European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said progress is being made towards a definitive Brexit deal but that it is slow.
“I have the impression that we are moving slowly but surely towards a definitive Brexit deal which should be concluded in the weeks to come,” Juncker told France 24 in an interview broadcast yesterday.
Meanwhile, Britain’s armed forces are making contingency plans for how they could support the country if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, senior defence officials said yesterday.
Asked what role the armed forces could play if there was a ‘no deal’ Brexit, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood said: “The armed forces stand ready to support Britain on a practical basis.
“There are contingency plans being made, there are discussions being held behind the scenes as to what support our armed forces will do,” Ellwood said on the ‘Ridge on Sunday’ television programme.
“With the transition from Brexit, if there is a requirement to provide assistance we’re looking right across the full spectrum of requirements to make sure that we are prepared.”
Earlier, the chief of defence staff General Sir Nicholas Carter said the armed forces were making “sensible” contingency plans on Brexit and other issues.
Asked if the army was making preparations for a no deal Brexit, Carter said: “What we always do is make sensible contingency plans for all sorts of eventualities....at this stage, I think people are confident there will be a deal, if there’s not one then we stand ready to help in any way we can.”
Prime Minister Theresa May was yesterday under growing pressure to change her plan for Britain to leave the European Union to avoid defeat in a parliamentary vote.
With both Britain and the EU suggesting an agreement is close, eurosceptic lawmakers and a leading member of a small Northern Irish party that props up her Conservative government made new threats to vote against the terms of the deal she is working on with Brussels.
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Emily Thornberry appears on the BBC’s Marr Show, in London yesterday.
