Johnson tells Brits to get ready for no-deal Brexit
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the United Kingdom must prepare for a no-deal break with the European Union unless there is a ‘‘fundamental’’ change of position from the bloc, with the two sides swapping blame for failing to strike a trade deal with just weeks until the end-of-year deadline.
The EU said it was ready to continue negotiating, but Britain yesterday declared the talks as good as dead.
EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, said the bloc was still willing to seek a compromise. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU still wanted a deal, but ‘‘not at any price’’.
Von der Leyen announced that EU negotiator Michel Barnier would head to London next week ‘‘to intensify these negotiations’’. Downing St rebuffed the offer, though British negotiator David Frost and Barnier agreed to speak early next week.
Johnson said the EU had ‘‘ abandoned the idea of a free trade deal’’ by not giving in to the UK’s demand for a generous free trade agreement like the one the bloc has with Canada.
Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said Johnson’s statement had put Britain ‘‘ into very dangerous territory’’.
‘‘ In the event of a no- deal Brexit, shoppers will, literally, pay a heavy price,’’ with stiff tariffs compounded by border delays, he said.
Britain officially left the EU on January 31 but remains part of its economic structures until December 31. The two sides have been trying to strike a deal on trade and other relations before then. In practice, it must be agreed by early next month if it is to be ratified by the end of the year.
Months of talks have ground to a halt on the issues of fishing, and rules to ensure common regulatory standards and fair competition. The EU fears that the UK will gain an unfair advantage by slashing food, workplace and environmental standards and pumping state money into businesses once it is free of the bloc’s rules.
Britain accuses the bloc of seeking to impose demands that it has not placed on other countries it has free trade deals with.
‘‘They want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom, our fisheries, in a way that is obviously unacceptable to an independent country,’’ Johnson said.
French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that French fishermen should not lose their rights to catch mackerel in the English Channel. ‘‘Under no circumstances will our fisherman be the ones sacrificed for Brexit,’’ he said as he arrived in Brussels for a European summit.
If Britain did not permit French fishermen in its waters, the EU would have no choice but to block energy supplies to the UK, Macron said.
Fishing represents just 0.12 per cent of Britain’s gross domestic product, nearly 60 times less than London’s financial services sector.
French fishing amounts to maybe 1 per cent of its GDP, with comparable numbers for the Netherlands and Denmark. Those three EU countries rely on British waters to fill their nets.