Britain to drive ahead special partnership with EU

Brexit Secretary David Davis will meet the European Union's chief negotiator Michel Barnier late Monday to outline a deep and special partnership Britain wants with the EU, and drive ahead a deal for the best interests of both sides.

Davis will reiterate his call for a deal that works in the best interests of both the EU and Britain when he meets Barnier, Davis's office said ahead of the third round of negotiations about Britain's exit from the EU, which will start late Monday.

He would stress that Britain's firm goal remains to secure a mutually beneficial agreement that works for people and businesses across Europe, the office said.

This week's four-day technical talks will build on the July round and the significant number of papers Britain has recently published covering both withdrawal and the British government's vision for the deep and special partnership with the remaining 27 EU member states.

"The focus will be to consolidate areas of agreement and work through complex technical issues," said a spokesman at the Department for Exiting the European Union.

According to Davis's office, since the last round of talks, the British government has published a large number of papers covering important issues related to Britain's withdrawal and vision for a deep and special partnership with the EU.

These were products of Britain's hard work and detailed thinking for the negotiations, the office said, adding Britain would want to lock in the points agreed, unpick the areas disagreed, and make further progress on a range of issues, the office said.

Davis has so far not commented on the new policy towards Brexit outlined Sunday by the main opposition Labour Party.

The Labour Party's Keir Starmer, who is Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, said the Labour Party wants to keep Britain in the single market and customs union for a transitional period of up to four years after leaving the EU.

Starmer, who announced the new policy in a Sunday newspaper, has won broad appeal from Labour Party members of parliament (MPs) and party leader Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed his support.

Under the Labour Party's approach to Brexit, Britain would continue paying into the EU and accept continued free movement during a transitional period, Corbyn said, adding that Britain could remain in both the European Single Market and the European Customs Union indefinitely if the EU agrees to reform free movement.

Immigration control was one of the key reasons many Britons cited as the reason for voting to leave the EU in last year's national referendum.

According to the Daily Telegraph, veteran Labour MP Frank Field, a leading figure in the Leave campaign, accused Starmer of plotting to "wreck" Brexit.

Field said: "There are a lot of people around who are wolves in sheep's clothing -- their main intention is to keep Britain in the EU. They are pretending to help the process while seeking to wreck Brexit. A lot of Labour voters want us out of the Customs Union and the Single Market."