Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has seemingly broken with convention to insist the UK shouldn’t leave the EU by October 31. He instead called for an extension and snap general election, after rejecting PM Boris Johnson’s deal.

Responding to the revised Brexit agreement, brokered between UK and EU officials at the European Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, Farage ostensibly dismissed the proposals, saying they represented a “very bad” deal for Britain.

Notably, in what may raise a few eyebrows among Brexiteers, he believes a delay to the UK exiting the bloc is preferential to accepting the deal.

Would I rather accept a new European treaty that is frankly very bad for us? Or would I prefer for us to have an extension and a general election? I would always prefer the latter option.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a key ally of Johnson’s government, has also rejected the deal and stated that their MPs will vote against it. The party is upset that the deal doesn’t include a unionist veto in Northern Ireland’s Assembly.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, reaction from EU officials has been markedly different, with Michel Barnier, their chief Brexit negotiator, in upbeat mood. He declared that he was confident that the deal agreed can be ratified by the October 31 deadline.

Barnier told reporters that he sees Thursday’s agreement as “the best possible one.” He also revealed that Johnson had told President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker that he was “confident” he could gain enough support in the UK’s parliament to see the deal signed off.

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Barnier confirmed that the recent meeting between Johnson and Taoiseach (Irish PM) Leo Varadkar in the Wirral, England, where the two agreed that there would be no customs checks on the island of Ireland, was crucial in securing a settlement.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized the new UK-EU Brexit deal, claiming that it was a “sell out” agreement that “won’t bring the country together and should be rejected.”

“The best way to get Brexit sorted is to give the people the final say in a public vote,” he added.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that her party, the SNP, would be voting against it, when it’s put to UK MPs on Saturday to debate.

For Scotland, this deal would take us out of EU, single market and customs union - all against our will.

2/ For Scotland, this deal would take us out of EU, single market and customs union - all against our will. It would leave us as only part of UK being taken out without consent and with no say on future relationship. @theSNP will not vote for that. — Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 17, 2019

Earlier on Thursday, Juncker announced via Twitter that a “fair and balanced agreement” had been struck between the two sides. Meanwhile, Johnson declared that a “great new deal that takes back control” had been brokered and urged the UK parliament to sign it off on Saturday.

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