Brexit: Theresa May ‘to announce deal on 19 November’

Prime Minister Theresa May is to give a speech confirming a final Brexit deal on 19 November, according to a leaked Brexit timetable.

The document, obtained by the BBC, appears to be “a suggested detailed timetable of how the Government might try to sell a Brexit deal to the public and Parliament”, and was allegedly leaked by an official.

The notes say that Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is to announce “a moment of decisive progress” this Thursday. The tone of his speech is to be one of “measured success, that this is good for everyone, but won’t be all champagne corks popping”, the document adds.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

It claims that May will then confirm a final deal ten days later. “We have delivered on the referendum,” the PM will allegedly tell the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in a speech that clarifies the UK’s Brexit plans.

May will say that the agreement “brings the country back together” and that “now is the time for us all to unite behind it for the good of all our futures etc”, according to the notes.

The document also suggests that the Government is “lining up 25 top business voices including [CBI director general] Carolyn Fairbairn” and “lots of world leaders eg Japanese PM” to “tweet support for the deal”. However, The Guardian notes that it “does not say whether the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has been approached about the proposed arrangement”.

The notes end with the emphatic statement: “Evening is the vote. HISTORIC MOMENT, PUT YOUR OWN INTERESTS ASIDE, PUT THE COUNTRY’S INTERESTS FIRST AND BACK THIS DEAL.”

However, the Government has dismissed the leaked “communications grid” as fake. A spokesperson for the PM said: “The misspelling and childish language in this document should be enough to make clear it doesn’t represent the Government’s thinking.

“You would expect the government to have plans for all situations – to be clear, this isn’t one of them.”