UK and EU negotiators push back October Brexit deadline

The UK and the European Union are set to announce that the deadline for reaching a Brexit deal has been pushed back from October to November as it is now unlikely that an agreement can be reached before, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

According to people close to the matter, negotiators will fail to reach an agreement before the end of October and the postponement may mean there is a greater chance now of a 'no-deal' Brexit.

If both sides do not reach an agreement by November, then the deadline could be pushed back further, to December or January, raising the risk that either side might give up on talks altogether.

The two parts still have some important issues they cannot agree on, including how to guarantee there will never be a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister Theresa May said that a no-deal Brexit "would not be the end of the world".

Westminster is already preparing for a no-deal scenario and last week the government issued the first batch of documents outlining its advice for British businesses if there is no deal with the EU.

One of the recommendations was that health-care providers stockpile six weeks of drugs in case of import delays, although one anti-Brexit group, Best of Britain, warned on Wednesday that such a measure will cost £2bn.