Brexit draft agreement: What do they do now?
Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor
What do they do now? The cabinet is not going to like the draft agreement that they'll have to decide on.
Many of them probably won't like it one little bit. Number 10 says tonight that they have managed to remove the idea of a "backstop to the backstop".
But there is, in the agreement, the potential for a different regime for Northern Ireland. Sources close to the process admit privately that they haven't managed to remove the controversy.
How could they when for months, the difficulties of the conundrums have been plain for all to see.
Northern Ireland will, according to one insider familiar with the contents, under the backstop essentially be in the single market and therefore under the rules of the EU courts and the Commission.
The DUP's fury is already obvious tonight and that's even before they have seen that detail. But it's suggested that the final draft is worse for them than the speculation that had already made them fume.
Having come this far however, it doesn't seem to me that many of the cabinet are likely to walk on Wednesday over what's in the document.
It's suggested that those with bigger doubts are more likely to cause problems for the prime minister because it won't get through Parliament.
One source told me senior ministers are thinking not just about the wisdom of backing a deal they don't like because it's a sour compromise, but whether it is folly to back a deal they believe can't get through Parliament.
Slamming on the brakes now would force a crisis, but it could be less serious than the political disaster of pursuing this plan to an eventual calamitous defeat that could take them all down.
The eruption of immediate resistance from Brexiteers on Tuesday night was an immediate display of how hard it might be.
And Tories tempted by another referendum may be swayed by the enthusiasm the small number of their colleagues who are campaigning for one seem to be gaining.
So if the final vote in Parliament were tomorrow it's extremely hard to see how the government would win the day.
But so much could happen between now and then.
Government ministers and whips will do everything they can to change the dynamic.
To make the deal look like a sensible but definite triumph, to paint the alternatives as too scary to contemplate.
And frankly, when it comes to it, many MPs who might be tempted to rebel just would dearly love the whole thing to be done.
So it's just not possible yet to make the final judgement that some members of the cabinet fear tonight - that the deal as it stands just won't get the numbers in Parliament.
We cannot put ourselves yet into the Parliamentary moment that will come in a few weeks' time.
In putting the agreement in front of her cabinet, Theresa May plainly believes that forging ahead with a plan that won't please everyone is a risk worth taking.
Her colleagues will decide at 2pm on Wednesday if she will have that chance.
Brexit: EU gives May space to 'spin' draft deal
Katya Adler
Europe editor
What's so striking about this draft Brexit deal the UK media and politicians are all abuzz about, is the marked lack of excitement and/or hysteria in EU circles.
Contrary to the UK narrative, this is not viewed in Brussels as the back-against-the-wall, make-or-break moment.
There's still some time to keep negotiating. EU-UK technical talks are, in fact, ongoing as neither all the "i"s, nor all the "t"s of a deal have yet been dotted or crossed.
The thinking here is: if the UK cabinet or certain EU member states strongly object to specific parts of the draft document (as long as they don't rip up the whole thing), then negotiators can go back to the drawing board.
As I've mentioned before, the EU is clearly more relaxed about timing - as long as a deal is signed before March - than Theresa May at this stage.
You get the feeling that the current sense of pressure and urgency is designed to help the UK prime minister at home.
Storm clouds surrounded her once again last weekend, with cabinet minister Jo Johnson resigning and mutterings of potential mutiny from Brexiteer and Remainer conservative MPs, never mind the Labour Party and the DUP plotting over the eventual Brexit parliamentary vote.
It looked (once again) like the whole thing could unravel on the UK side.
Brussels has repeatedly told Mrs May that - as long as they could agree on the details of a deal amongst themselves - the EU would help her present it however she wished in order to help her sell the package back home.
I think now is one of those moments, which would explain why Brussels kept so silent on Tuesday night - such a politically sensitive night in the UK.
One of my high-level EU contacts even sent me an emoji with a closed zip instead of a mouth - to indicate that he couldn't talk.
These are hours for Downing Street to spin.
This is not to say that the EU is completely chilled about the appearance of a draft Brexit deal - played down to me by a Brussels contact as a "mutual understanding" between EU and UK negotiators.
That's a reminder that this is a technical draft - not yet a political agreement.
While all eyes on Wednesday will be on Number 10 Downing Street and the reaction of the UK cabinet, the governments of all 27 EU countries and the European parliament also want to get their eyes and their mitts on all 500 pages of the document ASAP.
Of key interest to them: the compromise wording over the backstop, that insurance policy for the Irish border.
They, and Ireland in particular, will be relieved to see something Brexiteers will not like at all - that the EU will decide alongside the UK if and when the backstop arrangements need to kick in and also when they can be terminated and superseded by a new EU-UK trade deal.
They will also note that the all-UK customs union with the EU outlined as part of the backstop will be deeper with Northern Ireland than with the rest of the UK. This will be hard for the DUP to swallow.
More important to EU heavyweights France and Germany - and others that trade closely with the UK like Ireland, Denmark and the Netherlands - will be to examine the small print of the backstop customs union to ensure the UK would have no competitive advantage over them.
I've spoken to diplomats who worry the European Commission was in such a hurry to get this draft Brexit deal document ready to Theresa May's timetable, that the priorities of some EU member states may have been overlooked.
France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain for example won't be happy that fishing rights in UK waters do not seem to appear in the text.
European capitals want a minimum of seven to 10 days to pore over the draft with a fine-tooth comb.
So, could there still be a special Brexit deal summit called this month as Theresa May so hopes?
It's not impossible - 25 November is being spoken about as a potential date.
Later on Wednesday as the UK cabinet meets in London, the 27 EU ambassadors will gather in Brussels.
To be discussed: the draft Brexit deal, the possibility of a November summit and - as a clear indication of the current uncertainty - ongoing contingency plans for a no-deal Brexit.
