Brexit negotiations are at a "crucial moment", British Prime Minister Theresa May said today in an address to members of the lower house of the British Parliament, ahead of the summit in Brussels where the agreement on the separation of Great Britain and the EU and the declaration on the future relationship should be approved.
The Prime Minister also said that British sovereignty over Gibraltar will be protected.
May said the draft political declaration with the European Union on future relations after Brexit lays the groundwork for a future free trade deal with the European bloc and allows the country to strike new trade deals with other countries.
According to her, the agreement will help protect jobs, give British fishermen more control, avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and allow for a "smooth and orderly" exit of Great Britain from the EU.
"The negotiations are now at a critical juncture and all our efforts must be focused on working with our European partners to bring this process to a final conclusion in the interests of our people," May said.
She said the British people want Brexit resolved, they want a good deal that puts the UK on a good path to a brighter future, and they want them to come together as a country and focus on big issues at home like health.
"A deal that will allow us to do that is within our reach. Now we have a crucial 72 hours ahead of us, I will do everything in my power to make it happen for the British people," she said at an EU summit in Brussels on Sunday.
May also said she had been clear in discussions with Spanish officials that Britain's sovereignty over Gibraltar would be protected.
The Prime Minister added that the rights of EU citizens living in Britain will be protected as well as the rights of Britons living in EU countries.
May faces strong opposition in Parliament.
The leader of the Labor Party, the leading British opposition party, Jeremy Corbyn has sharply criticized the draft political agreement that the government agreed with the EU on the outlines of the future relationship.
Corbyn said the deal represented a failure for the Conservative Party and its leader Theresa May during years of negotiations.
He said that the EU had not made any concessions and that six of Labour's tests on the agreement had not been met.
Corbyn said the deal represented the "worst of all worlds" and that the UK would have no say over EU regulations that would continue to apply in the country.
"This is the blindfolded Brexit we all feared. A leap into the dark," Corbyn said.
Last week, the UK and the EU agreed on the deal on Britain's exit from the EU, a legally binding 585-page document.
The 26-page political declaration is a separate document that broadly defines the relationship between Great Britain and the EU after Brexit and is not legally binding.
EU leaders meet on Saturday to sign the UK's exit deal and political declaration. If it is approved, May will begin the process of getting British MPs to support the deal, which currently has a majority against it.
Great Britain formally leaves the EU on March 29 and then, according to the agreement, a transition period of 21 months will begin during which negotiations will be conducted on future trade relations between the EU and Great Britain.
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