In the end it all looked stage-managed. David Cameron made a speech giving his reaction to the proposed deal to keep the UK in the EU less than an hour after the framework agreement had been published, in the photogenic premises of a business that just happens to be EU-friendly.

To be fair to the Prime Minister, there is often much that is choreographed about international diplomacy; and much that involves give and take.

No set of negotiations ever ends in both sides securing exactly what they set out to achieve. But already Mr Cameron's critics, especially those eurosceptics in his own party, are pointing to the missed pledges from his own election manifesto.

He did not secure a four year ban on migrants being able to access benefits. In addition, child benefit will still be sent to children not living in this country.

Many questions also still remain to be answered about what exactly it is that the Prime Minister has secured, even around his much talked-about "emergency brake"on the social security system. Experts believe that this could take months to introduce because it will require changes to European law.

Even if these can be fast-tracked, the timescale is likely to be months, not weeks.

There are also question marks about the hoops the UK will have to jump through to prove that that the "brake" should be applied in the first place.

And there is uncertainty as to how long it could be kept in use.

There are also uncertainties about how a “graduated” limitation on in-work benefits would operate in practice, beyond being designed to increase the length of time a worker is in the UK.

But the proposals in their present draft form provide more than Mr Cameron's opponents believed was possible when he began this process two years ago.

Brussels clearly believes that this deal has a chance of surviving the next stage in the process, which involves seeking the agreement of all 28 member states.

That could still prove problematic.

Earlier this week a senior Polish politician was warning that his government could not afford to accept the draft agreement because of the negative reaction from the electorate at home.

Other are expected to have a problem with the idea of an "emergency brake" on the basis that it would prove discriminatory.

The fact that the UK has secured a deal, meaning that this option would be open to any EU country, is likely to exacerbate the situation.

In the UK, polls suggest that, when voters are asked, they say they would be more likely to vote to stay in a reformed EU. That, of course, was before they saw the draft results of the Prime Minister’s negotiations.

So there is still a long way to go before we can be clear about the options with which voters will be presented in Mr Cameron's pledged in/out referendum or, indeed, what the outcome might be. But a June vote, just weeks after the Scottish electorate has gone to the polls in the Holyrood elections, looks more likely than ever.