Brexit deal ‘in 3 weeks’

Raab says he expects talks could be completed by November 21

A BREXIT deal is on course to be sealed within three weeks, Dominic Raab revealed last night.

The Brexit Secretary surprised MPs when he said he expected to be able to reveal details of the deal by November 21.

Downing Street has previously said only that it is working to conclude a deal ‘as soon as possible’, and hopes to do so during the autumn.

But in a letter to the cross-party Brexit committee, Mr Raab said the end of negotiations, which have stretched on for 19 months, was now ‘firmly in sight’. He said the two sides were ‘not far from an agreement’ on the vexed issue of the Northern Ireland border.

‘The end is now firmly in sight and, while obstacles remain, it cannot be beyond us to navigate them,’ he said.

‘We have resolved most of the issues and we are building up together what the future relationship should look like and making real progress.’

Mr Raab added: ‘I would be happy to give evidence to the committee when a deal is finished and currently expect November 21 to be suitable.’

But Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney last night denied there had been a breakthrough, saying it would require ‘movement’ from the UK in the next week. EU diplomats yesterday agreed to hold a series of no- deal planning seminars in November, covering citizens’ rights, transport, border controls and financial services.

Government sources also last night played down prospects of an imminent breakthrough.

And the Department for Exiting the EU issued a clarification of Mr Raab’s comments, saying: ‘There is no set date for the negotiations to conclude. November 21 was the date offered by the chairman of the select committee for the Secretary of State to give evidence.’ Downing Street refused to say whether the UK has tabled new proposals to break the deadlock on the Irish border issue. But no new concessions have yet been discussed with the Cabinet.

Brussels sources said negotiators would need to strike an outline deal next week in order to leave time to organise a special summit of EU leaders to sign it off ahead of Mr Raab’s deadline.

Mr Raab’s comments came as his predecessor David Davis suggested Eurosceptic MPs will eventually bow to pressure and back Mrs May’s deal. More than 50 MPs, including Mr Davis and Boris Johnson, have signed up to the ‘Stand up for Brexit’ campaign, which commits them to opposing Mrs May’s Chequers deal. Opposition on that scale would almost certainly sink the deal, unless Mrs May can persuade dozens of Labour MPs to defy their own leadership and back her.

But, speaking at a Spectator magazine event, Mr Davis said that ‘ irrational fear’ of a nodeal Brexit would cause many rebels to buckle.

He suggested that Mrs May might need two attempts to win the vote.

But he added: ‘ Terror will win, the fear of no deal.’