Britain makes concessions to secure 21-month Brexit transition

BRITISH negotiators expect to clinch a deal on Brexit transition terms as early as this weekend, following a series of climb-downs to secure a deal from the EU, The Daily Telegraph understands.

Sources on both sides said there were no insuperable sticking points over a deal that would provide a largely “status-quo transition” until at least December 31 2020.

Negotiators will work today and tomorrow to finalise a legal text for a 21-month agreement that will be hailed by Downing Street as a significant win for Theresa May, and a key stepping stone on the road to Brexit.

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, who this week told the Commons he was “confident” a deal would be secured, is in Brussels this weekend ready for a meeting with Michel Barnier, his EU counterpart, on Monday.

There are still concerns that Ireland may yet scupper a deal, with demands that Mrs May make “more progress” on the Irish border question. Ireland is seeking verbal commitments that the UK accepts the need for a “backstop” solution – commitments which Mrs May gave at Prime Minister’s Questions this week, but which Dublin feels did not go far enough.

Despite Irish pressure, senior sources on both sides told The Telegraph that progress on the transition deal would not be linked to progress on the Ireland issue.

Resolving this will be the subject of intensive talks between the UK, Ireland and the EU on March 26 – the Monday following next week’s EU leaders’ summit, where the UK hopes the transition deal will be confirmed.

An Irish government source said the talks were “welcome” but warned they could only be successful if the UK “commits to taking forward this work on the basis of the draft protocol [backstop solution]”. Mrs May has already said this is “unacceptable” as drafted.

Ireland apart, the sides have made progress in the divorce deal, with sources saying that “large sections” of that separation agreement would be “coloured green” by next week.

Although the transition deal will need to be ratified by UK and EU parliaments, the early political agreement on transition will bring relief to businesses on both sides of the Channel.

The prospect of a deal comes despite lingering French opposition in the wake of concessions from the UK, including accepting EU demands on keeping the period to just 21 months.

In a compromise agreed by the Cabinet this week, free movement of EU citizens will continue until the end of the transition period, allowing EU nationals “permanent leave to remain” if they arrive before the end of 2020.

EU sources said the British had been given a “fig leaf ” for each of their compromises. The Telegraph understands the UK will agree to obey common EU foreign and security policy and will be allowed to join EU delegations “when it is in the interests of the EU”.

Fears among Brexiteers that Britain will become a “vassal state” during the transition are expected to be assuaged by a clause – already in the EU treaties – that allows the UK to ignore the common EU foreign policy if it had an impact on any “vital interests” of the UK.