Brexit: Jean-Claude Juncker says chance of deal has increased

The chance of the UK and the EU agreeing a Brexit deal has grown in the last few days, the head of the European Commission has said.

Speaking to the Austrian press, Jean-Claude Juncker said that while he was not sure an agreement could be reached by October, it could be by November.

Foreign office minister Sir Alan Duncan also expressed optimism that a deal could be reached before December.

The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019.

But there is still no agreement on some issues, including how to avoid new checks on the Irish border.

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Asked in an interview whether an agreement could be reached at the next meeting of European leaders in 11 days' time, Mr Juncker said: "We are not that far yet. But our will is unbroken to reach agreement with the British government."

He also reiterated his position that a no-deal scenario "would not be good" for either the UK or the EU.

EU officials gave an upbeat assessment of progress in the negotiations on Friday evening and reported a better atmosphere in talks over the Irish border.

That prompted sterling to rise against the Euro and the US dollar.

The BBC's Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming said officials still "seem to be pushing for the whole withdrawal agreement to basically be done" by the EU summit on 17 October.

"Although, if we have learned anything from Brexit it's that the timetable is incredibly flexible, to use diplomatic language," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The positive comments came as the Guardian reported senior Conservatives had been in private contact with a number of Labour MPs to persuade them to back Theresa May's Brexit deal.

Some Labour MPs who were mentioned in the article took to Twitter to refute the claims. Rachel Reeves tweeted: "All the Labour MPs listed work hard and fight Tories locally and nationally every day."

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Image captionTheresa May meets Jean-Claude Juncker at the summit of the European Council in December last year

It comes weeks after the head of the European Council Donald Tusk said Theresa May's Brexit plans were unworkable.

Both sides had hoped to finalise the so-called divorce agreement and agree a statement on their future economic co-operation by the October summit.

But last month, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that if both sides were "realistic" there could be an agreement by November, when a special one-off summit has been arranged.