Theresa May is due to meet her “Brexit cabinet” - about a dozen of her most senior ministers - to discuss for the first time what the UK's future relationship with the EU should be. The PM will later tell MPs the UK wants to sign trade deals during what she calls an implementation period.
Britain and the EU face a “furious race against time” to agree a transition deal and future trade relations within the next 10 months, European Council president Donald Tusk has said. In a letter to the leaders of the 27 remaining EU states ahead of a crucial summit on December 14-15, Mr Tusk urged them to show continued “unity” as Brexit negotiations enter their second phase.
The European Union's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, says he is planning for the possible collapse of Brexit negotiations with the UK. Barnier was talking to French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche days after giving the UK a two-week deadline to clarify key issues.
Brexit negotiations should accelerate over the months to come, says a joint statement from the UK prime minister and the president of the EU Commission. Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker met in Brussels on Monday for a dinner they called constructive and friendly.
The European Union's chief negotiator on Brexit talks says negotiations with the United Kingdom are stuck in a state of deadlock. The EU wants to know what divorce bill Britain is prepared to pay before talks go any further. British officials, on the other hand, want to begin trade talks now, before they commit billions.
The EU and Britain resumed Brexit talks on Monday with fresh clashes, dimming hopes that a speech by Prime Minister Theresa May could provide a breakthrough in unlocking stalled negotiations. The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted that he would not discuss May's call for a two-year post-exit transition deal until there was progress on key issues, including Britain's divorce bill.
Business leaders have voiced concern about the slow pace of Brexit negotiations, warning it could affect a constructive exit from the EU. BusinessEurope, an umbrella group representing business federations across Europe, said companies needed certainty and time to prepare for future arrangements.
The next round of Brexit talks has been postponed by a week to allow more time for consultation. The fourth round of UK-EU negotiations, due to begin on 18 September, will start on the 25th instead.
A row over the Brexit divorce bill has dominated the latest round of talks between the UK and the European Union, with both sides in the Brussels negotiations voicing their frustrations. Brexit Secretary David Davis said there had been a “tough” discussion over the fee Brussels wants the UK to pay to settle its obligations after British officials challenged the legal basis of the demand.
The UK has been told by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator that it needs to take withdrawal talks “seriously”. Michel Barnier used the opening of a third round of talks in Brussels on Monday to insist that London must end “ambiguity” regarding key positions like the Brexit divorce bill.