UK’s Gove hopes post-Brexit talks can still be done ‘within agreed timescale’

Talks to strike a deal on a post-Brexit relationship between Britain and the EU can still be concluded within the agreed timescale, British Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Monday.

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said last week that discussions had made little progress and that Britain had set a tight deadline by ruling out an extension to the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, Reuters reported.

“We believe it is still entirely possible to conclude negotiations on the timetable that has been outlined,” Gove told a parliamentary committee. He also said that the British text for the talks would be published “in a matter of weeks.”

Both sides will take stock at the end of June, Gove noted, declining to say whether Britain would walk away if there had been insufficient progress.