Tusk sets deadline on Brexit breakthrough

Talks: Urgent call for progress on Ireland and EU divorce bill

European Council president Donald Tusk has set a deadline of the start of December for Britain to make further movement on its Brexit divorce bill and the future of the Irish border.

Speaking after talks with Theresa May in Sweden, Mr Tusk said the EU has completed the internal work necessary to give the green light for talks on trade and transition to begin at the next European Council summit in Brussels on December 14-15.

But he said that “much more progress” was needed from the UK on two of the three key issues in withdrawal talks in order to break the deadlock which has prevented the move to the second phase.

“We will be ready to move on to the second phase already in December, but in order to do that we need to see more progress from the UK side,” he said.

“While good progress on citizens’ rights is being made, we need to see much more progress on Ireland and on the financial settlement.”

He said he had told Mrs May “this progress needs to happen at the beginning of December at the latest”.

Speaking after an EU jobs summit in Gothenburg, Mr Tusk warned: “If there is not sufficient progress by then, I will not be in a position to propose new guidelines on transition and the future relationship at the December European Council.” Mr Tusk said he and Mrs May agreed to meet again next Friday “to assess the situation in more detail”.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar made clear that Dublin is ready to delay the start of trade talks beyond the start of next year unless the UK offers further concessions on the border.

Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis called for compromise from Brussels and added: “On the citizens’ rights front, we’ve made all the running.”

Asked about the claim that the UK had made all the concessions so far in the negotiations, Mr Tusk said: “I can say only that I appreciate Mr Davis’s English sense of humour.”

The prime minister repeated her promise that the UK will “honour our commitments” to the EU.

Reports, dismissed as speculation by Downing Street, suggested Mrs May could be prepared to offer a further £20billion, which would bring to around £38billion the total Britain is prepared to pay to settle its liabilities – well short of the 60billion euro (£53billion) sought by Brussels.

“We need to see much more progress from the UK side”

WALKIE TALKIE: Theresa May speaks with French President Emmanuel Macron as they walk on a pier at the EU summit in Gothenburg