EU's Barnier: ready for Brexit talks "until last possible day"

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Thursday he would continue intensive talks with Britain over the coming weeks to strike a deal and added that the bloc was ready to continue talks "until the last possible day". "We want to give these discussions every chance of being successful so that we secure an agreement," he told a news conference after EU leaders discussed the impasse over an agreement on future relations between Brussels and London.

He said that he would be in touch with his British counterpart on Friday and would be in London over the weekend to seek an agreement that needs to be in place by the end of this year.