⁍ Britain and the European Union have a good chance of striking a deal on future relations, the British government’s Northern Ireland minister Brandon Lewis said on Sunday.

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⁍ The United Kingdom left the EU in January but the two sides are trying to clinch a deal that would govern nearly a trillion dollars in annual trade.

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⁍ Lewis restated the government position that it would rather leave without a deal — a scenario it calls leaving on Australian terms — than accept a deal which is not in Britain’s interests.

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– “I’m always an optimist,” British government minister Brandon Lewis tells the BBC. “And I hope and I think there’s a good chance we can get a deal, but the EU need to understand it is for them to move as well.” The two sides are trying to hammer out a deal on Britain’s departure from the European Union in two years, and Reuters reports that the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is planning to extend his stay in London until Wednesday. Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper said the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier was planning to extend his stay in London until Wednesday. Asked about that report, and the overall prospects of a deal, Lewis told the BBC: “I’m always an optimist … and I hope and I think there’s a good chance we can get a deal, but the EU need to understand it is for them to move as well.” Lewis restated the government position that it would rather leave without a deal—a scenario it calls leaving on Australian terms—than accept a deal which is not in Britain’s interests.