EU, U.K. Negotiators Said to Be Closing in on Draft Brexit Deal
If a deal is reached, Johnson would be able to put it to the Parliament on Saturday and avoid being forced to seek another delay.
(Bloomberg) -- U.K. and European Union negotiators in Brussels are closing in on a draft Brexit deal with optimism there will be a breakthrough before the end of the day Tuesday, two EU officials said.
Any draft legal text will hinge on whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson believes he has the support of the U.K. Parliament, with the backing of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party crucial. Officials cautioned talks haven’t finished yet and there’s work still to do.
The pound surged after Bloomberg’s initial reports, climbing as much as 1.5% to $1.28, the highest level in nearly five months.
While there’s some finalizing to do, there are clear indications that negotiators will present a legal text on Wednesday morning for EU governments to scrutinize, an official said. That would only be possible if there’s a green light from Johnson, a separate official said.
Negotiators have approached -- and even managed to strike -- a Brexit deal before, only to see it shot down by the British government or the House of Commons, and EU negotiators are aware of Johnson’s need to get the DUP on board. This could complicate clinching a deal by Tuesday’s midnight deadline and shift focus to a summit of EU leaders that starts in Brussels on Thursday.
Saturday Vote
If a deal is reached, Johnson would be able to put it to the U.K. Parliament on Saturday and avoid being forced to seek another delay beyond Oct. 31. But he lacks a majority in Westminster and any concessions could prompt the DUP, which props up his administration, to try and thwart the agreement.
The U.K’s proposals are shrouded in secrecy but the focus is on Northern Ireland’s relationship to the EU’s customs union and the degree to which checks can be eliminated on goods crossing the Irish border, a scene of violence for decades until the late 1990s.
Two EU officials suggested that the U.K. had accepted that customs checks would have to take place on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland -- in other words between two parts of the U.K. -- rather than between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
That customs border in the Irish Sea is something the DUP has previously said it won’t support.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ian Wishart in Brussels at iwishart@bloomberg.net;Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Thomas Penny
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