May tells business chiefs time is running out but she is confident of securing deal
May has told business leaders she knows time is running out to reach a Brexit deal but she is confident it can be done, the head of the Institute of Directors has said.
In a 35-minute conference call with around 120 company bosses to update them on the exit talks, the Prime Minister was said to have accepted that uncertainty could be having an impact on UK firms.
Stephen Martin, IoD director general, said the PM did not say if the possibility of extending the transition period was being seriously considered.
He told the BBC: “She accepts fully that time is running out and a deal needs to be done, certainly in the autumn, as she put it. We need time to get ready for that. She was very clear she accepts the uncertainty that it’s causing at the minute and the impact that could be having.
“But she was making it clear to everybody that she does believe a deal can be done and she is confident.
“The only sticking point is the Northern Ireland border and the backstop arrangements.”
Downing Street said Mrs May told the business leaders that “significant progress” has been made.
“She acknowledged that there were a few significant issues that were still outstanding, but said that the very real sense she had from leaders around the table at the council was that they wanted to reach a deal as soon as possiTHERESA ble this autumn,” a No 10 spokesman said.
It comes after Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt urged warring Tories to get behind Mrs May’s Brexit strategy.
Meanwhile, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that the UK’s withdrawal agreement could still fail over the issue of the Irish border, leading to an “extremely serious” no-deal Brexit.
Mr Barnier said the deal was “90%” done and he was hoping to complete it “in a few weeks or a few months, as soon as possible”.
But asked if an agreement would be reached, he said: “I have no deep conviction on this subject, because in the UK the political situation is very complex.”