European Union negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday a Brexit deal with the United Kingdom was 90 percent done, although there was still a chance no accord would be reached due to ongoing stumbling blocks over the Irish border.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May and other EU leaders voiced renewed confidence that they could secure a Brexit deal, yet the two sides remain at odds over how to deal with their only land border, between the British province of Northern Ireland and Ireland.
May had also signalled she would consider extending a so-called transition period “for a matter of months” after Britain leaves the EU in March.
More positive noises out of Brussels about reaching a Brexit trade deal – the dominant driver of sterling – have been offset by growing unhappiness within Prime Minister Theresa May’s own party and her rivals about the sort of Brexit agreement she wants to forge.
Britain’s foreign minister Jeremy Hunt said this morning it would be hard to resolve the issue of a backstop to the Irish border problem in Brexit talks without more detail on the future relationship with the EU after Brexit.