On 26 November 2018, the UK Government issued a statement confirming that political agreement had been reached on the draft Withdrawal Agreement, and the Political Declaration for the framework of the future relationship between the UK and the EU. Both documents have been laid before the UK Parliament.

The statement provides that the documents are being presented to Parliament at the earliest opportunity in order to facilitate the “fullest possible scrutiny ahead of the Parliamentary debate and vote on the approval of these documents”.

The statement also mentions that at this stage the draft Withdrawal Agreement represents a version of the text which has been agreed, but which has not yet been formally signed. Before formal signature takes place, the draft Withdrawal Agreement must complete the EU’s jurist-linguist translation process. The statement notes that during this time, minor technical corrections will be made to the text, although these will not affect the substance of the draft Withdrawal Agreement.