Brexit deal must be done by 'end of November' or government risks running out of time, says Dominic Raab

Dominic Raab has said a Brexit deal needs to be done by the “end of November” or the government risks running out of time to rubber-stamp the agreement before Britain leaves the EU.

The Brexit secretary insisted that a deal was still possible with “goodwill and a bit of oomph” on both sides, despite a crunch EU summit last week breaking up without an arrangement with Brussels.

Theresa May faced heavy criticism from Tory MPs after she floated the idea the government could agree to a longer transition period to give negotiators time to solve the vexed issue of the Irish border.

Mr Raab sought to play down the proposals, saying he was “open minded” to an extension of three months beyond the agreed 21-month period, which was due to end in December 2020.

It comes after he also said Britain would only offer a longer transition period if the plans for a backstop over the Irish border were dropped.

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I’m confident we can get a deal and equally I think we need to have done it towards the end of November.

“I think the EU side as well as for the UK, the practical timings of getting our legislation through. There’s every reason we can do this deal, there is pragmatism and goodwill on both sides.

“What we are not going to do, and I think this is an important point to make, we have made concessions, we have made compromises.

“There does come a point where you can become compromised yourself and that’s why we have to be very clear that Northern Ireland cannot be separated by the rest of the UK in customs or regulatory terms, and we can’t have a situation where we are stuck in an indefinite limbo.”

He suggested the transition period could be extended by three months, but the move would have to “solve” the Irish backstop issue.

“If there does need to be a bridge, I am open minded about the possibility about using a short extension of the implementation period. Let’s say three months,” he said.

Avoiding a hard border in Ireland has become the major sticking point in the negotiations. Negotiators have agreed the need for a “backstop” plan, which would be a safety net in case no trade deal is agreed with the EU.

Brussels wants a backstop that keeps Northern Ireland in the EU’s customs union, while the prime minister wants the UK to stay in the trade arrangement until 2020, preventing a border down the Irish Sea.

Amid widespread plotting by Conservative MPs, Mr Raab also urged his colleagues to “play for the team” rather than seeking to oust the prime minister.

France’s Europe minister Nathalie Loiseau said what was needed was “definitive answers or at least no temporary measures which disappear and we don’t know what to do after” over the Irish border.

She said: “We need to have a British answer to what we have proposed – the ball is in London’s court and we are waiting. It’s about a question of weeks now until we are sure that we can have a good agreement.

“But on the Irish border issue, we agreed together – London and the 27 – that the situation has to be as similar as possible to the current one, meaning no hard border, no controls between northern and southern Ireland, so there has to be a solution, but you cannot only rely on negotiation about the future relationship.”

Ms Loiseau said it is something which needs to be “fixed by London” as the UK took the decision to leave the EU.

Pro-EU campaigners accused Mr Raab of “making it up as he goes along” and urged the government to listen to demands for a second referendum, after nearly 700,000 protestors took to the streets in London to call for a fresh vote on the final deal.

The march, organised with The Independent, was the largest demonstration on the streets of the capital since the Iraq War protest in 2003.

Labour MP Rupa Huq, who backs a people’s vote, said: “There is no clearer sign that Britain is heading for no deal or a bad deal than the sight of ministers and the prime minister arguing in public about what the UK negotiating position should be.

“Yesterday, 700,000 people marched on parliament to send a clear message to politicians that they are angry about the mess they have created which is in no way in this country’s interests.

“The only thing that is now clear about Brexit is the groundswell of public support for a People’s Vote.”

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesperson Tom Brake said: “Dominic Raab seems to be making up the Conservatives’ Brexit position as he goes along. It’s difficult to see what major difference an extension of three months could possibly make.

“The Conservatives have form on using sticky plaster solutions to problems that require major political surgery.”