Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May Frank Augstein | Pool | Reuters

British Prime Minister Theresa May secured a cabinet agreement on Friday for her plans to leave the European Union, overcoming rifts among her ministers to win support for "a business-friendly" proposal aimed at spurring stalled Brexit talks. After an hours-long meeting at her Chequers country residence, May seemed to have persuaded the most vocal Brexit campaigners in her cabinet to back her plan to press for "a free trade area for goods" with the EU. The agreed proposal - which also says Britain's large services sector will not have the current levels of access to EU markets - will not come soon enough for Brussels, which has been pressing May to come up with a detailed vision for future ties. But the hard-won compromise may yet fall flat with EU negotiators By also committing to ending free movement of people, the supremacy of the European court and "vast" payments to the bloc, May could be accused of "cherry-picking" the best bits of the EU by Brussels officials, who are determined to send a strong signal to other countries not to follow Britain out of the door.

For now, May, who has been written off by critics regularly since losing her Conservative Party's parliamentary majority in an ill-judged election last year, will be buoyed by the hard-won agreement. "Today in detailed discussions the cabinet has agreed our collective position for the future of our negotiations with the EU," May said in a statement. "Now we must all move at pace to negotiate our proposal with the EU to deliver the prosperous and secure future all our people deserve." In a document outlining the government's position, ministers said they had agreed that an earlier proposal made to the EU "needed to evolve in order to provide a precise, responsible and credible basis for progressing negotiations" Instead, they had agreed to negotiate for a "free trade area for goods", one that would see Britain having a "common rulebook for all goods" in a combined customs territory. This would allow Britain to set its own import tariffs and seal new free trade deals. They also agreed that parliament would have the power to decide whether to follow EU rules and regulations in the future, and the government would step up preparations for the eventuality of a 'no deal' exit.

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