Theresa May's plan for Brexit will not suit Leavers or Remainers, and the deal on offer was "not the answer", Tony Blair has said.

The former prime minister said the current PM had been "dealt a very poor hand" and the only way out was to "put it back to the people" with a new vote.

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Former attorney general Dominic Grieve says the country is “in the middle of a major national crisis” – but it doesn’t mean MPs should vote through the deal.

The pro-Remain Tory MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is a very sad deal as what we are ending up with is a third rate form of Brexit.

“There is no good form of Brexit as far as I am concerned because, unless you believe in… some sort of fantasy vision of the UK’s economic future, there was never going to be a form of Brexit that is better than staying in the EU.”

Mr Grieve said he had not finished reading the text of the agreement, but was “almost certain” to vote against it.

Reiterating his calls for a public vote on the deal, he said: “My belief is if we are to leave on these terms they have got to be put to the British public.

“As this is going to be pretty irrevocable once we are out of the EU and is going to do us a great deal of long term economic damage, then in those circumstances I would like the reassurance that this is what the public wants.

“If this is what they want, so be it. But if not, we would do much better to remain in the EU.”

A draft agreement on the UK's withdrawal from the EU, and a statement setting out what the two sides want their future relationship to look like.

The withdrawal agreement covers so-called "divorce" issues. It includes a commitment to protect the rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons in the EU to continue living, working and studying.

There is also a planned 21-month transition period after the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, and a "financial settlement" from the UK, thought to be between £35bn and £39bn.

The most contentious part of the negotiations has been the "backstop", which aims to guarantee that physical checks will not be reintroduced at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, whatever long-term arrangements are agreed further down the line.

Theresa May is sure to face some hostile questioning when she faces MPs' questions later.

Meanwhile, the EU has said "decisive progress" has now been made in the negotiations.

This was the test required before it would call a special summit to agree the withdrawal plans, possibly later this month.

After that, the government faces a crunch vote in Parliament where MPs will be asked to approve the plans.

The UK is set to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 - at which point, if the withdrawal agreement has been ratified, the transition period begins.

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In her statement outside Downing Street, Mrs May said the agreed package was "the result of thousands of hours of hard negotiation with EU officials".

She believed that "this decisive choice is in the best interests of the entire UK", adding: "When you strip away the detail, the choice before us is clear.

"This deal, which delivers on the vote of the referendum, which brings back control of our money, laws and borders, ends free movement, protects jobs, security and our Union; or leave with no deal, or no Brexit at all."

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It may not be universally popular in the UK but French finance minister Bruno Le Maire sees the positives in this Brexit deal.

"It is good news," Le Maire told France 2 television, adding that it was in everyone's interest that the Brexit process proceeded smoothly.

Le Maire said he would nevertheless be "prudent" over the next steps in the Brexit process, so that any final deal would respect various rules on issues such as tax regulation.

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First minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon has said she "wouldn't put money" on Theresa May being in Number 10 by the time the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Sturgeon had voiced her dissatisfaction with the PM's deal, but has now gone on to say Mrs May could lose her position by 29 March.

She told ITV's Peston programme: "I thought her language about the collective decision of the cabinet - not a unanimous decision - said something.

"I cannot see how she gets this deal through the House of Commons."

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Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan has said the "purgatory" of the deal is "even worse than remaining".

Writing in the Sun, external, the Brexit-backing politician said: "As Brussels has spelt out with brutal clarity, the only change will be that Britain loses its Commissioner, its MEPs and its vote in Council.

"Then, under the backstop, that status, or something very like it, will be imposed on us in semi-perpetuity.

"Surely no one - Remain or Leave - can favour such an outcome."

He added: "There is still time - just - to recover our position.

"As things stand, the backstop has no legal force. The moment it finds its way into a treaty, it will be binding.

"If any MPs oppose the current approach, now is their chance to act. There won’t be another."

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has been on Good Morning Britain sharing his views on Mrs May's deal.

He told the show it was a "miserable failure of negotiation" and a "second-rate document".

He added: "It's a chaotic ending and the root cause is the utter division on the Conservative benches."

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It's the morning after and the initial reaction to cabinet backing for a draft EU withdrawal bill that lifted the pound against the dollar has waned a little.

Sterling is still above $1.30 - up 0.15% at $1.3010 - but is down 0.10% against the euro at €1.1480.

Prime Minister Theresa May will be making a statement in the House of Commons later this morning - Business Live will be keeping an eye on whether that affects the UK currency.

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Don't fancy reading the 585-page Brexit agreement document?

Here's BBC Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming with a 30-second summary of it.

Brexit Central - a website run by the former CEO of the Vote Leave campaign - has published a letter from Jacob Rees-Mogg, external, in which the Brexiteer MP urges his colleagues to vote down the deal.

In it, Mr Rees-Mogg said he supported Theresa May in her "early approach" to the Brexit negotiations, but that the deal on the table did not "match up to those early expectations".

The Tory politician and head of the pro-Leave European Research Group lists four reasons for disagreeing with the deal:

1. Paying £39bn to the EU "for little or nothing in return"
2. Treating Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the UK
3. "Locking us into an EU customs union and EU laws"
4. Agreeing to be subject to the rules of an EU Customs Union - which is "profoundly undemocratic"

"For these reasons I can not support the proposed agreement in Parliament and would hope that Conservative MPs would do likewise," he writes.

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Widespread damnation of the PM's deal features in British newspapers today. In European papers, however, the mood is almost jubilant.

The Irish Examiner calls it a "Victory in Dublin, chaos in London", with Danish paper Berlingske saying British people "are beginning to understand the EU is not a buffet" and Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad writing: "The door opened and Europe said 'oof"'.

Der Standard in Austria carries the headline "Theresa May and the struggle for a Brexit deal", with the paper saying the agreement with Brussels was "considered to be the easier part" for Mrs May in the "thriller" of Britain's departure from the EU.

Sweden's Dagens Industri runs with the headline "Hard fight for Brexit deal" and Neue Zurcher Zeitung in Switzerland writes that the Brexit deal is tied to Theresa May, saying it "holds and falls" with her.

Meanwhile, Le Monde in France says Mrs May has made "heavy concessions" and that she is "fighting for survival".

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Theresa May's former chief of staff is far from giving his backing to the deal, saying that Parliament will "surely" reject it when it comes to a vote.

Nick Timothy, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said: "The proposal presented to cabinet is a capitulation.

"Worse, it is a capitulation not only to Brussels but to the fears of the British negotiators themselves, who have shown by their actions that they never believed Brexit could be a success.

"This includes, I say with the heaviest of hearts, the prime minister."

Theresa May hinted for the first time on Wednesday night that there could be "no Brexit" if MPs don't back her deal.

Co-leader of the Green Party, Jonathan Bartley, and Green MP Caroline Lucas seem to be aiming for this with both calling for another referendum.