Senior European Union and British officials were set to hold more Brexit talks less than a month before the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the bloc, as UK officials denied Monday that attempts to seal a divorce deal are deadlocked.
EU and UK officials said the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will meet UK Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman, James Slack, said the two sides have "definitely been making progress" over the past few weeks and negotiations are at a "critical point."
"But from day one we have been very straight about a few things and among those is that Brexit cannot lead, under any circumstances, to the emergence of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland."
Cox, Britain's attorney general, dismissed media reports that he had given up on securing significant changes from the EU. He tweeted that much of the reporting had been inaccurate, and "complex and detailed negotiations cannot be conducted in public. "
But Labour lawmakers reacted coolly to the announcement. Chris Bryant called the money "corrupt, patronizing, pathetic" and "all to appease the Brexit monster."
Rajesh Agrawal, London's deputy mayor for business czar, told The Associated Press that with just 25 days left to go, "we need to take the pressure off."