LONDON: Giving an upbeat verdict on an inconclusive European Union summit, British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday she has “a degree of confidence” that Brexit talks will be able to move to their decisive second phase by December.

She told lawmakers that the talks on Britain’s divorce from the EU had made “important progress,” despite a judgment by the 27 other EU leaders that more needs to be done before the two sides can discuss trade and their future relations.

May said she had “a degree of confidence we are going to get to a point of sufficient progress by December,” allowing talks to move on.

With Britain’s March 2019 departure from the EU moving closer, Britain is eager to start discussing trade and future relations with the bloc. But EU leaders say there has not yet been “sufficient progress” on divorce terms, including the size of the bill Britain must pay to settle its commitments to the bloc.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2017