11 days for a deal: Boris Johnson sets brexit deadline
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a deadline of October 15 to secure a Brexit deal with Brussels.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a deadline of October 15 to secure a Brexit deal with Brussels on Saturday as the two sides agreed to 11 days of “intensified” talks to finalise an agreement.
In a phone call with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen Mr Johnson made clear Britain would leave without a deal unless it looked like one was all but completed by October 15.
With talks beginning on Monday, he warned: “Time is very short.”
He intervened amid concern in Downing Street that the EU may try to run out the clock on talks until Britain goes cap in hand to it.
The two sides made progress in talks last week, getting closer on two of the three main problems — rules on state aid and the governance of a deal — but remain far apart on fishing.
In a sign that political leaders on both sides are prepared to exert more pressure on the negotiators, David Frost and Michel Barnier, Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen agreed to remain in close contact. Mr Johnson told the EU president that Britain would prefer the kind of arrangement the EU agreed to with Canada but added: “We are ready to trade on Australian-style terms” — code for no formal trade deal.
Brussels insisted the intensified talks were not the same as “going into the tunnel”, jargon for final-stage discussions, but British officials said they had got what they wanted, a speeded-up process involving fewer staff.
UK sources said that if a deal looked likely they could finalise the details after October 15 but that sufficient progress would have to be made or Britain would have to devote attention to preparing for a no-deal departure on December 31.
Lord Frost said on Friday the “outlines of an agreement are visible” but warned the difference of opinion over fisheries was still “unfortunately very large”.
Downing Street said Mr Johnson and Ms von der Leyen “agreed on the importance of finding an agreement, if at all possible, as a strong basis for a strategic EU-UK relationship in future”.
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