May says she will not agree Brexit deal 'at any cost' as No 10 hints cabinet decision imminent – Politics live

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen• Arron Banks’s firm and Leave. EU fined £135,000 over data misuse – live 1.49pm GMT I’m back from the Downing Street lobby briefing. This is what the prime minister’s spokesman said about today’s cabinet.[The PM] said that while 95% of the withdrawal agreement had been concluded, on the Northern Ireland backstop there are a number of issues that we still need to work through and these are the most difficult. This includes ensuring that, if the backstop is ever needed, it is not permanent and there’s a mechanism to ensure that the UK could not be held in the arrangement indefinitely.The prime minister said she was confident of reaching a deal. She said that while the UK should aim to conclude the withdrawal agreement as soon as possible, this would “not be done at any cost”. 12.28pm GMT And here are two columns on Brexit from the Irish papers that are worth reading.Up to now Ireland has enjoyed unprecedented solidarity. Some of that is genuine, some of it is based on the EU’s inherent goal of protecting peace and some of it is stems from a desire to punish the UK.Within a few years though, that sense of camaraderie is likely to have diminished. Angela Merkel told the Taoiseach as much at a recent dinner in Salzburg.Ireland is going to get what it wants and needs: no hard border and, in effect, the softest available Brexit.The British will get, in return, a declaration that if it can solve the Irish problem it can have its Canada-style trade deal – which is like saying that May can win Strictly as soon as she learns to dance. Continue reading…
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