UK govt close to publishing Brexit position papers - report

The UK government was close to publishing formal proposals for a trade and customs deal with the European Union, the Evening Standard newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.

It said a the plans would form the first in a series of “position papers” beginning next week.

Cabinet ministers have been working through the summer break to agree broad details.

Prime Minister Theresa May will begin releasing the papers after she returns from walking in the Swiss Alps and a break in Lake Garda, northern Italy, the report stated.

In a separated development, a row was looming between the UK and Scottish governments over what powers currently held in Brussels would be handed to the devolved Scottish executive.

First Secretary of State Damian Green was in talks on Wednesday with Scotland's Deputy First Minister John Swinney. The Scottish government has warned of a Westminster "power grab" over fishing, farming and the environment.

Scotland's Brexit Minister Michael Russell said the Repeal Bill, which transfers EU laws back to the UK, was "a fundamental attack on the principles of devolution".

"The bill - as it currently stands - means that Westminster would take exclusive control over significant areas of devolved policy, such as support for Scotland's farmers and food producers and many aspects of environmental protection and control of our seas," he said.

"We know that the UK government has its eye on more than 100 policy areas. That is a direct threat to the devolution settlement which the people of Scotland overwhelmingly voted for in 1997."

"Both we and the Welsh government have made it clear we could not recommend legislative consent to the bill as it stands, and today we will make clear that changes must be made to protect devolution."