Fourth round of Brexit divorce talks enters final day

Brexit Secretary David Davis will meet the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier later for the final day of the fourth round of divorce talks.

On Monday, as this round of talks began, Mr Davis insisted that there are "no excuses" for blocking progress on the talks and that a breakthrough was needed.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier had said that real progress on the three key divorce issues – the bill, the rights of EU citizens in the UK and the Irish border question – was "essential" before moving forward.

On Tuesday, EU Council President Donald Tusk took the EU progress assessment to Downing Street.

On the steps outside, he suggested Britain, in his view, was beginning to roll towards the EU position.

He said that the UK had abandoned the idea of having its Brexit "cake and eating it", adding that the country had become more "realistic" in its approach.

He told reporters: "I feel cautiously optimistic about the constructive and more realistic tone in the Prime Minister’s speech in Florence and of our discussion today.

"This shows that the philosophy of having a cake and eating it, is finally at an end… at least I hope so. That’s good news."

The reference was perhaps a reply to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who had claimed Britain could have its cake and eat it over Brexit.

One of the issues holding up progress is the financial price the UK will have to pay and the time period during which it will have to make payments.

On Friday, Theresa May had announced a post-2019 "implementation period" in which Britain would continue paying into EU coffers and participate in the single market.

Mr Davis confirmed that the UK planned to pay the EU around £10bn each year during the transition.

But Mr Barnier implied a transition phase was not guaranteed, adding that Britain must defer to European courts during any transition period and that the EU "was not asking for it".

(c) Sky News 2017: Fourth round of Brexit divorce talks enters final day