UK Brexit minister Barclay: I told Barnier could not see unchanged Brexit deal being approved

British Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said on Wednesday he told the European Union's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier that he did not envisage an unchanged exit deal being approved by Britain's parliament. Barclay ruffled feathers last week in Brussels, telling EU negotiators the deal agreed with Prime Minister Theresa May was "dead". May is due to step down next week and the frontrunner to succeed her, Boris Johnson, plans to seek changes to the deal.

Barclay told a committee of British lawmakers on Wednesday that there had been "quite a lot of misleading information" about his meeting with Barnier. "What I said was the House (of Commons) had rejected it three times ... that the European election results in my view had further hardened attitudes across the House and that the text unchanged, I did not envisage going through the House," he said.