News / Foreign Policy

UK to publish Brexit deal next week: Journalist

Thursday, 08 November 2018 6:17 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 08 November 2018 6:21 PM ]

A man sets up the United Kingdom (Union Jack) flag (L) past the EU flag before the arrival of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker at the European Commission in Brussels on October 17, 2018. (AFP photo)

The British government will officially release the details of a long-anticipated deal on the country’s withdrawal from the European Union next week, according to a senior journalist who has seen a draft timetable on the issue.

Sam Coates, who has close contacts with the Whitehall, the official seat of the government in London, said Thursday that the cabinet will discuss the Brexit deal on Monday and the publication of the full Withdrawal Agreement will be due on Tuesday.

“Under one draft timetable discussed in Whitehall today: Cabinet likely Monday,” said Coates, adding that Brexit secretary Dominic Raab will meet EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier the same day as the release of the deal to outline a joint political declaration on Brexit.

The news come amid increasing uncertainties whether Britain could finalize a Brexit deal with the EU in November and allow the bloc to call an extraordinary summit of leaders later in the month to endorse the agreement.

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Many had expressed doubts that a Brexit deal could be done in November given reports that Britain and the EU were still at odds over the future status of their only land border on the island of Ireland. The uncertainty had even caused many to believe that Britain and the EU were heading toward the highly feared no-deal scenario, whereby Britain would have withdrawn from the bloc in March leaving many issues unregulated.

Coates, the Times political editor, said that an EU summit for the Brexit deal could be held around Nov 23-25, adding that Prime Minister Theresa May will make a statement on the deal to the lower house of the British parliament, the House of Commons, on Wednesday.

The reported finalization of the Brexit agreement effectively puts an end to calls for a second referendum on Brexit or a reversal of May’s Brexit strategy. May had indicated several times that she would bring the United Kingdom out of the EU on March 29, 2019, no matter what happens at the end of the Brexit talks. She has insisted that results of an original Brexit referendum in June 2016, in which Britons voted 52-48 for leaving the EU after more than 40 years, should be respected.

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