Barclay rejects claim on new legal advice in revised Brexit deal as govt failure

British Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay rejected claims on Tuesday that new legal advice on a revised divorce deal with the European Union showed Prime Minister Theresa May had failed to achieve meaningful concessions. Earlier, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said the new deal had not given Britain the legal means of exiting the so-called Northern Irish backstop arrangement unilaterally if "intractable differences" arose.

Asked if this conclusion was "pretty terminal" for May's deal, Barclay told lawmakers: "I don't accept that, because one has got to look at this as a package, not in isolation." "It does allow for this issue of bad faith and the UK being trapped."