Brexit: Nov, Dec best opportunity for a deal, says Irish PM Leo Varadkar

The UK and the European Union are on course to miss a key milestone on the road to a Brexit deal after talks hit a roadblock on Sunday. Negotiations are now paused, putting pressure on leaders to step into the breach later this week.

A weekend of intense negotiations — including a surprise dash by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab to meet his EU counterpart Michel Barnier in Brussels — failed to break the deadlock.

There will be no further attempt to resolve the impasse before the EU summit in the Belgian capital on Wednesday, according sources, and officials on both sides are concerned time is running out to get an agreement before the UK’s exit in March. Even so, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he’s optimistic a deal can ultimately be done.

Hopes dashed
“Hopes of a decisive breakthrough in the Brexit negotiations at this week’s European Council have been thwarted by Theresa May’s limited room for maneuver at home,” Eurasia analyst Mujtaba Rahman said in a note to clients.  “The decisive factor was enormous pressure from her own Cabinet, which compounded the problems she already had with Eurosceptic Tory MPs and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.”

A deal likely in ‘ November or December’
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar too played down expectations of a Brexit deal being reached at an EU summit this week. “I figure November, December is probably the best opportunity for a deal but this is a dynamic situation,” he told reporters.