Taoiseach to attend summit as Brexit talks move towards next phase
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is attending the European Council Summit this morning as negotiations on Brexit move towards the next phase.
It is after substantive progress was made in the first phase of talks, notably the commitment that there would be no hard border in Ireland post-Brexit.
Now MEPs have voted to move into phase two of talks, and say there is no going back on the deal, despite some since-clarified comments by Britain’s Brexit secretary, David Davis.
The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt says Mr Davis confirmed that there was no intention to backtrack on their commitments.
"I think the best way to secure this is that in the coming weeks we transpose all of these commitments in the legal text of a withdrawal agreement," Mr Verhofstadt suggested.
Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister is headed to Brussels to urge other EU leaders to move Brexit talks on to trade as quickly as possible.
But Theresa May’s authority was dealt a blow last night - as some Tory MPs went against her to give Parliament the right to have a say on any final exit deal.
