EU summit as it happened - BBC News
Brexit news after EU leaders met in Brussels
Theresa May’s mission to Brussels has not been a failure.

She has a written statement from her 27 fellow leaders confirming – reconfirming, really – that the Irish backstop is an insurance policy which would only ever be temporary.

If the backstop is activated, then the EU would use their “best endeavours” to negotiate a trade deal which would mean it could be deactivated.

That wording is crucial, say British officials, because it means the UK could refer the EU to the independent arbitration panel established in the Brexit treaty if London felt Brussels was moving too slowly.

The EU dropped a commitment to look for further ways to help the UK, which means there won’t be a formal process to find them.

But it doesn’t mean the search couldn’t happen informally, or in private, or at the last minute.

The problem is that these commitments are unlikely to impress Mrs May’s harshest critics.

And they certainly wouldn’t fit on the side of the bus as reasons to sign up to her Brexit deal.