Downing Street denies Boris Johnson wants to secure softer Brexit deal after election landslide

UK will seek a Canada-style free trade agreement in talks due to be completed by the end of 2020

Downing Street has poured cold water on suggestions that Boris Johnson may seek a softer form of Brexit after securing an 80-seat majority in the House of Commons.

Reports from Brussels suggest EU leaders are hopeful that Mr Johnson will sign up to a “level playing field” on standards and regulations now that he is no longer dependent on the votes of eurosceptic backbenchers in the European Research Group.

But the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters that Mr Johnson’s aim for negotiations due to be concluded at the end of 2020 remains “a Canada-style free trade agreement with no political alignment”.

And he repeated the PM’s insistence that he will not seek any extension of negotiations beyond the end of next year, when the UK will crash out of the EU’s single market under World Trade Organisation terms if no deal is done.

Negotiations will begin in the New Year under the terms of a political declaration agreed by the UK and EU in October, which set out hopes for “an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic cooperation with a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement at its core”

Irish premier Leo Varadkar last week hinted that EU leaders expect Mr Johnson to make concessions due to the size of his majority, in order to ensure the continuation of tariff-free and quota-free trade between Britain and the EU.

Mr Varadkar said he wanted a deal which maintained fair competition and said he believed Mr Johnson was “probably in a similar space”.

“I think the fact Mr Johnson has a clear majority makes a big difference,” said the taoiseach. “I think the prime minister's hand is strengthened.”

EU leaders including Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are concerned that UK divergence from European standards and regulations would give British companies an unfair competitive advantage in continental markets.

Divergence was the issue over which Mr Johnson walked out of Theresa May's cabinet last year, as he believed her Chequers deal would tie the UK to following Brussels regulations in areas like workplace and environmental protections, animal welfare and public health.

A Canada-style agreement would allow Britain to set its own rules, potentially ripping up red tape to give businesses greater freedom and permit trade deals with countries like the US. But it would involve a degree of restriction of access to European markets.

Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson meeting at Thornton Manor in Cheshire. (EPA)

Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson meeting at Thornton Manor in Cheshire. (EPA)

And it would be likely to deal largely with goods, and not the vital services sector which makes up 80 per cent of the UK economy.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman said: “The PM made clear during the general election campaign that he will be aiming for a Canada-style free trade agreement with no political alignment. We will be taking back control of our laws.”

The spokesman insisted that the government believes it will be possible to secure a good free trade agreement within the 11-month deadline for a transition period after the UK formally leaves the EU on 31 January.

And he rejected suggestions that this would inevitably involve tariff barriers and that services would be excluded.

“What the political declaration sets out is that there is a joint aim from the UK and EU for tariff-free and quota-free trade,” said the spokesman.

“The FTA which Canada agreed does include provisions on services, and the political declaration makes clear that services should be included in the UK/EU deal.”