Yahoo News Brexit news latest: 'EU withdrawal treaty almost ready to present to Theresa May's Cabinet tomorrow'
The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said the key elements of the Brexit withdrawal treaty are ready to present to Theresa May's Cabinet tomorrow, reports say.
The Financial Times reports that Mr Barnier told ministers from the EU's remaining 27 member states that "the parameters of a possible agreement are very largely defined" but still need political endorsement.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed witness to the meeting as saying that Mr Barnier had told the ministers: "As of this moment, this agreement is still not reached. As in any negotiation, the final stretch is always the most difficult.
"On the basis of our common efforts, the parameters of a possible agreement are very largely defined. On the British side, the Cabinet will meet tomorrow to examine these parameters."
Mr Barnier's official spokesman declined to comment on the reports. The European Commission released a statement on his behalf saying "intense negotiating efforts" were continuing and a full agreement had not yet been reached.
"Some key issues remain under discussion, in particular a solution to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland," the statement said. Downing Street said reports of Mr Barnier's remarks should be treated with scepticism.
It comes after a turbulent week for the Prime Minister on Brexit. Jo Johnson resigned as transport minister on Friday over her EU withdrawal plans and today told the Evening Standard she was trying to conceal from voters the bitter price of leaving the EU, even under the terms that she aims to announce this week.
Agreeing a backstop, a contingency plan designed to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland until the UK and EU settle their future relationship, has been a key obstacle in the way of a wider withdrawal deal being reached between the two sides.
Mrs May has called for a UK-wide backstop measure rather than the Northern Ireland-only provision proposed by the EU.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We have made good progress in the negotiations in relation to the withdrawal agreement but there are substantial issues still to be overcome in relation to the Northern Irish backstop."
Officials from both sides were engaged in talks which began on Sunday and lasted until 2.45am on Monday but failed to produce a decisive breakthrough.
Wednesday is now seen as a hard deadline for any agreement to be put to an EU summit this month. Otherwise it faces a delay until next month, forcing billions to be spent on urgent no-deal preparations.
No agenda for tomorrow’s weekly Cabinet meeting was issued to senior ministers before the weekend, suggesting Mrs May was aiming for a breakthrough in time to present a plan for approval.
If talks succeed, a legal text running to 500 pages, setting out withdrawal terms, will be presented.
A separate text is expected to outline a political agreement on future trade and relations, with the final deal subject to more negotiations.
But Ireland's deputy prime minister Simon Coveney told reporters in Brussels said there was "still clearly work to do" to reach an agreement.
"Clearly this is a very important week for Brexit negotiations," said Mr Coveney.
And a senior Brussels source said that work was "ongoing", adding: "We're not there yet."
Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth said: "We all know the clock is ticking and we must now come to a good outcome. We don't have much time left."
His French counterpart Nathalie Loiseau said: "The ball is in the British court. It is a question of a British political decision."
Opposition to Mrs May's Brexit plans from her own MPs appears to be growing. Mr Johnson, Boris Johnson's brother, told the Standard he was concerned she was planning a publicity campaign which mounted to a "calculated deceit". It would compare the content of any deal secured by the Prime Minister with a chaotic no-deal Brexit, rather the UK's current relationship with the EU.
Mr Johnson added: "There is a sea-change in mood among my Conservative colleagues who are focused by this crisis. I would not be surprised if more colleagues in senior positions speak out."
His brother, former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, claimed Mrs May is on the brink of "total surrender" to the EU over Brexit as he urged the Cabinet to mutiny against the Prime Minister's withdrawal agenda.
"The awful truth is that even if the Cabinet mutinies - as they ought - it will make little difference," he said in his Daily Telegraph column.
"Even if we agree with the EU that the UK must have a unilateral break clause, so that we can go our own sweet way at a time of our own choosing, it is irrelevant because the programme and ambition of the Government is to remain in captivity, to stay in our cell, even if we are given the theoretical key to escape."
Former education minister and Remain campaigner Justine Greening told the Observer at the weekend that Mrs May's plans would leave the UK in the "worst of all worlds" and that it would lead to "the biggest giveaway of sovereignty in modern times".
