EU sources said it was now intended to be a “sort of joint text” that will indicate areas of mutual agreement and disagreement over the outlines of a future trading and security partnership. Michel Barnier has delayed publishing a draft on how the EU sees a trade deal working post-Brexit, after Downing Street signalled new concessions in their negotiating position. EU sources say these will be taken into account and the blueprint redrafted, in order to buy Theresa May time to gather domestic support for a final “grand bargain” ahead of next week’s critical meeting of European leaders. The prime minister is understood to have been angered by comments from her own Brexit secretary, David Davis, who said last week that Britain would not accept any kind of customs border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Michel Barnier has delayed publishing a draft on how the EU sees a trade deal working post-Brexit, after Downing Street signalled new concessions in their negotiating position. EU sources say these will be taken into account and the blueprint redrafted, in order to buy Theresa May time to gather domestic support for a final “grand bargain” ahead of next week’s critical meeting of European leaders. The prime minister is understood to have been angered by comments from her own Brexit secretary, David Davis, who said last week that Britain would not accept any kind of customs border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.