Brexit deal imminent, insists leading Cabinet member; pound jumps
A leading member of the UK government has said a Brexit deal could be secured by within a matter of days, if not sooner.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, Prime Minister Theresa May’s deputy, said he was “cautiously optimistic” that a deal would be struck within the next 24-to-48 hours. “Still possible but not at all definite, I think pretty much sums it up.”
In an interview with the BBC, he added: “We are not quite there yet. We are almost within touching distance now. The PM has said it can’t be a deal at any price.”
On Monday, May said the talks were now “in the endgame”.
Sterling rose on the back of Lidlington’s comments, also helped by official data released on Tuesday showing wages had grown at the fastest rate for nearly a decade. By mid-morning it was trading at €1.15.
UK and European Union leaders are due to meet at the end of month, and negotiators are frantically trying to get a deal clinched ahead of the crunch summit.
However, even if May does secure a deal, she faces a battle to get it through Parliament. Within government, there are a number of Brexit-supporting MPs who are unhappy about the proposals currently on the table, while Labour is split, with some calling for a second referendum and others insisting they will not back any deal and will seek a general election instead.
The so-called Northern Irish backstop – an insurance policy to prevent a hard boarder in Ireland – remains the main sticking point for both negotiators and Parliament.
However, Lidington insisted today: “The Prime Minister has said again and again, if the backstop were ever to be used – we don’t want it to be used – it’s clearly got to be something that would be temporary and no indefinite.”