Brexit: EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier downbeat on deal in private meeting with diplomats

Commission Brexit chief rejected claims of breakthrough on fishing

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier at the ambassadors’ meeting (REUTERS)

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator has told a private meeting of ambassadors that Brussels and London are not still not close to a breakthrough in trade talks, dismissing earlier reports.

EU diplomats with knowledge of the meeting said Michel Barnier rejected rumours from Sunday night that a deal had emerged on fishing rights, which has dogged negotiations since the beginning.

He is said to have warned that the two sides were also still apart on the questions of governance, and of fair competition for British companies in the EU – the two other longstanding sticking points.

Mr Barnier’s comments to ambassadors put him on the same page as the British team on the state of the talks. Late last night a UK government source said there had been “no breakthrough on fish” and that “nothing new has been achieved on this today”.

Diplomats say the chief negotiator gave the impression that the question of a so-called “level playing field” for British and EU businesses would end up being the toughest issue.

Commenting on the meeting, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney, told Irish public broadcaster RTE that Mr Barnier had given a “very gloomy" and "downbeat” assessment of the prospects of a deal.

“Having heard from Michel Barnier this morning, really the news is very downbeat. I would say he is very gloomy, and obviously very cautious about the ability to make progress today," he said.

"There was news last night on some media sources that there was a breakthrough on fishing. That is absolutely not the case from what we’re hearing this morning.

“There really was no progress made yesterday, that’s our understanding and so we’ve got to try to make a breakthrough at some point today, before the two principals, the Commission president and the prime minister speak later on this evening.

“Unfortunately, I’d like to be giving more positive news, but at the moment these negotiations seem stalled, and the barriers to progress are still very much in place."

Back in Westminster, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly insisted that a trade agreement was "nearly there" but warned that negotiators may not be successful in time.

"The vast majority of the elements of this agreement have been resolved and we're now hanging on a small number of important areas where we don't have agreement," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The lack of progress at the weekend is bad news for the prospects of avoiding a no-deal exit from the single market, which will happen automatically on 31 December if nothing is agreed by then.

Boris Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are set to talk again this evening over the telephone to take stock of whether negotiators have made any ground today.

The new deadline for a deal is widely seen as Thursday and Friday’s EU summit in Brussels, where the 27 leaders will meet and sign off an agreement, if one is available.