Brexit Secretary David Davis is heading for a Brussels showdown, with a demand for the European Commission to be more “flexible” in negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. With the third round of formal talks beginning on Bank Holiday Monday in the Belgian capital, Davis is pushing for EU negotiator Michel Barnier to be less rigid in his refusal to discuss the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and Europe.
The UK will no longer be under the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) after Brexit, a government policy paper will say. Ministers say they want a special partnership with the EU, but it is neither necessary nor appropriate for the ECJ to police it. However critics say the word direct leaves room for the ECJ to still play a part.
The UK government has set out proposals to ensure trade in goods and services can continue on the day the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. A position paper calls for goods already on the market to be allowed to remain on sale in the UK and EU without additional restrictions. It also calls for consumer protections to remain in place.
The United Kingdom government has said it does not want any border posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in its new position paper on Brexit. The paper is part of its negotiations with the European Union and the broad ideas in the document appear familiar.
UK government ministers have been put under pressure by David Davis’s former chief of staff at the Brexit department after he asked a serious of pointed question about how leaving the EU will affect their patches. James Chapman, who also worked for George Osborne and as political editor of the Daily Mail, has revealed his belief that Brexit would be a “catastrophe”.
The UK needs a “credible fallback” in case no EU trade deal is reached during Brexit negotiations, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has said. Lord King said British negotiators needed to show Brussels the country has an alternative over a bad trade deal post-Brexit.
Philip Hammond has been backed by former Tory leader Lord Hague amid ongoing Cabinet tensions about the approach to Brexit. The ex-foreign secretary said the Chancellor deserves credit for pushing for a transitional deal which preserves close ties to Brussels, giving time for a new trading relationship to be established and avoiding turning Brexit into a disaster.
Three senior cabinet ministers will push the UK's Brexit agenda on three different continents. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will travel from the US to meet Mexican counterparts to discuss trading relationships.
The second round of Brexit talks has ended with “fundamental” disagreements remaining between Britain and the European Union on citizens’ rights and a stand-off over the so-called “divorce bill”.
Negotiations regarding Britain's exit from the European Union resumed on Monday in Brussels, and Britain's prime minister warned her feuding cabinet to stop its infighting. David Davis, the Britain's Brexit secretary, began four days of talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels, but flew home to London after only three hours of negotiation.