Theresa May’s government will now have to go through the guantlet of the British parliament, bridge opposing views of the country’s lawmakers and sell the Brexit deal to a deeply divided country.

In a momentous development, Britain has clinched a draft divorce deal with the European Union after more than 1 year of negotiations.

Hemmed by members of her own Conservative party as well as by the opposition in the government, British Prime Minister Theresa May will have to now get the deal approved by her cabinet in what is expected to be a rough sailing through the parliament.

Pro-Brexiteers in her party have accused her of surrendering to the demands of the EU and have vowed to deal a blow to the deal in parliament. The Northern Irish party, upon which her minority government stands, has questioned whether she would be able to see the deal through in parliament.

“These are momentous days and the decisions being taken will have long-lasting ramifications,” said Arlene Foster, leader of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). “The prime minister must win the support of the cabinet and the House of Commons. Every individual vote will count.”

The British cabinet is set to meet at 1400 GMT on Wednesday to consider the draft deal, said a spokesman for Downing Street.

BALANCING ACT

According to diplomatic sources, once May’s cabinet approves the text in the draft agreement, EU leaders will meet on November 25 for a summit to seal the deal.

For May, an initial opponent of Brexit, keeping her flock together in the coming days will be crucial. She has had the herculean task of untangling forty six years of Britain’s EU membership without damaging trade and commerce. She will now have to keep her lawmakers united and focused so as to ultimately seal the divorce deal.

May’s efforts of seeking to divorce the EU while preserving the closest possible ties, has upset Brexiteers, Scottish nationalists, pro-Europeans, the Northern Irish party and members of the own party. To get the deal approved, the May needs the votes of around 320 lawmakers in the 650-seat British parliament.

PRO-BREXITERS

Pro-Brexiters, including Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson have publicly stated they would oppose the bill as they feel let down by May’s sellout of the U.K.

“It is a failure of the government’s negotiating position, it is a failure to deliver on Brexit, and it is potentially dividing up the United Kingdom,” said Rees-Mogg.

The Labour Party has also made its position clear saying, it would oppose any agreement that does not retain “the exact same” economic benefits that Britain now enjoys with the EU and that it is unlikely that the announced fits Britain well.

“It is vassal state stuff,” said Johnson while adding he would vote against such an unacceptable accord. “Chuck it out.”

Last Friday, Johnson’s brother had resigned from May’s government while calling for another referendum to avoid her Brexit plans, saying it would unleash Britain’s greatest crisis since World War Two.

NORTHERN IRISH BACKSTOP

In the tortuous Brexit negotiations, everything from space exploration, fishing territories to the sale of complex financial products and future land border with Ireland was placed on the table.

With less than five months to go, the Northern Irish backstop has emerged as the main sticking point. Essentially it amounts to being an insurance policy to avoid returning to a state whether there is a physical border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU’s member state, Ireland, if a future trading relationship is not agreed in time.

May’s government has not provided any clarity in this area in the Brexit deal text, which runs to hundreds of pages.

According to 3 sources from the EU, the Northern Irish backstop will come in the form of a pan-UK customs arrangement and will include specific provisions for Northern Ireland; these provisions, which delve deeper on the issues of customs will align themselves to the EU’s single market rules.

It includes a mechanism to review the bridge between EU’s requirements and those of Britain.

Significantly, the DUP has ruled out any deal that treats Northern Ireland differently.

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