Signs of progress emerging on Brexit border issue

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Council President Donald Tusk spoke by phone Wednesday amid signs of movement in deadlocked Brexit talks.

Tusk tweeted that the pair spoke “to take stock of progress in

#brexit talks and discuss way ahead.” Tusk has said he is willing to call a special EU summit if there are new proposals from Britain to unblock talks.

May’s Cabinet has been inching closer to a common stance on the key issue — maintaining an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The emerging plan involves keeping the U.K. in a customs union with the EU until a permanent trade treaty is worked out.

But some pro-brexit Cabinet ministers want to see legal advice drawn up by Attorney General Geoffrey Cox before they agree to anything. They fear Britain being locked permanently into a customs union with the EU, which would limit the U.K.’S ability to strike new trade deals around the world.

Opposition Labour Party spokesman Keir Starmer also said the legal advice should be published, because “the public have the right to know precisely what the Cabinet has signed up to and what the implications are for the future.”

A document leaked to the BBC suggests the government hopes to strike a deal this month, which would then be put to lawmakers for approval.

The memo describes how May would try to win parliamentary and public support for an agreement before urging lawmakers to “put the country’s interests first” and back the deal in Parliament.