Brexit is back near the top of the trading headlines pile after the weekend saw bearish developments once more in talks between the UK and the European Union.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May, after making a few too many concessions to unmoving European Union leaders in Brussels, is in the process of trying to force the UK to remain in the EU’s customs union for an undefined amount of time following the formal Brexit date next March in lieu of working out an actual deal, and hard-line Brexiteers within the UK’s parliament are baying for blood, with former Brexit Secretary David Davis calling for a full-scale “parliamentary rebellion” against PM May, urging current cabinet ministers to “exert their collective authority” over the prime minister, and finish taking the wheels off once and for all.
Current Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is currently in Brussels trying to hammer out a last-minute agreement ahead of Wednesday’s EU leaders’ meeting, and an announcement is expected sometime on Monday, though the contents will be unlikely to appease emotional forces on either side of the Brexit line. According to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, the hopeful plan is to have a plan outlined and agreed to today, but the specific contents of that agreement will likely not be made public, a move that would surely further stoke the flames growing amongst PM May’s detractors, albeit with the newspaper noting that the current timeline is more of a hopeful suggestion than a concrete agreement.
Any agreement reached today in last-ditch efforts will most likely remain thin on the details, with sources close to Brexit talks confirming to several media outlets that talks over specific sticking points have stalled out this weekend, and despite the EU’s or the UK’s best efforts to paper over concerns, the gaps between both sides over the Irish border issue and customs unions will remain largely unresolved up to and following Wednesday’s leadership summit.
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