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Michel Barnier today said the EU is prepared to offer Britain a unique Brexit deal.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator said the EU is prepared to offer a deal but would not permit anything that weakened the single market.

Mr Barnier said in a press conference this afternoon: "We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country,

"We respect Britain's red lines scrupulously. In return, they must respect what we are," he said. "Single market means single market ... There is no single market a la carte."

The announcement sparked a jump in the value of the pound.

It leapt almost 1% versus the dollar and euro to touch 1.300, a three-week high, and 1.111 respectively.

Sterling had been in the doldrums for much of August as fears of a no-deal Brexit intensified, with several high profile figures talking up the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU without an agreement in place.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "The market clearly sees this as sterling positive, but without any concrete offer on the table there is still a degree of scepticism that we are seeing played out.

"Barnier's comments are clearly positive for the Brexit negotiations and indicates that we are about to get some sort of deal before the end of the year.

"The EU is coming around at last, it has strong form on eventually doing a deal that works, but we must question what kind of concessions the UK will need to make.

"It looks increasingly like Britain will be rule takers, not rule makers."

Also driving the pound higher was Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who said he was confident that an agreement between the two sides is "within our sights".

Mr Raab answered questions for almost two hours from members of the Lords EU Committee in Parliament over the UK's exit from the European Union.

The Cabinet minister said he had quickly established a "good professional and personal rapport" with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier. But he later hinted the timing of the Brexit talks this autumn may change.

"I'm confident that a deal is within our sights. We're bringing ambition, pragmatism, energy and if, and I expect it will be, and if it is matched, we get a deal," he said.

He added: "I think it is important as we enter the final phase of the negotiations in the lead up to the October council and the possibility that it may creep beyond that, we want to see some renewed energy.

"We're bringing the ambition and the substance of our white paper on the future relationship and also I think some pragmatism to try and go the extra mile to get the deal that I think is in both sides' interests.

"We need that to be matched obviously, it's a negotiation."

