Britain hits back at EU’s
DAVID Davis last night dismissed Michel Barnier’s latest attempt to blame Britain for the lagging pace of the Brexit talks.
The Brussels diplomat yesterday claimed “huge and serious” differences still stood in the way of a departure deal.
And with a warning that time was running out in the search for an agreement, he “summoned” the Tory Cabinet minister’s negotiating team to attend urgent talks on Monday.
But a source close to the EU Exit Secretary dismissed the summons as a “gimmick” and urged Mr Barnier to “engage” with the proposals Britain had already put forward as a blueprint for a future partnership with the bloc.
Mr Davis’s curt response reflected a tougher stance from the Government in Brexit talks following frustration at repeated stonewalling by the European Commission’s negotiators.
The clash erupted last night after an EU summit in Brussels produced a marathon session lasting until 4.30am yesterday as leaders argued about the EU’s migration crisis.
Theresa May left the summit at 5am as a discussion about Brexit which came afterwards was restricted to leaders remaining in the bloc.
Mr Barnier later claimed negotiations were being held up by the wait for a promised white paper policy document on the UK Government’s Brexit goals due to be published on July 9.
He said: “We have made progress but huge and serious divergence remains, in particular on Ireland and Northern Ireland.
“We are waiting for the UK white paper and I hope it will contain workable and realistic proposals. “The time is very short. “I am ready to invite the UK delegation to come back to Brussels next Monday.”
In fact no official invitation to go to Brussels was received by the Department for Exiting the EU.
“This is a gimmick designed for the benefit of TV cameras rather than negotiations,” the source said.
EU Council President Donald Tusk also warned that time was running short in the Brexit negotiations, saying: “This is the last call to lay the cards on the table.”
Speaking at a news conference at the end of the summit, he added: “There’s a great deal of work of nations