Reuters reports, citing EU sources on the matter
- EU is trying to prevent direct negotiations between EU27 leaders and May
- EU said to have told Cox to rework proposals and return on Friday for talks
- Cox's proposals for a "mini-backstop" is not acceptable
This would throw a bit of a spanner to the works here. If they can't get anything agreed upon either with each other or with the UK parliament by 21 March, then it is likely we're headed for some kind of weird Brexit extension scenario with no further deal in sight.
That said, it's not even clear if European leaders would allow for such an extension to take place; if they are to stick with their word that is. Certainly not good news for the pound but this is a step-by-step thing. Let's see if May can gather enough support for parliament next week on the back of this alone.
Either way, I reckon markets may think about at least pricing in a bit of the negativity here. So far, pound traders are still looking complacent with cable at 1.3152 now, trading a little lower on the day but not by much.
