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UK Prime Minister May Addresses Parliament as Brexit Declaration Reached (VIDEO)

© AP Photo / Parliamentary Recording Unit In this image from TV, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May gives a statement to parliament Monday July 9, 2018.
In this image from TV, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May gives a statement to parliament Monday July 9, 2018. - Sputnik International
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UK Prime Minister Theresa May is addressing the parliament shortly after the announcement that Britain had finally managed to agree on the text of Brexit declaration with the European Union.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday, following a conversation with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, expressed confidence that the draft Brexit deal that is currently going through final discussions would be approved by the European Council on Sunday and will apply to the entire United Kingdom, including the overseas territory of Gibraltar.

Mrs. May said the British people want Brexit to be settled and to move on. The current deal offers the way to do it, she added. 

In response to the PM's address, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn launched an attack on Theresa May and her government's Brexit deal.

"We have 25 pages of waffle. This empty document could have been written 2 years ago. It is peppered with phrases, such as the "parties will look at," "the parties will explore." What on earth the government has been doing for the last two years?"

A Conservative MP, Iain Duncan Smith, argued that Britain would fall into the Northern Ireland backstop in its current form, which means the UK will be bound by restrictions of separate customs arrangements for London and Belfast.

"None of this is at all workable unless we get the Withdrawal Agreement now amended so that any arrangements we make strip out the backstop and leave us with that positive open border we talked about," Mr. Smith told the PM.

A "backstop" arrangement was proposed as part of the Britain's withdrawal deal from the EU. It would ensure an open border by keeping Northern Ireland inside the EU customs union and large parts of the single market. Britain has suggested a UK-wide backstop, with Britain remaining aligned with the EU customs union for a limited time after 2020.    

READ MORE: Brexit Latest: Bitter Taste of Betrayal as May's Border Promise to DUP Blows Up

Jeffrey Donaldson of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) argued that alternative arrangements can be put in place without the need for the backstop.

"If she wants to have the support of my party for the withdrawal agreement, then we need to see an end of the backstop, and those alternative arrangements put in place," he said in the parliament. 

Follow Sputnik's live feed to find out more.

Earlier on Thursday, Mrs. May said the text of the declaration on future relations has been agreed between the UK and the European Union.

READ MORE: UK Prime Minister May Announces Text of Brexit Declaration Agreed With EU

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