Exit negotiations will go to the wire: UK

Bloomberg

UK Prime Minister Theresa May insists she’s “determined” to deliver Brexit “on time,” on March 29, despite ministers in her own Cabinet suggesting a delay could be needed. She promised to return to Brussels with renewed commitment and “new ideas” to deliver a deal. May says even Jeremy Corbyn agrees the Brexit deal needs changes to backstop.
But the Home Secretary Sajid Javid said there was no need for the Irish border backstop plan. He’s spoken to Border Force officials in his department who told him existing technology could be deployed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
That’s a big clash with Javid’s pro-EU Cabinet colleague, Business Secretary Greg Clark who said last week that technical solutions were not “currently available.” He also declared his total opposition to staying in a customs union with the EU. Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: Javid said there will be a “change” to Britain’s security capabilities—and not a positive one—if the country leaves with no deal. “I’m absolutely confident that we will continue to be one of the safest countries in the world,” he insisted.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss said it was “inevitable” that the Brexit negotiations will go to the last minute — and that means Britain can’t back down on its threat to leave with no deal.
“I’m afraid it’s inevitable that in these types of negotiations things do get decided close to the last minute—that’s when the maximum political pressure is,” Truss told BBC Radio 5 Live. The “threat of no deal on both sides” is bringing Parliament closer to a consensus and will also “get the EU on board,” she said. “I think we are seeing signs of the EU’s position softening.”
But even if there is no deal, truck movements, data exchange and financial services transactions will continue, Truss said, adding that predictions of “Armageddon scenarios” are exaggerated.
UK International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said EU leaders are being “irresponsible” to rule out even talking about potential changes to the withdrawal agreement—because a no-deal Brexit would hit the European and British economies.