Brexit news: Boris Johnson prepared to walk away from free trade deal, as Barnier insists UK must keep EU regulations
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson has set out his stall on post-Brexit talks with Brussels – demanding a “Canada-style” free trade deal and vowing that Britain will not accept any EU rules on social protections and the environment.
The PM has said he would be willing to accept trade arrangements “more like Australia’s” if the EU does not agree. Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey claimed Mr Johnson was simply re-branding a no-deal crash out scenario, attacking it as “no deal in all but name”.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Brussels was prepared to make an “exceptional offer” for a wide-ranging free trade agreement – but said that it was conditional on retaining EU rules across a whole set of areas to uphold a “level playing field”.
'Complete certainty' Brexit process complete by 2021, says government
The government has set out its stance on the future talks with the EU here - as the Brexit process enters its second stage.
The written statement claims there is "complete certainty" that the future relationship will be hammered out by the end of the year - which is confident, considering the tight timeframe.
It also says the UK will get a trade deal or leave with the withdrawal agreement - which is effectively a no-deal Brexit.
It said: "The government wishes to see a future relationship based on friendly cooperation between sovereign equals for the benefit of all our peoples.
"There is complete certainty that at the end of 2020 the process of transition to that relationship will be complete and that the UK will have recovered in full its economic and political independence.
"The government remains committed in all circumstances to securing all those benefits for the whole of the UK and to strengthening our Union.
"The question for the rest of 2020 is whether the UK and the EU can agree a deeper trading relationship on the lines of the free trade agreement the EU has with Canada, or whether the relationship will be based simply on the Withdrawal Agreement deal agreed in October 2019, including the Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland.
"In either event the UK will be leaving the single market and the customs union at the end of this year and stakeholders should prepare for that reality."
Pound falls against dollar over Johnson-Barnier clash
The pound has fallen more than 1 per cent against the dollar as fears among traders of a no-deal Brexit intensified following major speeches by Boris Johnson and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
At midnight a pound was worth 1.318 dollars, but by midday on Monday it was down to 1.305 dollars.
The falls particularly hit from 10am onwards, as Barnier laid out a draft mandate calling for the UK to abide by EU standards to create a “level playing field” and “reciprocal access” for fishing vessels if a free trade agreement is to be signed.
Johnson later said he would be willing to walk away from the talks and hope of a free trade deal if the EU did not fall into line and agree to the UK’s demands.
‘We don’t want subsumed within EU orbit’, says Tory MP
The Conservative MP Bim Afolami has been Boris Johnson’s pre-trade talk rhetoric about refusing to align with EU regulations.
“What the prime minister has set out is that we do not want to be subsumed within the regulatory orbit of the European Union,” he told the BBC’s Politics Live.
“We want to be able to deal with the European Union with a full free trade agreement … we want that, they say they want that.
“But it cannot be right that they insist that we have to be … within their full orbit in order to achieve that. That would not be good politically in this country, or indeed economically.”
Barnier sets out demands on alignment
Our Europe correspondent Jon Stone has more on that speech by Michel Barnier, who said tariff-free trade deal was dependent on the inclusion of “a mechanism to uphold the high standards we have on social, environmental, tax, and state aid matters today and in their future developments”.
The negotiator also said a deal was “conditional” on an agreement giving EU fishing fleets access to British waters, and that it would be governed by the EU’s European Court of Justice.
Barnier’s suggestion that “future developments” in EU rules should be incorporated into UK law is likely to prove particularly difficult for the British side to swallow.
More details here:
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Business appeal for government clarity on post-Brexit trade deals
Businesses are appealing for clarity from the Government on future trade links with the European Union after Boris Johnson made clear that he is ready to take the country to a no-deal Brexit at the end of this year.
In a high-profile speech, Mr Johnson avoided use of the word “Brexit” altogether and claimed that no-deal was no longer a possibility because of last week’s withdrawal agreement, which settled the issues of the UK’s financial settlement, citizens’ rights and the new customs border in the Irish Sea but did not cover the wider issues of trade, tariffs and security.
But he said he was ready to move to a trading relationship with the EU comparable to that of Australia, which has no free trade agreement with the EU, rather than accept a deal which would involve aligning UK regulations with Brussels.
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Protest over Downing Street attempt to bar journalists from briefing
Journalists walked out of a Downing Street briefing on Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans after the prime minister’s director of communications tried to restrict it to selected publications and broadcasters.
An invitation sent out by No 10 offered a “technical background briefing” on the PM’s plans to negotiate a Canadian-style free trade agreement with the EU by the end of the year.
But when political correspondents from various outlets arrived inside Number 10, they were asked their names and told to stand on opposite sides of the entrance hall.
No 10 briefing ban 'straight out of Trump playbook', says Lammy
Labour MP David Lammy has described the attempt to bar lobby journalists from the briefing as "deeply sinister".
Several journalists are disputing the claim that the "inner lobby" briefings to selected media happened under previous prime ministers.
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