May campaigns to sell Brexit deal at home

British Prime Minister Theresa May convened her cabinet and was to face parliament on the newly-agreed Brexit deal yesterday, as she begins the tricky task of selling the plan to a sceptical country.

May returns to a mutinous parliament after sealing the agreement with European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels, where both sides insisted the divorce deal was the best and only option available.

But she faces a big battle to win MPs' approval ahead of a vote next month, with lawmakers from all parties, including many of her Conservative colleagues, opposed.

"We can back this deal, deliver on the vote of the referendum and move on to building a brighter future... Or this house can choose to reject this deal and go back to square one.

"It would open the door to more division and more uncertainty, with all the risks that will entail," she is to warn lawmakers, according to advance excerpts released by her Downing Street office.

The agreement sealed Sunday prepares for Britain's smooth exit from the EU on March 29, 2019, and sets out a vision for "as close as possible a partnership" afterwards.

May will now embark on an intensive nationwide campaign to promote it -- and the risks of no-deal -- ahead of a vote by lawmakers on or around December 12.

However, the disparate anti-deal forces are readying for a fight, including the Labour main opposition.

Its Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer told BBC radio that if parliament rejected the deal, May would either have to re-negotiate or hold a general election.