Boris Johnson races against the clock to secure Brexit deal
EU and UK negotiators have entered the last day of Brexit negotiations hoping to secure a deal before a key summit tomorrow.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to update the cabinet of the state of talks after they continued overnight.
Read more: Negotiators burn the midnight oil as crunch EU summit looms
Sterling surged yesterday on reports that a deal was on the verge of being agreed.
Downing Street said talks had been “constructive” but said there was “more work still to do” to get a Brexit deal over the line.
Johnson is pushing for a last-minute withdrawal agreement with the EU ahead of the two-day summit starting tomorrow.
If he succeeds, EU leaders could pass the deal this week in time for the PM to put it before MPs in a special Saturday sitting of parliament.
That would allow Johnson to keep his pledge of leaving the EU by 31 October.
Otherwise parliament’s Benn Act would force him to seek a Brexit delay to take the UK’s departure into 2020.
However, Johnson has been resolute that he will not ask for a delay. Morning Wire has revealed the government may rely on the supremacy of EU law to secure a 31 October departure anyway.
If the EU’s 27 member states look at the draft withdrawal agreement during the summit, the UK and EU must publish details of the deal and a legal text.
The Prime Minister must convince Eurosceptics in his Conservative party and Northern Ireland’s DUP of the deal too in order to secure their votes.
Yesterday the DUP said “further work is required” to win them over.
Read more: Sterling surges against the dollar and euro amid renewed hope of Brexit deal
Meanwhile European Research Group chair Steve Baker appeared to offer the PM his support, saying he was optimistic of reaching a “tolerable” deal.
Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told LBC: “I think the votes are there now for a deal.”