An EU negotiator has predicted “the EU will retain all the controls”, in a note leaked to The Times.

Deputy chief negotiator Sabine Weyand is reported to have said: “UK wants a lot more from (sic) future relationship, so EU retains its leverage.”

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The note shows a negative perception of the level playing field rules signed up to by UK Prime Minister Theresa May and ambassadors and officials from Brussels.

William Hague told the BBC he would urge MPs to ignore the “leak overnight from somebody you have never heard of before”.

However, The Independent reported UK MP Jacob Rees-Mogg as saying: “[May] hasn’t so much struck a deal as surrendered to Brussels and given in to everything they want and tried to frustrate Brexit that it’s not so much a vassal state anymore as a slave state.”

Brexit agreement draft to be considered at Cabinet

May is holding an emergency cabinet meeting today to put forward a draft Brexit agreement to ministers.

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The 500-page draft is being read by Tory cabinet ministers ahead of the meeting, and May scheduled one-to-ones with the MPs to garner support and head off resignations.

There has been a mixed response to the draft, with those who have already resigned from the Government, including the Johnson brothers, Boris and Jo, calling on other ministers to also resign or refuse support of the draft.

Brexiteer Rees-Mogg told the BBC he could withdraw his backing of May.

But chief whip Julian Smith said he was confident the deal would pass when put to a vote in Parliament.

Former Conservative leader William Hague has called on the cabinet to stick together, although he admitted the draft agreement contained many compromises.

He said: “If you don’t take this opportunity to leave the EU, you might never get there at all.

“A second Brexit referendum would be the most divisive and bitter political conflict in this country in 100 years.”

EU November meeting to agree Brexit terms looking possible

Ambassadors of the EU member states will also meet this afternoon in Brussels to contribute to the draft agreement.

There is more hope of the 25 November EU meeting taking place now that the draft agreement will reach cabinet today.

Yet, chances of the agreement passing the vote in the House of Commons remain split.

This is in spite of what the BBC reports as “significant wins” within the draft agreement that include no separate customs border for Northern Ireland and an arbitration mechanism that means the UK can leave the backstop customs arrangement.