British minister Davis says must persuade ‘remainers’ of Brexit benefits

Verhofstadt said that the United Kingdom should invoke Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon as soon as possible and that the European Parliament should be in at the start of the negotiations, as it would ultimately have to ratify whatever the final exit agreement was.

The government has been pressed for detailed answers on how it intends to enact the decision to quit the bloc, made in a June 23 referendum, by everyone from business leaders to foreign allies.

Lawyers have clubbed together for a shared social media moan this week, slamming David Davis’ position on parliament’s involvement in Brexit negotiations. The date when that will happen is not known.

Davis was giving evidence to the House of Lords EU Committee after Prime Minister Theresa May refused to give the House of Commons a “running commentary” on the Brexit process.

“I can entirely see accountability after the event, that’s very clear”, the Brexit Secretary said.

“Much of the sort of confidentiality I’m talking about will be time-related”.

Liberal MEP Guy Verhofstadt told journalist Tuesday that he “cannot not imagine that we start a new legistaltive cycle without an agreement, and that we enter a new legislative cycle with no solution”.

“I don’t think this will be a blind process from beginning to end”.

Official Brexit negotiations are likely to begin early next year.

In a separate report, the Independent noted that Davis was smacked down by Downing Street last week after he publicly suggested that Britain would probably leave the single market after it left the EU.