Breakthrough:
Britain’s May will present deal to her senior ministers on Wednesday
An anti-Brexit demonstrator holds placards outside the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said British and EU negotiators have reached a draft agreement on Brexit.
Envoys from EU member states will meet late on Wednesday to discuss Brexit, diplomats said on Tuesday, with some adding that they believed they could be briefed on a breakthrough in reaching a deal.
“It seems to be very close,” one said, adding that he understood that British and EU negotiators had reached an accord on a text that would now be assessed by British Prime Minister Theresa May and her fractious cabinet.
Envoys were called to the meeting on Monday, notionally to hear from the European Commission about plans it published on Tuesday on preparing for Britain leaving the EU in March without a deal.
However, one diplomat said the agenda had not been fixed yet and it would be the expected forum for the EU executive to consult member states on any Brexit deal.
The EU and Britain have agreed a draft Brexit divorce deal text and May will present the agreement to her senior ministers on Wednesday, the BBC reported.
While officials choreograph the first withdrawal of a sovereign state from the EU, it remains unclear whether May can get any deal approved by the British parliament.
“Source confirms divorce deal text agreed at technical level,” BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said on Twitter on Tuesday. “Cabinet to meet early afternoon tomorrow might be official confirmation soon.”
Tom Newton Dunn, the political editor at The Sun, said: “Cabinet ministers are being called into No 10 to see the PM one by one tonight [Tuesday] ahead of full cabinet meeting tomorrow to sign off Brexit divorce deal. Endgame is beginning.”
IRELAND’S NATIONAL BROADCASTER SAID THE TEXT WAS AGREED LATE ON MONDAY AND THEN TRANSMITTED TO LONDON
Ireland’s national broadcaster said the text was agreed late on Monday and then transmitted to London. RTE quoted sources as saying it was “as stable as it can be”, but that it would be incorrect to say the Brexit negotiations had “concluded”.
Sterling, which has seesawed since reaching $1.50 just before results of the 2016 referendum vote for Britain to leave the EU, surged to $1.3030.
According to RTE, there will be one insurance policy to avoid a return to controls on the bor- der between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, the socalled Northern Irish “backstop”.
That will come in the form of a temporary UK-wide customs arrangement, with specific provisions for Northern Ireland that go deeper on the issue of customs and alignment with the rules of the single market than for the rest of the UK.
The arrangement will also include an agreed review mechanism, RTE said, adding that it understood there was still “further shuttling” to be done between London and Brussels.
The EU and the UK need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world’s biggest trading bloc and the fifth-largest national economy. But May has struggled to untangle nearly 46 years of membership without damaging trade or upsetting the legislators who will ultimately decide the fate of any deal she can secure.