BREXIT LIVE: EU vows to kickstart divorce despite pushing Brexit to END of agenda

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will give an update on Brexit talks at a press conference at 7:30pm UK time.

Mr Barnier has been meeting the EU’s General Affairs Council in Luxembourg today to discuss the key issues surrounding Brexit.

The officials talked about the future of the Northern Irish border as well as the UK’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the EU.

Theresa May is hoping to make major progress at an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

But the summit will be overshadowed by other issues as EU leaders discuss the migrant crisis, security and the bloc’s finances.

One EU insider described the UK’s impending divorce from the bloc as a mere “footnote” at the bottom of the summit’s agenda.

Earlier today, the Queen granted royal assent to Mrs May’s flagship Brexit legislation on Tuesday, the EU Withdrawal Bill.

Cheers erupted in the House of Commons as Speaker John Bercow announced the bill had been signed into law by the monarch.

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