Chance of Brexit deal ‘has increased’: European Commission chief

“After thirty years of bad violence, we eventually got a settlement, based on the same things we were looking for at the beginning, back in the 60s – a fair and just society”, Mr Farrell said.

Another senior EU diplomat said the EU would propose “zero tariffs and zero quotas” in trade with Britain after Brexit, which would go beyond what the bloc has with Canada.Such a proposal goes down well with May’s critics at home who advocate a more uncompromising cut from the EU than she is seeking.

“In the meantime, I regret that the commission did not want to do it, because that was the British wish.”In the wake of Juncker’s nomination as commission president in 2014, Cameron had admitted he would face an uphill struggle to keep Britain in the European Union, claiming that the new European Union chief had been a force for weakening the standing of the member states”.

He added that as someone who had spent half of his life under Soviet rule, “I know what I am talking about”.

“To agree to any deal, we need to have a legally sound backstop solution for Ireland and Northern Ireland”, Barnier said after meeting Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.

The UK is due to leave the European Union on 29 March next year.

The EU is prepared to offer the United Kingdom an alternative to the British Prime Minister’s current Brexit proposals – a proposal which Boris Johnson’s calling a “superb way forward”.

“I believe that we must distance ourselves from this no deal scenario”, the former Luxembourg prime minister said.

The BBC’s Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming said officials still “seem to be pushing for the whole withdrawal agreement to basically be done” by the European Union summit on 17 October.

Britain is due to leave the European Union in March, but talks on managing the unprecedented split have been stalled over differences on how to avoid border checks between EU-member Ireland and Britain’s province of Northern Ireland. Both sides say the border must be kept open, but haven’t agreed on how that can be accomplished. I do not interfere in inner Cabinet debates in the UK.

He explained that the so-called “Canada+++ deal” was a far-reaching agreement on trade, internal security and foreign policy cooperation, which was “a true measure of respect”.

He said Ireland’s objectives remained as they have been since the start of the process – protecting the Common Travel Area on the island; ensuring no hard border; protecting the rights of Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland; and striking a trade deal with the UK.

Any delay beyond then is likely to hit the pound hard ― most traders are reluctant to push sterling much higher until the prospect of a deal, which would then need to be passed in the British parliament, becomes much clearer.