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EU officials on Tuesday issued an emergency plan for a "no agreement" Brexit, while negotiators were striving for an agreement within the next 24 hours, even though that Britain claimed that there remained a "small number" of problems to be solved.
In one case, Brussels declared that it will offer the British a visa-free trip in the bloc, but warned that this was "entirely conditional on the UK also granting a reciprocal and non-discriminatory trip to the UK. European citizens traveling to the United Kingdom ".
After the British and European negotiators had spent another night in talks, Prime Minister Theresa May informed her cabinet in London that there had been progress, but that no text had yet been forthcoming. ready for approval.
The value of the pound rose after May's MP, David Lidington, told the BBC Tuesday that an agreement was "still possible, but not final" Wednesday.
According to British officials, an agreement must be reached by then if Brussels is to convene an extraordinary summit of the European Union at the end of the month in order to sign it.
Failure means a postponement of the agreement until a summit in mid-December, leaving little time in May to get it through an agitated House of Commons before Brexit on March 29th.
"The Prime Minister told the cabinet that since the last meeting last week, negotiations have continued in Brussels and that good progress has been made," said May's spokesman.
"However, the Prime Minister said that there were still a small number of outstanding issues while the United Kingdom was asking for the best text that could be negotiated."
A government official said "it's closer than it was yesterday."
Lidington also promised on Tuesday that the government would issue a legal analysis of any divorce deal after its announcement, following pressure from the main opposition party, the Labor Party.
– & # 39; Delay managed in stages & # 39; –
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, a prominent eurosceptic who left the government in July after the May plan, accused the prime minister of making theatricality.
"No one is being fooled by this theater.Late delay after staged.An agreement will be reached and this will imply a capitulation from the United Kingdom," he tweeted.
Talks with Brussels aim to avoid border controls between British Northern Ireland and Ireland after the departure of the United Kingdom from the single market and the customs union of the United Kingdom. l & # 39; EU.
London suggests that, until a broader trade agreement, to resolve the problem, is reached, Britain could remain temporarily aligned with the bloc's trade rules, provided it can move out of the agreement when she wishes.
The EU seems ready to accept that, if Britain accepts, another fallback option in which Northern Ireland remains the only part of the single market.
May's North-Irish allies in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) strongly oppose this, saying it undermines the integrity of the United Kingdom.
Pro-Brexit MPs such as Johnson are also worried that Britain will end up locking itself into an endless customs union with the EU.
– Stocks of firm ingredients –
Parliament's opposition to the May draft raised fears that the Brexit deal would be rejected and that Britain would leave the EU without any agreement.
The cabinet has received an update on Britain's preparation for a "no agreement" scenario, as it has been doing for several weeks now, with speculation that the timing of the plans is fast approaching. .
The leading food manufacturer, Premier Foods, announced Tuesday that it was going to start storing ingredients.
"In the absence of certainty on the modalities of the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU, the group intends to launch soon a process of building stocks of raw materials in order to protect society against the risk of delays in ports, "he said.
Among the elements of the divorce agreement already concluded are the British release bill of about 39 billion pounds (45 billion euros, 50 billion dollars) as well as a guarantee on the rights of EU citizens.
May has guaranteed Europeans living in Britain that they will be able to stay after Brexit, no matter what happens.
New figures show, however, that the number of EU nationals working in Britain has fallen from 132,000 to 2.25 million, the largest annual decline since the beginning of comparable records in 1997.
The divorce agreement also provides for a 21-month transition period after Brexit, during which London would follow EU rules, in which both parties could negotiate a new trade relationship.
