UK may opt for extension of post-Brexit transition period, confirms Dominic Raab

Britain is open-minded about extending the post-Brexit transition period if it means the European Union drops its proposals for the so-called Irish backstop, Brexit minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday.

"If we need a bridge from the end of the implementation period to the future relationship ... I am open-minded about using a short extension of the implementation period," Raab told BBC TV.

"It is an obvious possible route as long as it is short, perhaps a few months, and secondly that we know how we get out of it and obviously it has to solve the backstop issue so that that falls away then as a possibility."

Raab also said he thought a deal needed to be done by the end of November in order to get the legislation through the UK parliament in time.