EU's Barnier says talks on Brexit going ahead - Reuters

As reported by Reuters, The EU's lead Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, is signaling that improving talks between the EU and the UK can proceed as UK Prime Minister Theresa May continues to bash skulls with hardline Eurosceptics within her own government.

Key quotes

"Talks between the European Union and Britain on Brexit are being conducted in a spirit of “good cooperation”, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator on the issue, said on Monday. “We continue working in a spirit of good cooperation,” Barnier told reporters.

Despite Barnier’s upbeat mood, there is, so far, no full exit agreement and some rebels in British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party have threatened to vote down a deal if she clinches one with the EU. Barnier also discussed the matter of Gibraltar, a British territory on Spain’s southern coast which will leave the EU along with the UK on March 29 next year.

Although Gibraltar is not part of the EU customs union, businesses fear regulation of the border could become more rigid following Britain’s exit from the EU, with detrimental effects for the thriving economy of the tiny territory.

A major obstacle facing Britain as it negotiates its exit from the EU, including the single market and customs union, is future arrangements for the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. 

But many business chiefs and investors fear politics could scupper a deal, thrusting both the EU and the United Kingdom into a “no-deal” Brexit that they say would weaken the West, panic financial markets and block the arteries of trade.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said on Sunday that as Britain now faces a choice between a bad Brexit deal or a damaging “no-deal” Brexit, voters should be given another referendum."