Boris Johnson warns UK and EU are ‘very far apart on some key things’ as Brexit talks extended

Boris Johnson was willing to ditch drinks on New Year’s Eve to get a Brexit deal, as there were some signs that a breakthrough was possible.

Boris Johnson was willing to ditch drinks on New Year’s Eve to get a Brexit deal, as there were some signs that a breakthrough was possible.

The British Prime Minister has urged the UK to prepare for a no-deal, setting aside $7 billion to combat the economy crushing effects of walking away from the European Union without an agreement.

However, there were claims that the EU was backing down on a key sticking point of lightning or penalty tariffs in case there was a dispute in the future.

That would pave the way for an agreement, which would avoid food shortages in supermarkets, tariffs of up to 10 per cent on the car industry, and long delays for trucks moving goods into the UK at Dover.

Mr Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement that they would still try to find a middle ground.

“Our negotiating teams have been working day and night over recent days,” the statement said. “And despite the exhaustion after almost a year of negotiations, despite the fact deadlines have been missed over and over, we think it is responsible at this point to go the extra mile.”

The two major sticking points have been on fishing rights in UK waters and a so-called level playing field.

The EU has been worried that Britain would become a Singapore-style low-tax haven, undercutting Europe.

UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson insisted that a Brexit agreement was far from sure with less than three weeks to go until Britain leaves the EU single market at the end of the month. Picture: Getty Images

They want to be able to punish the UK if it drops its minimum wage or environmental standards.

However, the UK Telegraph said that the EU was considering dropping the automatic penalty tariffs demand.

And the UK was considering paying off French fishermen who lose access to quotas under a Brexit deal.

“There has been minimal movement, there haven’t been any breakthroughs, and no deal is still the most likely outcome,” a source told the UK Telegraph.

“But maybe the odds have shifted slightly in the direction of a deal.”

Mr Johnson said after a call with Ms von der Leyen that they were “still very far apart on some key things.”

“But where there is life, there is hope. We are going to keep talking to see what we can do,” he said.

“The UK certainly won’t be walking away from the talks. I think people would expect us to go the extra mile.”

“But I have to repeat the most likely thing now is we have to get ready for WTO [World Trade Organisation] terms, Australia terms.”

Dominic Raab, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, said the blanket tariffs were unworkable.

“I don’t think we want a nuclear style reaction where tariffs go up, where we’re back in the same soap opera or drama every couple of years just because there’s a particular issue in a particular sector,” he said.

‘NO STONE UNTURNED’

Ireland stands to lose out more than any other EU country if trade with its larger neighbour is disrupted, and cautiously welcomed the reprieve.

“Time to hold our nerve and allow the negotiators to inch progress forward, even at this late stage. Joint statement on Brexit negotiations is a good signal. A deal clearly very difficult, but possible,” Foreign Minister Simon Coveney tweeted.

The hardline pro-Brexit faction in Johnson’s own British Conservatives was unconvinced, however, and MPs fired their own tweets warning against any concessions.

Much of the text of a possible trade deal is said to be ready, but Britain and Brussels are wrangling over a mechanism to allow for retaliation if UK and EU laws diverge in a way that puts continental firms at a competitive disadvantage.

“The defence of the single market is a red line for the European Union,” an EU source said. “What we have proposed to the United Kingdom respects British sovereignty. It could be the basis for an agreement.” In London, the government insists that Britain is ready to leave the union and handle its own affairs after 47 years of close economic integration.

Downing Street says it has mapped out “every single foreseeable scenario” for problems after December 31, and “no one needs to worry about our food, medicine or vital supply chains”.

The government says it is ready to offer hefty new support for sectors in the firing line such as farming and autos, but British business groups are aghast at the lack of clarity on future trading rules.

Scotland’s nationalist government meanwhile demanded an end to “the crippling uncertainty” of a possible no-deal Brexit coming on top of the coronavirus pandemic.

And the European Parliament is deeply unhappy as time runs out for a thorough review of any pact before the year-end deadline.

“Irresponsible and bitter,” senior German MEP Bernd Lange tweeted about the drawn-out saga, warning that serious ratification is becoming “increasingly impossible”.