The UK’s Brexit negotiator David Davis has described the deal struck by Theresa May to move to the next phase of talks as a “statement of intent”.
He said it was not “legally enforceable” and if the UK failed to get a trade deal with the EU then it would not pay its divorce bill. But he stressed that the UK was committed to keeping a “frictionless and invisible” Irish border. And it would “find a way” to do this if there was a “no deal” Brexit.
The Brexit secretary also stressed that the odds of the UK exiting without a deal had “dropped dramatically” following Friday’s joint EU-UK statement in Brussels. And he spelled out the kind of trade deal he wanted with the EU, describing it as “Canada plus plus plus”.