Brexit deal could be agreed ‘within days’ after late-night pizza summit - Irish foreign minister

EU chief negotiator Barnier attends Brexit talks in London
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier heads to 1VS conference centre on Wednesday
REUTERS
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A Brexit deal could be agreed “within days”, the Irish foreign minister declared on Thursday, hours after negotiators in London haggled about fishing quotas over takeaway pizzas.

Simon Coveney said he believed there was a “good chance” of an agreement this weekend despite gaps over fishing and whether the EU courts will act as umpire in future disputes.

“It's the time to hold our nerve and trust Michel Barnier,” he told Irish radio. “And I believe if we do that, there's a good chance that we can get a deal across the line in the next few days.”

Stacks of takeaway pizzas were delivered to the negotiation venue in central London on Wednesday as talks continued late into the night.

EU and UK negotiators are due to review overall progress today and tomorrow, officials said. And EU diplomats told Reuters a deal could come as early as tomorrow.

Another source said the next 24-48 hours would be "crucial".

Cabinet Minister Gavin Williamson said he had heard “good progress” was being made.

"We always expect negotiations to go up to the wire,” he told Sky.

"I'm confident from what I hear that progress, good progress is being made but we're going to do a deal that is right for Britain, if such a deal is available," he said. "If such a deal isn't available then we're not going to sign.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in