Britain's Brexit ministry said Sunday that the UK and the EU have made progress "in a number of key areas" in the ongoing Brexit negotiations, but there remain a number of "unresolved issues relating to the backstop," the UK Department for Exiting the EU (DExEU) said, Sputnik reported.
In the last few days UK and EU negotiators have made real progress in a number of key areas. However there remain a number of unresolved issues relating to the backstop. The UK is still committed to making progress at the October European Council," the DExEU tweeted on Sunday."
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said earlier on Sunday that despite intense talks with UK Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, some key issues of Brexit remain open, including the matter of the Irish border.
Meanwhile, former UK Brexit Secretary David Davis called on the cabinet to reject Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan, arguing that the cabinet committee on Brexit negotiations only met for a few months and did not seem to be participating in decision-making.
In particular, in an article published in The Sunday Times newspaper, Davis, who has repeatedly expressed his discontent with May's Chequers plan, called the proposed deal "completely unacceptable," as it was opposite everything voters had been promised when they chose to leave the bloc.
On Friday, the UK Department of Transport warned that if London fails to reach a Brexit agreement with Brussels by the end of March 2019, it may lead to a halt in rail communication with continental Europe.
The lack of a final Brexit deal also threatens to end agreements on the single energy market that regulate the electricity market in Northern Ireland, and may cause problems for energy consumers in the region. The DExEU, however, points out that it intends to work out a solution in collaboration with Dublin and Brussels to avoid such problems.
In case of a no-deal Brexit, United Kingdom trade agreements with more than 70 non-EU countries will automatically expire. This, among other things, will cause problems with UK citizens' access to their own accounts in various internet services, such as Spotify and Netflix, when traveling on EU territory.