Cross-party Brexit talks ‘positive’, says shadow chancellor

The government has held further talks with Labour as they continue to try and find a way to break the Brexit deadlock in Parliament.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said these discussions had been "positive", but said it would take until the end of next week to see how far they had got. 

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The EU has delayed the UK's departure from the bloc from April 12 to October 31 in order to avoid a no deal. 

Prime Minister Theresa May has said that the country could still leave the EU before May 22 – preventing the UK's involvement in the European elections – if a withdrawal agreement is successfully passed from Parliament. 

Cross-party talks have continued as a result and Labour's McDonnell and other staff members from the opposition met with cabinet ministers Michael Gove and David Lidington for more than hour. 

"I'm not going into the detail of it," he told reporters after being asked if the Conservative Party had made compromises. 

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"We are trying to be as constructive as we possibly can on all sides… but we will see by the end of next week how far we have got."

He also added that a timetable was being arranged for more meetings over the next 10 days.