Last-minute fishing hitch said to delay Brexit deal announcement

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said a "last-minute hitch" related to the "small text" of a fisheries agreement was delaying the announcement of a Brexit deal, but insisted that a deal will be reached on Thursday.

Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland, Coveney explained that this was the reason why UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s news conference, which had been due to be held earlier, hasn’t happened yet.

"I had hoped to be talking to you this morning in parallel with big announcements happening in both London and Brussels, but we still expect those later on today," Coveney told RTE.

According to reports, Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were due to speak early on Thursday morning, with a press conference from Johnson scheduled at around 0800 GMT, but this has now been postponed.