Shailesh Vara was appointed Minister of State at the Northern Ireland Office on July 23, 2018; previously he served as Parliamentary Undersecretary of State.
On Wednesday, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier revealed the contents of the provisional Brexit deal, agreed by the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Earlier, the European Commission has published the text of a draft agreement on UK withdrawal.
The draft agreement text says that UK can request the extension of transition period at any time before July 1, 2020. The transition may be extended by mutual consent.
London and Brussels have been engaged in Brexit talks since June 2017.
The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016 and is expected to do so by late March 2019, while there are still certain stumbling blocks that impede talks, namely, the Irish border and the post-Brexit UK-EU economic relations.
