LONDON (Reuters) – The United Kingdom will work flat out for a Brexit trade deal and negotiators are in “tunnel” negotiations but if a deal with the European Union is not possible then the country will be prepared, Home Secretary Priti Patel said on Thursday.
“First of all, the prime minister and the government, we’ve all been very clear we are not walking away, we will continue to negotiate to get this free-trade agreement,” Patel told LBC radio.
“You used metaphors: We are in that tunnel of negotiation and our teams continue to work incredibly hard,” Patel said.
The “tunnel” is a term for an intense final stage of secretive, make-or-break negotiations.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Paul Sandle)
