Barnier sets Johnson a midnight deadline for Brexit concessions

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/15/barnier-brexit-deal-difficult-but-possible-this-week

Barnier sets Johnson a midnight deadline for Brexit concessions

Daniel Boffey in Luxembourg

Tue 15 Oct 2019 11.14 BST First published on Tue 15 Oct 2019 09.32 BST

Michel Barnier has set Boris Johnson a midnight deadline to concede to EU demands and agree to a customs border in the Irish Sea or be left with nothing to take to the Commons.

According to sources, the EU’s chief negotiator told ministers that, as it stood, there was no prospect of a deal being signed off by leaders at a summit on Thursday, before a special sitting of the UK parliament on Saturday.

Legal text had yet to be tabled by the British negotiators, Barnier told ministers in Luxembourg. He advised the EU capitals he would announce on Wednesday whether negotiations on an agreement would have to continue into next week.

Barnier warned that the starting point for a deal had to be the Northern Ireland-only backstop, keeping it in the EU’s single market for goods and erecting a customs border in the Irish Sea, a proposal previously rejected by Theresa May.
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A press conference with Barnier was cancelled on Tuesday morning in a sign that the negotiations remain highly fluid.
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