Brexit news: No 10 rejects EU offer to ‘intensify’ talks and demands ‘change of approach’ from Brussels
Follow all the latest developments in UK politics
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK
Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight
Downing Street has rejected an offer from the EU to “intensify” Brexit negotiations – just minutes after Michael Gove welcomed it as a “constructive” move.
The offer from Michel Barnier saw Mr Gove thinking on his feet in the Commons after the Cabinet Office minister had told colleagues the EU was refusing to negotiate on a string of key points.
Despite Mr Gove’s positive reaction, however, No 10 later insisted there was still no basis to resume talks.
Mr Gove also clashed with former prime minister Theresa May, who said the UK’s security will be damaged if police lose access to key databases and partnerships in the event of no deal.
The minister responded by claiming that the UK will be able to cooperate more effectively while outside the EU - before reminding Ms May of her own statement that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.
Elsewhere, business secretary Alok Sharma admitted that when Boris Johnson talks about an “Australia-style” deal with the EU, he effectively means a no-deal Brexit. Questioned about the phrase, Mr Sharma said: “Well … it’s a question semantics at the end of the day, sure.”
Semantics or not, the prospect of no deal prompted Britain’s pharmaceutical industry appealed to Mr Johnson to strike a “side-deal” with Brussels to avoid shortages of medicines if the UK crashes out.
Meanwhile ministers are said to be “carefully considering next steps” after the government failed to reach agreement with local leaders in Greater Manchester over a move to Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions.
Don’t go down ‘tunnel of doom’ with EU, says civil servant
We heard earlier from ITV’s Robert Peston, sounding extremely downbeat on the chances on a trade deal. Caroline Bell – a pro-hard Brexit civil servant using a pseudonym – also thinks there’s little chance of a compromise. She has penned a comment piece suggesting Boris Johnson must avoid a trap set by the dastardly EU, who will ultimately refuse to give him what he wants.
“Each step in the Brexit negotiation has been carefully orchestrated to undermine Boris Johnson and lure him into the tunnel of doom (one imagines something akin to the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition in the bowels of the Berlaymont),” Bell writes.
“It is a cleverly staged production, but farcical nonetheless. And it has played for far too long. It is time for the prime minister to bring down the curtain and end talks now.”
No 10: EU must be ready to discuss ‘detailed legal treaty’
Downing Street said the EU would have to change its stance for trade deal talks to resume – and agree to get on quickly to a draft legal treaty.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “If the EU change their position then we will be willing to talk to them. But they must be ready to discuss the detailed legal text of a treaty in all areas.”
They must also be committed to a resolution that “respects UK sovereignty and independence … If not, we will end the transition period on Australian terms.”
If no trade deal is in place by the end of the year, then the UK will not seek further negotiations in 2021, the PM’s spokesman also said. “We have been repeatedly clear that any agreement needs to be in place before the end of the transition period and we will not be back to negotiate further next year.
“We must provide certainty to our citizens and businesses, and endless prolonged negotiations won’t achieve this.”
Don’t block our Brexit bill, No 10 tells peers
Downing Street has urged the House of Lords not to block the UK Internal Market Bill following criticism of the international law-breaking legislation from Anglican archbishops.
“We consider the UKIM Bill to be vital,” Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said. “It was passed with the support of the House of Commons and we believe it is a necessary legal safety net to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market.”
The clerics, led by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, used an open letter to say the legislation has “enormous moral, as well as political and legal, consequences” by breaching the withdrawal agreement.
Experts rate chances of a deal – from one to 10
For most of the summer the smart money was on a trade deal getting done, eventually. So what are the chances of it happening now, after No 10’s big threat to walk away? Some leading analysts told The Independent how they see things at the moment.
Mujtaba Rahman of the Eurasia Group said: “At Downing Street, there’s no strong, intrinsic belief in the positive value of a trade deal. But political problems mean they have a strong incentive to get one.” Chances of deal: 6/10
Steve Peers, professor of EU law at University of Essex, said: “A final deal would need movement from one or both sides on fisheries, dispute settlement and a level playing field – which does not look imminent right now.” Chances of a deal: 4/10
Georgina Wright, senior Brexit researcher at the Institute for Government, said: “It looks like talks will continue, though I suspect there won’t be any real movement until November.” Chances of a deal: 7/10
For more probability ratings, read on here:
Top experts rate the chances of a Brexit trade deal – from one to 10
Some of the world’s leading Brexit analysts tell Adam Forrest how they assess the chances of a UK-EU free trade deal before 31 December
No-deal committee to meet five times a week
No-deal preparations, or at least meetings about preparations, are being stepped up. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has ordered his EU Exit Operations (XO) Cabinet Committee to meet five times per week as of today.
The government’s new publicity campaign “Time is running out” is being launched today – and HMRC will be writing to 200,000 trading firms to set out new customs and tax rules.
Speaking after a Joint Committee meeting with Mr Gove on Monday, the European Commission’s vice president Maros Sefcovic kept his rhetoric nice and bland. “It has to be a fair agreement for both sides ... The EU is ready to work until the last minute for a good agreement for both parties.”
Meanwhile Nigel Farage – you will be shocked to hear – has called for a “clean break Brexit”. I think that makes it about the 100th time he has done so.
Opinion: I helped fight legal action against the government’s export of arms to Saudi Arabia. What I know now makes me ashamed
The UK government makes billions of pounds from arms sales to countries with repressive, murderous, regimes, like Saudi Arabia, while also claiming to operate one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world, writes Molly Mulready.
That hasn’t saved it from legal action brought by Campaign Against the Arms Trade, which argued that notwithstanding that frequently claimed robustness, the government’s export of arms to Saudi Arabia is illegal. I remember that legal action well, because I was the Foreign Office lawyer responsible for fighting it.
I’m ashamed that I helped fight legal action against the government’s export of arms to Saudi Arabia
When governments consider themselves above the law, the consequences can be horrifying. I did not become a Foreign Office lawyer in order to justify this moral depravity
EU remains open to talks, Barnier says
But the ball is in the UK’s court, the EU’s chief negotiator insists, after a call with Lord Frost, his opposite number.
Brexit deal not happening ‘as it stands’, says Gove
It is the bloc that must budge first, Michael Gove says, as he accuses Brussels of being obstructive and not negotiating in the manner previously agreed.
The current situation “leaves no basis” for finding an agreement, he tells MPs.
No-deal/end-of-transition preparations
Mr Gove insists he is not “blase” about the hurdles ahead, especially in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He thanks the haulage industry for its “constructive engagement” with ministers.
Westminster is working closely with devolved administrations, he insists. Whether that means the complaints they have raised about the Internal Markets Bill, isn’t clear.
Mr Gove says HMRC is writing to 200,000 traders to “reinforce their understanding” of how cross-border trade will work in the new year, as part of a huge new publicity campaign.
Other preparations include:
- new IT systems to aid cross-border trade
- giving businesses “access to customs professionals to help with new ways of working"
- plans for fast-tracking of “vital” goods in the first weeks of January
Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee working well, Gove says
Both sides keen to implement the agreement, and have pledged to “intensify” talks on citizens rights, Mr Gove says. Four million EU citizens now have UK status, he says.
The UK will “uphold all our obligations” under the WA and the Belfast agreement, he adds.
Does that include the Internal Markets Bill?
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies