UK-EU Brexit talks set to run into the weekend as officials look to break deadlock
- With Brexit deadline fast approaching, concerns have been raised that the UK will have to leave the bloc with no deal in place
Talks between British and EU officials to break the Brexit deadlock will “almost certainly” last into the weekend, Britain’s attorney general said on Thursday, ahead of a crucial parliamentary vote in London next week.
With just three weeks to go until the scheduled departure date of March 29, concern is growing about the possibility of Britain crashing out of the bloc after 46 years of membership with no deal in place.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, the British government of Prime Minister Theresa is seeking legally-binding changes to the agreement it struck with the EU in November but which was resoundingly rejected by parliament in January.
“These discussions are running, they’re going to be resuming very shortly, they’re going to be continuing almost certainly throughout the weekend,” Geoffrey Cox, who is leading the talks, told British MPs.
Talks have focused on the current deal’s so-called “backstop” solution, designed to keep the Irish border open but which critics say could lock Britain into a customs union with the EU indefinitely.
