Conservative-DUP deal could hasten Northern Ireland settlement

"We've set out the broad principles from where we will start the negotiation and we will negotiate in good faith, but it is a negotiation and we recognise there will be an exchange of views and we will take that forward in a spirit of genuine cooperation", Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond told reporters in Luxembourg on Friday.

When Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty in March, thus beginning the formal process of Britain's exit from the European Union, she did not realize she would soon be fighting for her political life. "We will continue with those negotiations throughout the weekend and into next week".

The European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator has hit out at the "uncertainty" over Theresa May's approach to leaving the EU. "I can't negotiate with myself".

"Thus we must begin this negotiation. Theresa May can not really give him clarity".

"We would restore faith in politics if we could show that this parliament can at least function in presenting a view in the national interest which would command a majority on a cross-party basis", said veteran pro-European Conservative lawmaker Ken Clarke.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a Bloomberg Television interview this week that as soon as "the principles" of Brexit are agreed, talks can move on in parallel to "the details of the regulation, and what will be the further relations between the United Kingdom, after Brexit, and the single market and the European Union, and so on". United Kingdom finance minister, Philip Hammond, on Friday struck a much softer tone.

Asked if there was a possibility of extending negotiations beyond the that deadline, he added: "There is a need to start. In terms of everything that has to be negotiated, there is actually very little time".

The deal, however, has been met with widespread criticism from different parties amid concerns it may harm Northern Ireland's peace process.

GETTY SOFTLY SOFTLY Chancellor Phillip Hammond wants the UK to remain in the customs union

While European leaders try to gauge what to expect from the Brexit talks due to begin in Brussels on Monday, May is so weakened that her own Brexit strategy is the subject of public debate in her own party, and by her potential allies.

Hammond, who favors a transitional period to help British companies adapt to life outside the European Union, made no mention of immigration.

Gove, who has just been brought back to May's Cabinet as Environment Secretary, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that it was important to "achieve a deal that can command the widest possible support".

Following the talks, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the party would not stand for any Conservative-DUP arrangement which compromised British government impartiality in Northern Ireland.

In an interview in which she reveals that she has type two diabetes, Ms Abbott tells the paper that during the election campaign "everything went insane and her blood sugar was out of control".

Theresa May's disastrous election result has thrown the Brexit negotiations into question with no clear sense of when they will begin or what sort of Brexit and future relationship the United Kingdom is now seeking.

Mr Davis is expected to meet Mr Barnier at the Commission's headquarters in Belgian capital Brussels on Monday but it is not known how long the initial round of talks will last. "In-built into current sequencing there is the opportunity to buy time".