UK attorney general Geoffrey Cox and Brexit minister Stephen Barclay began talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, an EU official told AFP amid conciliatory signals from both sides. Barnier said on Saturday the European Union was ready to give further guarantees to help the Brexit deal it struck with Prime Minister Theresa May in November get through the British parliament. The two sides are at a "critical point" in these negotiations, a spokesperson for May said on Tuesday. Eurasia Group analyst Mujtaba Rahman, a former UK official, said "many Tories who dislike May's deal are reluctantly coming round to the idea of voting for it." Cox will likely "reverse his previous legal advice that the UK could be trapped 'indefinitely' in the backstop," Rahman predicted.

Source: News 24 March 05, 2019 17:48 UTC