Brexit deal still possible within 48 hours, says Cabinet Office minister David Lidington
A Brexit deal may still be achieved within the next 48 hours, according to a government minister.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told Radio 4’s Today programme that “we are almost within touching distance now” this morning.
Lidington said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects of negotiators striking a deal in the next two days, but warned that while it was possible, it was “not at all definite”.
Meanwhile, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt told Reuters that while the UK and EU have reached agreement on 95 per cent of Brexit deal, “we don’t have a solution yet”.
“Both sides draw encouragement from the fact that so much has been agreed," he said. "The figure 95 per cent has been used and that's probably accurate. The five per cent is a difficult five per cent though so we don't know when it's going to be possible to conclude those negotiations.
"I remain confident that there is a solution possible but this is the final critical period.”
The biggest obstacle to a Brexit deal remains the question of how to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
EU negotiators rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s suggestion that the UK could choose to withdraw from a temporary customs union with the bloc over the weekend.
Markets expressed fresh uncertainty over Brexit yesterday, with sterling dipping by almost one per cent.
May said yesterday that talks are entering their “endgame”, but said the negotiations were proving “immensely difficult”.
“We are working extremely hard, through the night, to make progress on the remaining issues in the withdrawal agreement, which are significant,” she said.
The EU wants to see a proposed deal by the end of tomorrow in order to commit to a special Brexit summit of EU leaders before the end of November.
Cabinet members are set to meet to discuss what that deal will look like today, but City PM understands that some ministers have not yet received a copy of the agenda for the meeting, which one described as “definitely unusual”.
Meanwhile, Labour plans to force a binding vote today demanding the government to publish legal advice on the withdrawal agreement when a deal is ready to be presented to parliament.