David Davis confirms plan to enshrine Brexit deal in law after Guy Verhofstadt blast
2 min read
David Davis has pledged to enshrine last week's Brexit deal in law "as soon as possible" - after being slammed by a senior Brussels official.
The Brexit Secretary said on Sunday that agreements struck between the Government and Brussels last week were a "statement of intent" and therefore not "legally enforceable".
That spraked an angry response from Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator, who said Mr Davis' comments were "unacceptable".
He also demanded that last week's agreement, which cleared the way for the Brexit negotiations to move onto trade in the New year, be "translated into legal text ASAP".
Following clear-the-air talks with his European counterpart, Mr Davis then echoed his remarks in a tweet of his own.
The latest spat follows days of confusion over the precise status of last week's deal, which Theresa May finally struck in the early hours of Friday morning.
A Downing Street spokesman said today: "The Secretary of State set out yesterday that the Commission agreed with him that the agreement that was reached last week is a political agreement but that will move forward into a withdrawal agreement that will be legally binding."
The Prime Minister will meet EU leaders on Thursday for the crucial two-day European Council summit at which she is expected to get the green light for talks on future trade to begin.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
