Theresa May increases efforts to broaden Brexit negotiations

Brussels: British Prime Minister Theresa May is stepping up her lobbying efforts to broaden Brexit negotiations with the European Union to future relations and trade, as the talks bog down on preliminary issues.

May said Friday that she will hold meetings in Brussels, including with EU Council President Donald Tusk, about progress in the talks, which must be completed well before Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019.

She sidestepped questions about how much Britain would pay to settle its EU financial accounts, saying talks will look "ahead to the future deep and special partnership that I want with the European Union."

EU leaders are set to decide in mid-December whether the negotiations have made "sufficient progress" on the divorce bill, the status of Irish borders and the rights of citizens hit by Brexit to be broadened.