: Theresa May agrees breakthrough Irish border deal with EU leaders

After late night phone-calls and a very early morning flight to Brussels, Theresa May and the EU announced a breakthrough deal which will allow Brexit negotiations to progress to the next stage.

Here is how the day unfolded.

In dramatic early-morning scenes, the Prime Minister flew to Brussels to stage a joint press conference with Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Commission president, following lengthy negotiations with her allies in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The leaders declared that "sufficient progress" had been made on the "divorce issues" to begin the negotiations on their future trading relationship. The decision must be approved by the other 27 EU leaders at a summit on Thursday.

Key details emerged throughout the day including the detail on Britain's divorce bill - which will be between £35bn and 39bn rather than the anticipated £50bn - and the fact that people living in Northern Ireland will be able to retain their EU citizenship.

Leading Brexiteers such as Boris Johnson and David Davis gave their backing to the Prime Minister but she still faces significant a challenge to convince members of her own party over the deal, as she had to make concessions on controversial issues such as the European Court of Justice.

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Key Points

6.06am: EU President's assistant hints deal agreed with 'white smoke' tweet

[8 December 2017 16:37 · Kristin Hugo]

Nigel Farage has given his view on Theresa May's deal, which he appears to reject on the grounds that it is a deal, as opposed to walking off without one.

His moneyman Arron Banks says the deal, might be enough to see Nigel return to frontline politics.

[8 December 2017 17:47 · Kristin Hugo]

The deal is done. Or rather, it has been decides that sufficient progress has been made to allow talks to move on to talks about a possible future deal. But it'll do.

Expect Hard Brexiteers, Soft Brexiteers and Remainers to argue for days to come over what this semi-deal means. 

For now, this liveblog is closed. Here are developments as they happened.