David Cameron has claimed victory and pledged to campaign with “all my heart and soul” to keep Britain inside the EU after a deal was struck on Friday evening to redraw the terms of the UK’s membership.
Leaders of the other 27 member nations agreed to a deal that will see:
a seven-year term for the emergency brake to restrict EU migrants in the UK claiming in-work benefits.
child benefit payments indexed to the cost of living for children living outside the UK for all new arrivals to the UK, extending to all workers from 1 January 2020.
any single non-eurozone country able to force a debate among EU leaders about ‘problem’ eurozone laws – though they will not have a veto.
an unequivocal opt-out stating that EU treaty “references to ever-closer union do not apply to the United Kingdom”.
What we don’t yet know
The date of the in/out referendum, widely believed, but not confirmed, to be 23 June.
Whether Michael Gove will make the leap from eurosceptic to full-blown no campaigner.
Cameron has summoned his cabinet to a meeting on Saturday morning – reportedly the first time the cabinet has met on a Saturday since the Falklands war. The prime minister will announce that the government endorses the deal and will campaign for the UK to stay in the EU – but this lets off the leash those members of the cabinet who oppose membership and will now be free to campaign for a no vote.
I’m wrapping up this live blog now, but we’ll be back with live coverage as Cameron convenes his cabinet on Saturday morning. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.
Will no one think of the journalists? The late hour of the deal has meant some last-minute revising of Saturday’s front pages – here are second editions from an unhappy Scottish Daily Mail and the Times:
David Cameron’s tweet claiming “I have negotiated a deal to give the UK special status in the EU” has been knocked back by others involved in the deal, Jennifer Rankin reports.
I have negotiated a deal to give the UK special status in the EU. I will be recommending it to Cabinet tomorrow. Press conference shortly.
EU officials downplayed Cameron’s claims, pointing out that the agreement confirmed Britain’s place as the country with the largest number of opt-outs and exclusions from EU law.
“Having a special status is not a reason for divorce,” said one senior official.
European council president Donald Tusk said:
The special status of the UK is nothing new – in fact, it is the essence of our common history.
Jean-Claude Juncker pointed out that:
The UK has always had special and specific status.
EU officials stressed that the “self-destruct clause” remains intact, meaning that if Britain votes to leave the European Union, the deal will disappear.
The Guardian’s Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, has been listening in on the whirl of press conferences taking place at the summit on Friday evening:
The German chancellor Angela Merkel said the British deal was a good compromise that introduced “a number of very interesting and valuable changes to the EU”.
She said Germany would consider introducing similar restrictions on child benefit and voiced confidence that the changes on economic governance would not stop the eurozone from taking decisions in a crisis.
Merkel rejected criticism that “we’ve given away too much”, although she conceded that the the issue of ever-closer union had been difficult to agree:
That’s an emotional issue. I am one of those who are for it.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, said the deal was fair to Britain and the other member states:
The deal does not deepen cracks in our union, but builds bridges.
And while we wait to hear if Michael Gove will definitely come out in favour of Brexit, here’s another Conservative MP, Daniel Kawczynski, signalling his backing for the vote no campaign:
I officially informed my local Association Party Chairman this evening that I will be voting to leave EU. Excited about forthcoming campaign
German chancellor Angela Merkel – touted as potentially Cameron’s strongest backer ahead of the negotiations – is next in line with a thumbs-up for the deal struck on Friday night, calling it a “fair compromise” that ought to persuade Britain to stick with the union:
We believe that with this we have given David Cameron a package with which he can campaign in Britain for Britain to stay in the European Union…
I wish David Cameron all the best in the coming weeks and months.
German chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a press conference at end of the summit. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Beata Szydło, prime minister of Poland, whose citizens in the UK are likely to be among those most affected by the rule changes on benefits, has tweeted in cautious support of the deal:
Today’s agreement is good news for Europe. We took care of the interests of the Polish people benefiting from social security in the member states.
(A combination of my and Google translation from the Polish – please shout in the comments or @Claire_Phipps if wildly off.)
Juncker stresses that “derogating from fundamental principles” – the emergency brake on in-work benefits, for example – is strictly time-limited and must not be discriminatory.
Tusk calls non-discrimination between EU citizens “a fundamental principle that must be respected”.
Hello, this is Claire Phipps picking up the live blog reins again, as those involved in the talks pile in to laud the agreement reached on Friday evening.
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, echoes Tusk in celebrating the deal:
Today marks the end of a long journey that began during my election campaign.
It is now for UK people to decide, he adds.
He says that, like Cameron, he has often been frustrated with the EU:
Our performance is not always what I would want it to be.
But he says the deal does not deepen cracks within Europe but builds bridges.
Britain's special status has never prevented it playing a major role in the European Union says @JunckerEU - convinced that will continue.
After marathon talks, the EU leaders finally agreed renegotiated terms of Britain’s membership on Friday night.
The breakthrough was supposed to have come by the time the delegates sat down for an English breakfast but they eventually went through lunch and sat down for dinner before the news was released.
After the announcement, the job of selling the deal to the British people started for the prime minister. Cameron said he was “disappointed, but not surprised” at the reports that his cabinet colleague Michael Gove was likely to campaign to leave the EU and he did not seem confident he could secure Boris Johnson’s support.
Nevertheless, Cameron hailed the deal, saying it ensured that Britain would be exempt from being part of an ever closer political union and allowed an emergency brake on EU migrants claiming in-work benefits that would last for seven years.
It also allowed for restrictions on child benefit for new EU migrants to start at a reduced rate, indexed to that rate of their home country. Existing EU migrants will be paid at the lower rate from 2020.
And each country will have the right to impose a handbrake to refer contentious financial regulation to a meeting of EU leaders in the European Council.
The final question of the press conference is an interesting one from one of our Spanish colleagues: is the prime minister happy to see British expats discriminated against?
Cameron says he is fine with other European countries using the new rules drawn up, just as Britain will do, adding that he does not see it as discrimination.
Asked about whether Boris Johnson will support him, Cameron says people will have to decide for themselves and that politicians from each party will likely campaign for each side.
He does not sound confident of his friend’s support.
Cameron ignores Sky’s question on whether the referendum will be held on 23 June, so the BBC tries again. Cameron sidesteps it, saying he will present the deal to the cabinet before any announcement is made.
Cameron says he will campaign with his “heart and soul” to stay in the EU.
My colleague Nicholas Watt asked the prime minister about the reports that Michael Gove will campaign against him, as well as how he will sell a deal to stay in when many Conservatives have been staunchly anti-EU.
Cameron said he has long supported EU membership, as long as the bloc reformed. He said he was “disappointed but... not surprised” that Gove - one of his “oldest and closest friends” is likely to campaign to leave the EU.
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