Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis | TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images | Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images David Davis open to ‘association agreement’ with EU after Brexit British Brexit secretary says he has ‘no intrinsic objection’ to such a pact.

LONDON — British Brexit Secretary David Davis said he has "no intrinsic objection" to the U.K. entering into a so-called association agreement with the EU after Brexit.

Speaking to the House of Lords' European Union committee on Tuesday, Davis said a proposal from the European Parliament for such a post-Brexit arrangement may have merit depending on its terms.

"Some association agreements are stepping stones to membership — you’ve got Ukraine, for example — and so it depends what’s included," he said. "We would not, for example, want to see it bring [European Court of Justice] jurisdiction in. But as a sort of concept, I have no intrinsic objection to it."

Davis also told the committee that he expects the U.K. and EU to have "substantively" agreed to the terms of their future relationship by October this year, and that the two sides could have an agreement "in legal terms, pretty much by the time we leave," ready for the EU to ratify once the U.K. is no longer a member country.

However, Davis again played down expectations of a breakthrough on the Irish border issue — a key sticking point in negotiations — by June's European Council summit, the deadline cited by EU negotiators and by Dublin.

Davis said he is "not at all sure" the two sides could agree on a draft legal text for the withdrawal agreement — including on Ireland — by June.