Theresa May has indicated that the UK would consider extending the UK's Brexit transition period by a “matter of months” as part of moves to break the ongoing deadlock over the Irish border.
May said the extension would give UK and EU negotiators more time to find a solution to the Irish border issue, but insisted she still believed a deal on the future relationship would be in place before December 2020.
Speaking ahead of a second day of talks with EU leaders in Brussels, the prime minister said: “On the withdrawal agreement there are issues remaining around the backstop.”
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“Earlier in the year we forward a proposal as to how to deal with this issue. A further idea that has emerged, and it is an idea at this stage, it to create an option to extend the implementation period for a matter of months. And it would only be for a matter of months.”
She added: “But the point is this is not expected to be used because we are working to ensure that we have that future relationship in place by the end of December 2020. I am clear that it is possible to do that and that is what we are working for. In those circumstances there will be no need for any proposal of this sort.”
On current plans, the UK's transition period - in which the Britain's relationship with the EU will remain broadly the same as it is now - is due to run expire on December 31 2020.
At the summit meeting yesterday, EU chiefs all-but ruled out holding an emergency summit in November to finally sign off a Brexit deal after deciding there was little prospect of a breakthrough.
A source said: "The EU27 leaders stand ready to convene a European council, if and when the Union negotiator reports that decisive progress has been made.
"For now, EU27 is not planning to organise an extraordinary summit on Brexit in November."
That means that the earliest a withdrawal agreement could potentially be agreed is at the next scheduled EU Council summit in December, just three months before Brexit on 29 March next year.