The U.K. and the European Union have settled on draft text for all but one significant issue.
That last hurdle—whether Northern Ireland should be part of the EU’s tax regime for goods and services—prevented U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson from giving final approval to the text.
The draft text however comes just in time to be submitted to a key two-day European summit beginning today in Brussels.
Meanwhile, British Brexit Minister Stephen Barclay said that the government would comply with assurances given to a Scottish court that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would write a letter to the EU requesting a Brexit delay if a divorce deal is not reached by October 19.
The British parliament passed a law – the so-called Benn Act – last month which would require Johnson to request a three-month delay if parliament has not approved an exit agreement by the end of Saturday. Johnson has said both that he will obey the law and that he will not request a delay.