Boris Johnson ready to make concessions to EU, says official

Britain’s Brexit negotiator has signalled Boris Johnson is ready to make key concessions and a trade deal is ‘eminently achievable’.

Boris Johnson during the weekly Prime Minister's questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator has signalled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ready to make key concessions and that a trade deal is “eminently achievable”.

David Frost told peers and MPs that No 10 was prepared to discuss commitments on subsidy policy that go beyond conventional trade agreements.

The government had insisted the UK’s future subsidy policy should not form part of any agreement with the EU, which has been a sticking point.

Lord Frost said the seven days before next Thursday’s EU summit would be critical in determining whether a deal was possible, but he was optimistic.

“My job is to work as hard as we can to see if we can get an agreement by the 15th,” he said. “We’ve made progress. This is a wide-ranging agreement and in many areas the nature of the agreement is clear if not pinned down.”

Lord Frost has so far refused to make any commitments on subsidies beyond the general principles on fair competition that are found in other EU trade agreements with Canada and Japan.

The question is the biggest sticking point for the EU as Michel Barnier, the lead Brussels negotiator, has declined to budge in talks unless the government conceded to demands to set “common principles” on subsidy controls. Speaking to the House of Lords’ EU committee on Wednesday night, Lord Frost said the position had softened.

“We have heard what the EU has been saying about needing a degree of reassurance,” he said.

“We are beginning a discussion on ‘is it possible to go further than you normally do in a free trade agreement?’ and agree some provisions that, as it were, shape and condition the subsidy policy on both sides. We are at least having a decent discussion about this.”

Ruling out an “extensive text setting out the detail of how we design our system”, Lord Frost said that the government could sign up to principles on subsidy control that mirror many of those set in the EU’s treaty.

During a phone call on Wednesday, Mr Johnson told European Council president Charles Michel “although some progress had been made … significant areas of difference remain”.

Mr Michel later tweeted: “The EU prefers a deal, but not at any cost. Time for the UK to put its cards on the table.”

The Times