Brexit: No deal can be a good outcome, insists Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson says there is ‘no sense’ in carrying on talks if a deal is not reached in five weeks, and no deal would be a ‘good outcome’.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture: AFP

Boris Johnson has set a five-week deadline to reach a post-Brexit agreement with the EU, saying that a no-deal would be a “good outcome” for Britain.

The prime minister will say on Monday that there is “no sense” in carrying on talks if a free-trade deal is not agreed before a key EU meeting on October 15 and that afterwards the focus should switch to minimising disruption to truck transport and flights.

He will insist that Britain will “prosper mightily” if it leaves the transition period without a deal, saying that preparations at the border mean that the country will be ready for extra checks while being free to strike trade agreements around the world.

Mr Johnson will say that agreement is still possible but that he “will not compromise on the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country to get it”, with demands that Britain sign up to EU rules and standards the key stumbling block to a deal, along with fishing rights.

Talks between Britain and the EU resume on Tuesday in what Mr Johnson called “the final phase of our negotiations” on a free-trade agreement. He will say on Monday: “There needs to be an agreement with our European friends by the time of the European Council on October 15 if it’s going to be in force by the end of the year. So there is no sense in thinking about timelines that go beyond that point. If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free-trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on.”

A Downing Street “transition hub” has been set up to co-ordinate preparations for a no-deal, with officials from across Whitehall working “at pace” to ensure that government is ready.

Mr Johnson has sought to play down the implications of such an outcome by saying that Britain will then trade with the EU on the same terms as Australia, which also has no free-trade agreement with Brussels. “We have said right from the start that would be a good outcome for the UK. As a government we are preparing, at our borders and at our ports, to be ready for it,” he will say.

“We will have full control over our laws, our rules and our fishing waters. We will have the freedom to do trade deals with every country in the world. And we will prosper mightily as a result.”

The prime minister believes that it would be possible to mitigate disruption. “We will be ready to find sensible accommodations on practical issues such as flights, lorry transport or scientific co-operation, if the EU wants to do that,” he will say. “Our door will never be closed and we will trade as friends and partners – but without a free-trade agreement.”

Although No 10 is said to be gloomy about the prospect of a deal this month, Mr Johnson will say “there is still an agreement to be had. We will continue to work hard in September to achieve it.”

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, accused the EU of “double standards” on Sunday in asking Britain to sign up to conditions that it did not ask of other countries, describing this week’s talks as “a moment of reckoning”. He added: “All the UK is asking for is to be treated like any other country in free-trade negotiations.”

The Times