Boris Johnson says UK ‘well prepared’ for no-deal Brexit
The prime minister said today he hoped a post-Brexit trade deal with the European Union could be agreed, but the country was well prepared if final-stage talks with the bloc did not succeed.
“I very much hope that we will [get a deal], and obviously that depends on our friends and partners across the Channel,” Boris Johnson told broadcasters this evening.
“I think there is a deal to be done if they want to do. If not, the country is of course very, very well prepared and as I have said before, we can do very, very well on Australian terms.”
Johnson has scheduled a call with Ursula von der Leyden this weekend, which will allow the leaders to “take stock” of the Brexit trade negotiations, the Independent reported.
Meetings between Lord Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier are due to continue next week.
Barnier yesterday reportedly told the bloc’s diplomats that the UK has “blocked” progress in key areas of trade deal talks.
At a confidential meeting yesterday afternoon, Barnier briefed representatives from the EU’s 27 member states, saying that “fundamental differences” remain between the two sides, Sky News reported.
According to minutes of the meeting seen by the broadcaster, Barnier said the most important hurdle was the “level playing field”, which would ensure the UK follows the same rules as the EU on issues such as labour law and state aid.
The EU is concerned that without the mechanism, the UK could undercut European laws in order to reduce costs and bring in foreign investments.
The UK government has denied that it will attempt to do so.
Barnier told the EU diplomats that the level playing field is “the most fundamental point where we still have major differences”, according to Sky.
“The prime minister has stressed that alignment [with European rules] would breach sovereignty.
“This question seriously throws the chances of an agreement into doubt”.
Barnier warned the meeting that without progress on the level playing field, the EU would be left “unprotected against unfair competition”.