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		</div><p>Brexit talks between the British Government and the country&#8217;s Labour Party were resuming on an official level this evening after four days of little apparent progress.</p>
<p>In jointly released statements, Downing Street and Labour said “technical” talks were restarting after dialogue by phone and email over the weekend.</p>
<p>There was no official confirmation of BBC reports that the Government had made a fresh offer of a legislative “lock” to prevent a future Conservative leader from unpicking any agreement reached by Theresa May.</p>
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<p>With only two days to go to a crunch Brussels summit at which the other 27 EU member states will decide whether to grant the British Prime Minster’s request for a further delay to Brexit, Downing Street insisted Mrs May was treating the cross-party talks with “urgency”.</p>
<p>But there appeared little prospect of a compromise agreement being in place in time for Wednesday’s EU meeting, and no chance of it being approved by MPs before the EU27 meet.</p>
<p>Mrs May is to make a whistle-stop trip to Berlin and Paris for last-minute talks with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on the eve of the emergency summit.</p>
<p>And she spoke by phone with European Council president Donald Tusk, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Malta’s Joseph Muscat to set out the case for extending the Brexit process to June 30.</p>
<p>The unanimous agreement of all 27 is needed to avoid the UK leaving without a deal on Friday.</p>
<p>Mr Tusk has recommended a one-year extension to the Brexit process, with a break clause allowing an earlier departure if a withdrawal deal is ratified in Westminster.</p>
<p>Following his call with Mrs May, Mr Rutte said it would be “crucial” for the EU27 to know “when and on what basis” the UK will ratify its Withdrawal Agreement.</p>
<p>He said they would need assurances of “sincere co-operation” from London before granting an extension.</p>
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Speaking during a visit to Dublin, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the UK could not escape demands for a £39 billion payment and a “backstop” for the Irish border by quitting without a deal.</p>
<p><em>“If the UK were to leave the EU without a deal we would not discuss anything with the UK until there is an agreement for Ireland and Northern Ireland as well as for citizens’ rights and the financial settlement,”</em> Mr Barnier told Irish premier Leo Varadkar</p>
<p><em>“You have our full support and, I have said before, the backstop is currently the only solution we have found to maintain the status quo on the island of Ireland.”</em></p>
<p>Mr Varadkar said he was “confident” of agreement on an extension at Wednesday’s summit.</p>
<p>Tuesday’s weekly meeting of Cabinet has been cancelled due to Mrs May’s travels, with no rescheduled date announced. A number of Cabinet ministers attended Downing Street for a scheduled meeting of the EU subcommittee on Monday.</p>
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<p>The Prime Minister has angered Tories by holding talks with Labour, with Brexiteers including Boris Johnson concerned that she will accept a customs union as the price for a deal with Jeremy Corbyn.</p>
<p>Negotiations stalled after Labour said the Prime Minister refused to set out any changes to her Brexit red lines.</p>
<p>Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the ball was “in the Government’s court”.</p>
<p>He told the BBC: <em>“At the moment we’re waiting to see what the Government is putting on the table as a proposal.</em></p>
<p><em>“All they have done so far is to indicate various things but not to change the Political Declaration, so the ball is in the Government’s court.</em></p>
<p><em>“We need to see what they come back with and when they do we will take a collective position on that.”</em></p>
<p>In a video message recorded in her Chequers country retreat at the weekend, Mrs May said both sides in the cross-party talks will have to compromise.</p>
<p>The Prime Minister acknowledged she could not see the Commons accepting her deal in its current form and MPs would not agree to a no-deal exit.</p>
<p>If no deal can be reached with Labour, Mrs May has committed to putting a series of Brexit options to the Commons and being bound by the result.</p>
<p>She hopes to have a solution ratified in time to allow the UK to leave the EU by May 22, avoiding the need to take part in European Parliament elections the following day.</p>
<p>But Mr Johnson warned that Tory MPs will not allow Mrs May to “surrender” to Mr Corbyn, who is demanding involvement in a post-Brexit customs union arrangement with the EU as part of the price for Labour support.</p>
<p><em>“If the UK were to commit to remaining in the customs union, it would make a total and utter nonsense of the referendum result,”</em> said the former foreign secretary in his regular column in the Daily Telegraph.</p>
<p><em>“To agree to be non-voting members of the EU, under the surrender proposed by Jeremy Corbyn – it cannot, must not and will not happen.”</em></p>
<p>Another prominent Brexiteer, Mark Francois, called for an “indicative vote” among Tory MPs on the PM’s future on Wednesday to send a signal to the Brussels summit that Mrs May has lost the confidence of her own side and cannot deliver a Brexit deal.</p>
<p>But it is understood that the executive of the backbench 1922 Committee considered this option last week and decided it was not appropriate at this stage. A formal confidence vote cannot take place until December.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the House of Lords was continuing its consideration of Yvette Cooper’s backbench Bill forcing the Prime Minister to request a Brexit extension rather than leave the EU with no deal.</p>
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