Britain and the EU agreed to focus the first stages of negotiations over Brexit on divorce proceedings from the bloc in a meeting that both sides hailed as constructive after an early concession from London on the sequence of talks.
The two sides agreed to prioritise negotiations on Britain’s exit bill and a settlement on rights for EU citizens living in the UK and Britons on the continent, in line with Brussels’ longstanding demands for the structure of the discussions.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, and David Davis, UK Brexit minister, stressed after their talks in Brussels that an exit deal was achievable, but conceded that they were against the clock, with Britain set to leave the EU in March 2019.