UK PM takes control of Brexit talks

Prime Minister Theresa May announced yesterday she would take personal control of Brexit negotiations with the EU, as time runs out to get a deal before Britain leaves the bloc in March.

"I will lead the negotiations with the European Union, with the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Dominic Raab) deputising on my behalf," she said in a statement to parliament.

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Raab was appointed on July 9 after his predecessor, David Davis, quit in protest at May's plan for close economic ties with the EU.

Before he left, Davis had been increasingly sidelined and had spent little time with the EU's top negotiator Michel Barnier in recent months.

Instead, May's Brexit adviser Olly Robbins, a senior civil servant, was increasingly been seen as the man in charge.

Giving evidence to a committee of MPs shortly after May's announcement, Robbins denied the prime minister would be directly negotiating with Barnier in Brussels.

"I doubt it," he said when asked the question, adding that the "key interlocutor" would be Raab.

Raab told the same committee that he and Robbins had been working "very closely together from day one to make sure there is one team".