Brexit secretary argues talks so far prove it is impossible to settle withdrawal issues with no sense of future UK-EU tiesThe Brexit secretary, David Davis, is urging Brussels to revisit the government’s proposal to kick off discussions on Britain’s future relationship with the EU alongside withdrawal talks. Davis initially suggested the timetabling of talks would be “the row of the summer”, with Britain pressing to begin discussing the future relationship from the start. When negotiations began formally after the general election, he appeared to have conceded that the EU’s approach was acceptable. All along, the UK has argued that talks around our withdrawal cannot be treated in isolation from the future partnership we want. “Both sides need to move swiftly on to discussing our future partnership, and we want that to happen after the European council in October,” Davis said.

Source: The Guardian August 20, 2017 10:45 UTC